Latest Yeovil Town News (Page 60)

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News
Football, National League, Vanatama

With the National League season coming to a close last week, it can only mean one thing; playoffs are back! I’m here to follow and round up all the goings on of the National League playoffs, as Yeovil wait to find out who they’ll be facing next season. Click here if you’d like to follow the National League North and South journey, and familiarise yourself with the format of these round-ups!

Participants

Final PositionTeam
1st (Champions)Barnet
2ndYork City
3rdForest Green Rovers
4thRochdale
5thOldham Athletic
6thFC Halifax Town
7thSouthend United

The playoff picture has stayed steady for the majority of the season, with Barnet ultimately finishing the season as champions meaning York City took second place at a canter, a marked improvement on their final day survival from last season; they’re joined in the semi-finals by Forest Green Rovers, who became the first team in four seasons to finish in the playoffs following relegation.

Rochdale made a late charge to finish fourth, following a large backlog of games being played midweek after pitch issues during the winter period; Oldham Athletic remained in the playoff picture for almost the entire season, comfortably finishing inside the top 7, while FC Halifax Town confirmed a second consecutive season of playoff football with a sixth placed finish. The final spot went to Southend United, marking their first playoff campaign since relegation to the National League; following a slow start, they picked up momentum in the second half of the season to topple Gateshead in the final week or two of the season.

How the National League sides got to their final spots.

How does it work?

These aren’t your standard EFL playoffs, where 2nd plays 6th home and away, 4th plays 5th home away, and then the winners go to Wembley and have a one-off game to win promotion.

2nd and 3rd will receive a ‘bye’ to the semi-finals, leaving 4th to host 7th, and 5th to host 6th. These are one-off, 90 minute games, that go to extra-time and then penalties if the two contenders can’t be separated.

In the semi-finals, 2nd will host the winner of 4th vs 7th, and 3rd will host the winner of 5th vs 6th. The two winners will go to Wembley to duke it out for a spot in the EFL.

Results

In the quarter finals, we have the following fixtures:

Oldham Athletic vs FC Halifax Town
Rochdale vs Southend United

Starting on Wednesday night, Oldham Athletic thumped FC Halifax Town to book their place in the semi-finals in a 4-0 result. It was action right from the get go for Micky Mellon’s side, as they opened the scoring just four minutes in from a looping corner, Joe Garner leaping athletically to give the Latics the lead. Just six minutes later, it was 2-0, as a free kick was swung towards the back post, finding the head of Mike Fondop; his header went across the face of goal, and Mark Kitching was there to nod it home. Oldham weren’t done there though, as they made it 3-0 in the 13th minute (yes, 13th minute) through Mike Fondop, yet another header beating the Halifax ‘keeper, leaving the Shaymen shellshocked. Two substitutes followed for Halifax, which settled them towards half-time as they tried to make some kind of impact on the game.

The subs didn’t seem to make too much of a difference though, as Oldham continued to outclass them in front of 10,865 fans – and 54 minutes in, the pick of the goals came for the hosts, as Joe Pritchard latched onto the end of a wonderful Vimal Yoganathan ball to hammer it into the left side of the net, giving Oldham their fourth goal and confirming their place in the semi-finals, where they’ll travel to York City on Tuesday night.

If you thought Wednesday night was hectic, wait until you read about Thursday. In 120 breathless minutes, Southend United came from 3-1 down to win at Rochdale. Devante Rodney opened the scoring just eight minutes in with a cute turn, a skip past Nick Hayes in the Southend goal and tucked the ball neatly into the net from an absurd angle. Dale’s lead lasted about 15 minutes, as former Glover Nathan Ralph nodded home a low cross to equalise, but six minutes later, the hosts re-took the lead with a tidy header from Jay Bird.

Into the second half, and it was a contentious penalty for Rochdale that would give them their 3-1 lead, and up until now, it was deserved too; Devante Rodney blasted the spot kick into the top left corner to grab his second of the game, but that was as good as it got for the hosts. 74 minute on the clock, and it was 3-2, as Tom Hopper assisted himself, a wonderful cross landed on his head, hitting the post but he nodded home his rebound to make things interesting; six minutes later, Leon Chambers-Parillon tucked home a parried save from Killian Barrett to equalise for the Shrimpers, eventually forcing extra time!

The visitors continued their pressure in hunt of a winner, and were rewarded not long into extra time, as a header across goal from a corner met Charley Kendall; his header found the back of the net and completed an incredible turnaround for Southend, who will now travel to Gloucestershire next Wednesday to face Forest Green Rovers.

Final Scores

Oldham Athletic 4-0 FC Halifax Town
Rochdale 3-4 Southend United

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News

What’s better than two pre-season friendlies to look forward to? That’s right, THREE!

Yeovil Town head to Twerton Park on Saturday 26th July to take on Darren Way’s Bath City.

The Romans remain in the National League South where, of course the two sides crossed paths last season, goals from Frank Nouble and Jordan Young securing the points at Huish Park, whilst a late Morgan Williams goal secured the goods away from home.

Tickets for the pre-season game are not yet on sale, but we do know that the game will kick off at 3pm.

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News

What’s better than one friendly to look forward to? That’s right. Two!

Yeovil Town will kick off their pre-season campaign away at Exmouth Town of the Southern League Division One South.

The Glovers will head to Southern Road on Saturday July 5th – for a 3:00pm kick off.

Exmouth are managed by former Torquay United player Kevin Hill, who played over 150 times for the Gulls where he was a regular team mate of Chris Todd and Chris Hargreaves. 

Ticket details are yet to be confirmed.

This is in addition to a Wednesday night match against Sherborne Town a few days later.

Cover image c/o The Groundhog Match Day Blog – https://thegroundhog.wordpress.com/2015/09/27/exmouth-town/

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News

No sooner does one season end, another cranks into gear.

Yeovil Town will take in a midweek trip to the GMS Windows Arena to face Sherborne Town during pre-season.

The game takes place on Wednesday 9th July with kick off at 7:30pm

The two sides have worked closely over recent seasons with plenty of young Glovers, including Corey Koerner, given plenty of exposure to senior, Men’s football.

Tickets for the game are just a fiver for adults, concessions can get access for £2, under 16s are admitted for free.

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News

Yeovil Town legend Marcus Stewart has left his role as Head of Player Development.

Stewart has been in the role since the summer of 2022, rejoining the club for a second spell having also been an integral part of the 2007 Play Off Final Squad under Russell Slade.

Stewart, departs the club as one of the the most fondly remembered people to ever don the Green and White.

Marcus, with the club’s support, has continued in his role whilst balancing his immense fund raising efforts for Motor Neuron Disease charities following his own diagnosis a number of years ago.

Here at the Gloverscast, we’d like to place on record our sincerest thanks to Marcus, for the goals, the memories and for taking time to join us on one of the most brilliant episodes of the GloversPast. 

 

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News

THE GLOVIES 24/25 – THE WINNERS

The voting lines are now closed, the votes have been counted and verified by our independent(ish) adjudicator, and it’s time to reveal the winners of the 2024/25 Glovies.

Player Of The Season

Open to All Players who made 15 or more appearances during the season.
Previous Winners; 20/21 – Tom Knowles, 21/22 – Morgan Williams, 22/23 – Josh Staunton, 23/24 – Jake Wannell

🥇 Brett McGavin – 117 Votes – 30.2%
🥈 Charlie Cooper – 97 Votes – 25.1%
🥉 Alex Whittle – 50 Votes – 12.9%

Shooter McGavin lets fly
Pic Gary Brown

Young Player Of The Season

Open to all players ages 23 or younger on the final day of the season who made 10 or more appearances
Previous Winners; 20/21 – Tom Knowles, 21/22 – Morgan Williams, 22/23 – Owen Bevan, 23/24 – Sonny Blu Lo Everton

🥇 Sonny Blu Lo Everton – 147 Votes – 38%
🥈 Finn Cousin Dawson – 95 Votes – 24.5%
🥉 Ciaran McGuckin – 59 Votes – 15.2%

Sonny Blu Lo-Everton. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

Goal Of The Season

Open to all goals.
Previous Winners; 20/21 – Tom Knowles (vs Hartlepool), 21/22 – Jordan Barnett (vs Torquay) , 22/23 – Malachi Linton (vs Wrexham), 23/24 – Jordan Stevens (vs. H&RBFC)

🥇 Sean McGurk (vs Ebbsfleet Away) – 103 Votes – 26.6%
🥈 Alex Whittle (vs Solihull Away) – 78 Votes – 20.2%
🥉 Brett McGavin (vs Woking Away) 75 Votes – 19.4%

Image Of The Season

As Voted For By Our Instagram Followers
With a huge thanks to Gloverscast Photographer, Gary Brown for letting us use his match day images across the Gloverscast website throughout the season.

Harvey Greenslade celebrates his late, late winner in front of the Thatcher’s Stand. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News

It’s a late one, but the final National League wrap up of the season is here – Yeovil Town ended the season in glum circumstances, following a 2-1 defeat at FA Trophy finalists Aldershot Town. Let’s see what else went on, as the final two relegation spots were confirmed, as was the final playoff spot.

We’ll kick things off with the relegation battle – two spots were remaining, with three teams (technically four, but Braintree were basically safe) battling for survival. Maidenhead United fought valiantly in a 3-0 win against Boston United, two Shawn McCoulsky goals and a late Tristan Abrahams goal unfortunately not enough for the Magpies, ending their eight year stay in the National League.

Wealdstone defeated playoff side FC Halifax Town at home, three goals in the opening half hour from Jack Cook, Kallum Cesay and Mustapha Carayol proving enough despite an incredible goal from Luca Thomas for the visitors, as they stayed up at the behest of Dagenham & Redbridge, who were staying up until Manny Duku equalised in the 75th minute for Solihull Moors to condemn the Daggers to regional football for the first time in 25 years.

National League champions Barnet won 3-0 at relegated AFC Fylde, as they clocked up 102 points in a successful campaign for the Bees, while there were comfortable 2-0 wins for Braintree Town, York City and Oldham Athletic over Rochdale, Eastleigh and Ebbsfleet United respectively.

There were three other games that decided to say fair is fair, in a 1-1 draw; Hartlepool United lost out on two points thanks to an 89th minute goal from Christian Doidge, while in calmer games, Altrincham and Tamworth tied, as did Sutton United and Woking.

Finally, in the playoff battle, it was a drab 0-0 result, but Southend United didn’t care, as they confirmed themselves as the final playoff side over Gateshead, the side they visited on Monday. Playoff fixtures begin next Wednesday, and a round-up will come following the quarter finals!

National League results – in full

AFC Fylde 0-3 Barnet
Aldershot Town 2-1 Yeovil Town
Altrincham 1-1 Tamworth
Braintree Town 2-0 Rochdale
Eastleigh 0-2 York City
Gateshead 0-0 Southend United
Hartlepool United 1-1 Forest Green Rovers
Maidenhead United 3-0 Boston United (Maidenhead are relegated)
Oldham Athletic 2-0 Ebbsfleet United
Solihull Moors 1-1 Dagenham & Redbridge (Dagenham are relegated)
Sutton United 1-1 Woking
Wealdstone 3-1 FC Halifax Town

National League table

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News, Yeovil Town Women FC

Yeovil Town Women have announced that First Team Manger, Paul Knight has left the club by mutual consent.

The women played their final game of the season on Sunday and led the side to third place in the South West Regional Womens Football League Division One South, following their promotion campaign in 2023/24.

The Women’s side had a record of 11 wins, six defeats and just one draw in the 18 games this season, with a highlight of the campaign being leading the side a 7-1 win at Huish Park against local rivals W*ymouth.

In a statement, the club said that they were still fully committed to investing in the next chapter of the women’s team and thanked Paul for his work over the past two seasons.

Yeovil Womens manager Paul Knight
PIC C/O Imogen @ Loveday’s Unique Photgraphy

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News

Winger Lewys Twamley was happy with his performance in his first start for Yeovil Town in the 2-1 defeat at Aldershot Town in the final match of the season.

The 21-year-old, who has appeared off the bench eight times since joining from Southern League side Merthyr Town in January, played the first 61 minutes of the match in Hampshire before being replaced by Finn Cousin-Dawson.

He missed a gilt-edged opportunity to opening the scoring after 17 minutes following a neat one-two with Sonny Blu Lo-Everton saw him with just Aldershot keeper Marcus Dewhurst to beat. He pulled his shot wide.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Josh Perkins after the game, Twamley said: “It was obviously nice to get my first start. It has been difficult since I came here, I thought I would have got my chance much sooner but I have had to bide my time and when it came I thought I just had to take my chance.

“I thought I took my chance today. Obviously we were unlucky with the result, I had a good chance I should have taken, but it has been good. When I saw my name on the team sheet, it was a nice feeling and I thought I did myself proud.”

Lewys Twamley has made eight appearances off the bench this season. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

Asked if he was frustrated with his lack of game time, he said: “I would have liked to have played a lot more games. I came here in January and I have had one start. I knew it was not going to be easy joining a team in January, so I have just had to go with the flow and take my chance when it came.

“I have had some appearances off the bench, but it has not gone as planned. The manager as picked players ahead of me and they have done well, to be fair, so I have sat on the bench and watched a lot of games but that is football and we will go again next season.”

The final day defeat sees Yeovil finish 18th in the National League Premier Division table, four points off the relegation zone and 12 points off the play-off places.

Asked how he would grade the Glovers’ season, Twamley added: “I was obviously not here at the start of the season, but the boys have just got promoted to this level. The fans obviously have high expectations, so I suspect mid-table will be little bit disappointing, but it is where we are as a group and I am sure we will give it a good go next season.“

By:
On:
In: Latest Yeovil Town News

Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper said his side’s wastefulness in front of goal is the reason why they have finished the season four points off the National League Premier Division relegation places.

The Glovers missed three glorious opportunities to go ahead at Aldershot Town on Bank Holiday Monday before going down to a 2-1 defeat which sees them finish the campaign in 18th place.

It means they finished the season with 51 league goals in their 46 matches, the joint third-lowest in the division with Braintree Town, and only relegated Ebbsfleet United and AFC Fylde have scored fewer.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah after the game, the manager said: “If I am being conservative we should have been 3-0 up (before they scored). We had some incredible chances in the first half, but it should be comfortably game over in the first 20 minutes, but then we go from missing all those chances, they have one attack and it is in the back of our net. It has been a bit of a pattern this season. We have not scored enough goals this season, whatever combination of attacking players we have used. We have created numerous chances today.

“It is clear that we need to strengthen in the forward positions. We are not bad from tee to green, but it is that last bit which is where we need to spend any money we have got. We need to spend it on really strengthening that area with proven players at this level who can score and assist. I think that is where we have fallen short this season.

“We have got some good players. Aaron Jarvis needs pre-season now, but he is a top number nine for this level. But the ones that play to the side of him, those four or five players need to be players proven to score goals and create assists at this level – but they cost a lot of money.”

Lewys Twamley drags his effort wide after 17 minutes – the first of three gilt-edged chances for Yeovil to pull ahead.

Asked if he was satisfied with the club’s final league position on their first season back after winning the National League South, the manager said: “Of course not, I would be a fool to say ‘yes’.”

After forward Lewys Twamley and on loan Rotherham United striker Ciaran McGuckin spurned glorious opportunities, Aldershot striker Jack Barham broke away and fired the opening goal past Aidan Stone in the visitors’ goal. Tyler Frost added a second when poor defending saw Yeovil allow Aldershot to walk through them just four minutes after the restart, before Dom Bernard pulled one back on the hour.

Cooper added: “It is frustrating because it is a similar pattern. We played quite well in the first half, but when you miss that many chances you know  what is coming. The trick is you need to stay really solid behind the ball and not concede two really sloppy goals which is what we did. Defenders will say ‘if we scored all our chances we missed, we would not need to defend as much’ and attackers will say ‘I can’t score every one, if you keep it tight we will nick one.’

“We had a really good spell and then we have lost the last three. We should have been 2-0 up at Eastleigh before they scored, we went 1-0 up and should have been 2-0 up against Sutton and then lost and we should have been 4-0 up today (before they scored). So it is clear to see what the issue is and we have to sort that out in the summer, if and when things are sorted out (with the ownership of the club).”

Once again, Yeovil’s away support turned up in huge numbers for a fixture which was meaningless with safety in the division already secured. Cooper hailed the efforts of the 575 travelling supporters in Hampshire, adding: “It was a brilliant following again today, an amazing following. We want to give them loads to cheer about next year and I am sure this time next year we will be having an exciting end to the season.“