Latest Yeovil Town News (Page 62)

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Yeovil Town have announced the signing of Otis Khan on loan from Oldham Athletic until May 5th.

The Pakistan international returns to the Glovers for a second stint having previously represented the club between 2016 and 2018.

Otis Khan. Pic by Mike Kunz

He played 87 times, scoring 18 goals under Darren Way.

Khan tips the number of loanees at the club beyond the five allowed in the match day squad, so one of: Frankie Terry, Kyle Ferguson, Kyrell Wilson, Ciaran McGuckin and Ryan McLean will have to sit in the stands – potentially two should Sean McGurk return to the club from injury.

Welcome back to Somerset, Otis.

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Yeovil Town Defender Dom Bernard has said that performances like we saw against York City will bring about results.

The Glovers wen’t down 1-0 to the Minstermen, but put in a good enough display to convince the former Forest Green man that the points will pick up sooner rather than later.

Speaking to BBC Radio Somerset’s Josh Perkins, he said;

“Football is results based isn’t it? You feel that there’s games where you might play really bad, and you pick a 1-0 and take it all day, so in the end it’s the results that count, 

But, we’ve had a hard schedule with Halifax, York and Barnet, hard running Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday, so you’ve got to take that into account, 

But there’s no blame on it, at the end of the day you’re out there giving it your all, that performance against York, if we implement that against any opposition, you’re bound to take something out of the game. 

We were actually really unfortunate in the end, some of the chances we had, sometime it comes down to a penalty, and those things happen. 

But there’s no excuse on our behalf, we obviously want to win as many games and we think we can go against the top teams.”

 

This weekend, the Glovers head to Solihull, who sit just a point above the Glovers and a couple of places above in mid table and Bernard is expecting a tough fixture.

“[Solihull] have got Matty Taylor as manager now, he’s gone there to try and implement his ideas, when he was manager at Wealdstone, they played good football, and they’re probably in a stage where they’re trying to mix it up, they can do that, they can mix it up both ways, 

I think at this stage of the season any game is going to be tough because different teams are playing for different reasons and I’m sure they probably look at us and think it’s going to be tough game as well and we’ve got what we want to play for, but they’re a well drilled side and hopefully we bring our performance like we did against York.

Obviously, we were unfortunante not to get a result there, but if we perform like that we’ll be alright.”

Dom Bernard in action against York. Pic Gary Brown

With plenty of new faces joining the group in recent weeks, Bernard is quickly becoming one of the more experienced members of the group and has taken a senior role in making sure the new recruits are settling in.

“I know Marcel [Lavinier] from playing with him, I like to introduce myself early, get to the lads, I like to get along with everyone really, get in there, make them feel welcome, which I think all the lads do to be fair, and make the team cohesive and really bond.

Especially in this period of time, there’s only eight games left, so, short little run to the end and the more welcome they feel the more settled they’ll be.”

 

 

 

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Mark Cooper has said that he is hopeful that he will be able to call upon four or five of his most experienced players in the coming weeks after injury,.

Speaking to BBC Radio Somerset’s Josh Perkins ahead of the game this weekend, he said he was grateful to how the younger, newer players were adapting to life in Green and White, but that he hopes more players will be available soon.

“Well, I spoke about this, [the new recruits ] are all young lads that bring something different, so they’re trying to make their way in the game. So for us to try and replace Jake Wannell, Aaron Jarvis, Morgan Williams. Michael Smith, James Plant, Sean McGurk, to try and replace those players like for like, is impossible at this stage of the season in terms of experience. So the only other route is to try and get younger players that are making their way in the game, desperate to get some game time, and they bring something different, but at the moment, they’re learning the game, so they will make mistakes, and sometimes they’ll be better coming off the bench.

Through circumstance, they more or less all that to play last week against Boston and and it was a tough environment for them to play in, not a nice nice environment, and that knocks their confidence.
Then Boston go to a team in the playoffs and score three there. So it’s a tough environment. So we have to be careful with them, but until we get more frontline players back, we have to give them all the  support we can and trying to put them in the right position, in the right times, so they can really help too.”

Jake Wannell. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

As for when we might expect players to return, we are now into waiting “weeks” rather than “months” before we get players back from the physio room.

“It’s day to day, really, where you know, every time the physio rings me, I’m frightened to death to answer it, because you know somebody else is going to be up for six weeks. This is just a moment in time. It happens at certain teams, in certain seasons that you look at Tottenham all of their top players were injured. And that affects, it really affects and we just got to ride it out, and hopefully Wannell and Smith may be back in the next few days. Then we’ve been looking at Jarvis and Williams probably within a couple of weeks. So yeah, so hopefully there’s light at the end of the tunnel.”

On Solihull,  who the Glovers come up against on Saturday, Mark Cooper said that they, like us, had been through plenty of change this season and that it is guaranteed to be a tough fixture.

“They’ve had lots of change, obviously, change of the Manager [who] went to the EFL to Barrow, done a great job.
They brought in Matty [Taylor] from Wealdstone. It’s always tough, when you go into a team that are used to a manager’s way, you have to try and change and adapt to the way you want it.
They’ve had a turn around of players, they’ve had some injuries, so it’s been tough, but they’ve had a little run, I think, three unbeaten. Like I always say, there’s never any easy games at this level, never. And we’re expecting a really tough game, but I’m sure they would have watched us against York, and they’ll be expecting a really tough encounter as well.”

Dan Burn scores at Wembley (pic Mike Kunz)

This Saturday marks Non-League day in the UK and few managers have had the level of success outside the EFL than Mark Cooper and he said that it represents the ‘lifeblood’ of the game in this country.

“If I give my experience, Dan Burn was a non-league player at Darlington, when I was a manager, I gave him his debut at 16, and I actually did an interview saying that he would play for England one day. I didn’t actually probably mean it at the time, but we were trying to raise his fee for when we sold him.
But that the game is littered with stories like that, of how many players have gone into non league to get some experience or have started in on me? So it’s vital that that it is celebrated. It’s just a shame that there’s not, there’s not as much funding coming down the pyramid as probably there should be, when you see how much money there is at the top end of the game with the Premier League and the wages.
I know once you’re once you’re in there, turkeys are not going to vote for Christmas are they? You know, they’re not going to vote to drip down more money down the pyramid. But I think we have to look at it and say, you realise where the actual lot of talent does come from. I give you actually.”

 

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Ref, Referee, Match Official

Yeovil Town are off to the Midlands for their National League Premier Clash against Solihull Moors and Sebastian Stockbridge won’t be far behind.

This will be Mr Stockbridge’s first National League game of the season, with all of his previous commitments being in the EFL.

In 24 games across Leagues One and Two he’s dished out, 107 Yellow cards, two reds and pointed at the spot half a dozen times for good measure.

A vastly experienced official, you have to go all the way back to 2016 before you can find his last game in charge of the Glovers, a 4-1 defeat to Plymouth Argyle; Nathan Smith, Ryan Hedges and Kevin Dawson all saw yellow that day.

Now, you may remember that fantastic 4-3 win over Barnet, also in 2016… well, Seb was right in the middle of that one too!
That does mean he awarded the penalty to John Akinde, but Liam Walsh and Harry Cornick meant that it didn’t really matter.

As far as I can tell, he’s only taken charge of one Solihull Moors game – a second round clash between Hartlepool and Solihull in the FA Cup which went the way of Pools on penalties.

He will be assisted by Daniel Flynn and Thomas Staten, Wayne Gray (not that one) will be on fourth official duties. 

Solihull Moors FC (First Team) v Yeovil Town FC (First Team)
National League – Premier    
Referee: Stockbridge, Sebastian
Assistant Referee: Flynn, Daniel
Assistant Referee: Staten, Thomas
Fourth Official: Gray, Wayne

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It’s time the March edition of the YeoGov Survey (here’s a reminder of the results from February) and once again we want your thoughts about the four weeks that have just been.

In those four weeks, the Glovers turned form around to beat Tamworth, Maidenhead and draw with Southend before defeats against Barnet, Halifax, Boston United and York City this past weekend.

It’s the usual questions around performance around the club and the optional matchday experience one and this month we want to know if the club are performing as you expected for the first season in the National League. 

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The results of February’s YeoGov survey are in. Thanks to the 252 supporters who shared their thoughts.

As always we have the usual questions with the scores out of 7 below..

How do you think Mark Cooper is doing? 2.80
How do you think the players have performed? 3.04
What would you score the ownership/board? 3.15
What would you score the communication from the club? 3.54
What would you score the match day experience this month? 3.42

We also asked the question,  How important is it to you that Yeovil Town FC owns the land at Huish Park? to which the result was overwhelming with a score of 6.37 out of 7. The land has always been seen as a key unlock to secure the long term future of the football club and, clearly, it remains of vital importance to supporters.

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It was a narrow 1-0 defeat on Saturday for Yeovil, as they hosted playoff locks York City. Let’s see what else went on across the league on a sunny Saturday…

We begin in London, where a dream comeback went down, a “Wealdston-bul” if you will… Wealdstone came from 3-0 down at half time to tie 3-3 with Eastleigh. A double from Ludwig Francillette and a Tyrese Shade goal gave the Spitfires the lead, before a spirited comeback featuring a Tyler Walker opener and two Alex Reid goals meant the two sides shared the points.

Things went from bad to worse for Dagenham & Redbridge, as despite taking the lead in the first half, they went on to have a man sent off, and lose the game 3-1 to Tamworth, as Dan Creaney scored his 100th goal for the visiting Rams. FC Halifax Town scored three without reply as they strengthened their grip on a playoff spot with a win away to Sutton United. Southend United continued their good form with a 2-2 draw at Forest Green Rovers, the Shrimpers twice coming from behind to take their point.

Aldershot Town continued their recent uptick in form with a massive 2-1 win at Altrincham, lifting the visitors to 16th while the hosts drifted further from the playoff spots. In perhaps the upset of the day, Gateshead were defeated 2-0 at home by relegation-threatened Maidenhead United, the win lifted the Magpies out of the drop zone.

Both 1-1 results came in televised affairs, as the lunchtime kickoff saw two playoff hunters share the points in a derby day, as a late Vimal Yoganathan equaliser saw Oldham Athletic spare their blushes at home to Rochdale, while Manny Duku made it three goals in two games for Solihull Moors, grabbing a point away at Hartlepool United, former Glover Tom Parkes getting the goal for the hosts.

It took them 34 games (yes I went and counted), but it’s finally over… Ebbsfleet United won a football match. They defeated AFC Fylde at home in a 1-0 win, which prevented what feels like an inevitable relegation until next week. Boston United continued to stage their great escape with a 1-0 win away at Braintree Town, moving the Pilgrims to within three points of safety, with games in hand, while Barnet continued their title charge with a 1-0 win away at Woking, former Glover Rhys Browne finding himself on the scoresheet.

 

National League results – in full

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

National League table

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Ian was at Huish Park for Yeovil’s narrow 1-0 defeat at the hands of York City. Here are his conclusions.

Picture by Gary Brown

It was a tight game. The two sides, neither of which is particularly in form didn’t make much of a spectacle in Somerset. Many Glovers feared a bloodbath after Boston, but it was far from that. Yeovil set their stall out early and allowed York to dominate the ball while holding their nerve to try and repel them. For all York’s possession, they didn’t stretch Aidan Stone that much. Doesn’t that sound familiar? There were crosses into the box that we dealt with well but it wasn’t surprising that it was settled with a set piece. It was a massive improvement from the midweek defeat to Boston United in the week and the challenge now is to maintain it and ensure it’s not a false dawn.

Kyle Ferguson added some fight. I thought our latest loanee had nastiness and a bit of bite that we’ve been lacking recently. He won his headers and gave Josh Stones a rough afternoon. The son of Rangers legend Barry Ferguson certainly looks like he’s up for a scrap and if were looking over our shoulder, someone of that character is what we need. He was at fault for the penalty which Ollie Pearce converted, but I thought we looked stronger with him in the back line.

Picture by Gary Brown

Another Sonny shout out. I love watching Sonny play football. When he’s on the pitch and given the freedom he’s great to watch. He’s the type of intelligent player who can get you out of a hole. I think our biggest chance fell to him on the edge of the box after he set Kyrell Wilson away before receiving the ball back but he lost his footing at a pivotal moment. With Sonny (and a lot of our players) it’s always been the case of finding that final product, but keeping him further forward in behind  the striker is key in my mind. The extent of the injury to Brett McGavin will probably dictate how that goes.

What a week Frank’s had. To go from being on your way out of the club to being back in the starting line up and captaining within less than seven days is some story. We’ll probably never know the full picture of what’s happened here, but, in my opinion, I don’t think you can blame a 33-year-old for wanting to secure his future when he’s been transfer-listed earlier in the season. Nouble is a popular figure with supporters and for Mark Cooper to put him back in as skipper shows that, right now, Nouble is needed. Clearly, it was mutually beneficial to get over this hurdle.

Frank Nouble was back in the starting line-up and wearing the captain’s armband again. Picture by Gary Brown

It was another slow afternoon. Since the powers that be have decided the Gloverscast are no longer allowed to do media at Huish Park I’ve been able to watch Yeovil as a supporter rather than having to think about what I’m going to say and I totally understand the grumbles. Yes we have injuries, yes we’ve got had a lot of player turnover and the rest of this season will be an exercise in self-preservation. But it can’t continue like this at home next season. I’ve had conversations with plenty of rational, reasonable and real supporters who are so disenchanted with the football that they’ll do other things with their weekends if this is the status quo.

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Another Saturday rolls around and another chance to catch up on how our loanees are getting on out and about.

We start, as we always do, in the National League South.

Will Buse was in goal for W*ymouth as they pulled off an almighty shock beating promotion-chasing Boreham Wood 2-1. The seagull botherers remaining 13 points adrift of safety from relegation, but credit where it’s due for that result.

Torquay United also won. They picked up huge three points in the promotion race with an 1-0 win away at promotion rivals Dorking Wanderers. Full-back Jordan Thomas played the final five or so minutes, replacing former Glover Jay Foulston.

 

Now to our headline game, Sherborne Town picked up a 2-0 win over United Sports Portsmouth FC in the Wessex League Premier Division.

Glovers’ defender Corey Koerner, who has featured on the substitutes’ bench for the first-team recently, scored the decisive second, but we should also mention the three other members of the young YTFC cohort also going well for the Zebras.

Jaydon Biss is a regular in their starting line up at the moment and is a first year Yeovil youngster, Joe Crisp was also used from the bench with Morgan Alexander also a familiar name on their substitutes bench.

 

Now, down at Shaftesbury, there’s a 16-year old by the name of Moss Jackson, who is currently attached to our youth set-up, he scored his first Southern League Division One South goal today in a 5-2 win over Westbury.

Bridport just keep on winning, George Geraghty was once again with them, Sol Padmore has been missing the last few games due to suspension.

Wellington lost 6-1 to high flying Portishead Town, Jacob Shore was on the bench and used towards the end with the game already long gone, he did play the full 90 in a 4-3 win midweek over Oldland Abbotonians, though.