Latest Yeovil Town News (Page 80)

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It’s two wins in a row for the first time since November for the Glovers, as they handily defeated Maidenhead United away from home in a 2-0 victory. Let’s see how the rest of the league got on!

We begin in London, where Wealdstone made it three wins on the trot with a comeback win over basement boys Ebbsfleet United. The bottom placed side had the lead for about 10 minutes in the first half, but braces for Alex Reid and Harrison Sohna handed the Stones another vital three points. There was another big result for a side around the bottom, as Aldershot Town secured a late victory at home to Hartlepool United, as Josh Barrett scored in the 94th minute to hand the hosts the points.

It was four-galore for Barnet, as they easily defeated Rochdale at Deepdale to extend their lead at the top of the table to nine points, former Glover Rhys Browne among the goal scorers for the Bees. Solihull Moors’ difficult start under Matt Taylor continued with a 3-1 loss at home to Gateshead.

There was late drama in both 2-2 results today, as Oldham Athletic rescued a point at Dagenham & Redbridge courtesy of a 95th minute equaliser from Joe Pritchard, while a 99th minute equaliser from Callum Howe spared York City’s blushes at home against FC Halifax Town, the hosts ending the game with 10 men in a Yorkshire derby.

AFC Fylde secured a massive 2-1 win away to Altrincham to keep their survival hopes alive, while a late Connor Teale goal wasn’t enough to rescue a point for Boston United, as they lost to Eastleigh. We finish the roundup with a trio of 1-1 ties, as Forest Green Rovers were held by Woking, Tuesday’s visitors Tamworth shared the points with next weekend’s visitors Southend United, and 10 man Sutton United drew with Braintree Town.

National League results – in full

Aldershot Town 3-2 Hartlepool United
Altrincham 1-2 AFC Fylde
Boston United 1-2 Eastleigh
Dagenham & Redbridge 2-2 Oldham Athletic
Forest Green Rovers 1-1 Woking
Maidenhead United 0-2 Yeovil Town
Rochdale 0-4 Barnet
Solihull Moors 1-3 Gateshead
Sutton United 1-1 Braintree Town
Tamworth 1-1 Southend United
York City 2-2 FC Halifax Town
Wealdstone 4-2 Ebbsfleet United

National League table

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Yeovil Town picked up their first back to back wins since the end of October as they eased past Maidenhead United at York Road.

The Glovers took the lead with seven minutes of normal time remaining in the first half as Frank Nouble thumped in a shot which cannoned off a Maidenhead defender and flew in to the net.

There was some solid defending required to keep out a Maidenhead side who came out for the second half much brighter, before substitute Harvey Greenslade hooked home the second with seven minutes remaining.

First half

The opening chance fell to Yeovil after just two minutes. A good move found Michael Smith on the right side and his ball in to the box came to Sonny Blu Lo-Everton whose shot was deflected wide for a corner.
 
There were a number of half chances (box entries?) which followed with Yeovil probing at the back five in the well-stocked Maidenhead defender. On ten minutes, a free-kick found by Brett McGavin found its way out to Charlie Cooper on the left side and his cross found the head of Jake Wannell in the middle, but the effort was held by Craig Ross.
 
The first opportunity for the home side fell to striker Shawn  McClowsky on 26 minutes who was found in the middle of the box but shot over the bar, before a great ball in from the effective Alex Whittle picked out Ciaran McGuckin  inside the box but his header was well saved by Ross. The pressure was all Yeovil with Maidenhead preferring to play like the away team, sitting deep and hitting on the break.
 
The deadlock was broken on 38 minutes when a sustained period of Yeovil pressure saw a corner worked out to Cooper on the left again and Frank NOUBLE timed his run perfectly and smashed a shot towards goal. It looked to take a deflection off someone on its way in to the net, with the away side crediting Nouble and the home side putting it down as an own goal. If you don’t shoot, you don’t score, so we’ll give it to Frank.
 
Yeovil celebrate the opening goal from Frank Nouble – probably.
Overall, Yeovil looked good value for their half-time lead with a controlled performance. Solid without being spectacular.

Half time: Maidenhead United 0 Yeovil Town 1

Second half

The home side made two changes at the interval with Joshua Johnson and Ricky Korboa brought on and it was Maidenhead who started the second half like they had received a half-time dressing down from their manager.
 
But the  first chance of the half fell to Yeovil after ten minutes when McGavin threaded a ball through to Lo-Everton inside the box whose shot was parried away by Ross, before Will de Havilland’s headed wide from a Reece Smith corner four minutes later.
 

Having gone more than hour without a booking, Yeovil picked up two stupid ones within the space of a minute. First Charlie Cooper saw yellow for squaring up to McGuckin who he felt had not done enough to stop a Maidenhead raid down the left side. Then moments later, Yeovil were awarded a free-kick for a foul on Aidan Stone from a corner, the ball fell to Lo-Everton whose hoofed it away. Kicking the ball away, bookable offence. 

Not long after his public dressing down, McGuckin was replaced by Josh Sims. Whilst I understand why Cooper felt the need to do that and we have all called for leaders to set standards on the pitch, the harsh words felt like they would have been enough. In my opinion, grabbing McGuckin in the way Cooper did was too much.
 
With eight minutes left, the visitors doubled there advantage. A deep free-kick in to the box from Michael Smith looked to have missed all the Yeovil forwards, but substitute Harvey GREENSLADE had different ideas. He bustled in to the defender, controlled it on his chest before bringing it under his spell, swivelling and firing it in to the net. From the other end of the ground it looked special, on the replay it was even better. 
 
There was even a chance for a third with a minute to go when substitute Dom Bernard picked out Nouble on the left, he powered towards goal and flashed a ball across the face of goal with Lo-Everton flying in. Today was a different Frank Nouble to the one I saw at Dagenham & Redbridge just a fortnight earlier – and I am here for it. This was The Guv’nor and we need him in this form.

Full time: Maidenhead United 0 Yeovil Town 2

Match Details

Venue: York Road
Date: Saturday 22nd February, 3pm kick-off

Competition: National League Premier Division

Scorers: Frank Nouble 38 (1-0), Harvey Greenslade 82 (2-0)

Pitch: Not terrible for this point of the season
Conditions: Sunny and bright

Attendance: 1,330 

Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Charlie Cooper 68, Sonny Blu Lo-Everton 69
Maidenhead United: Larry-Fairweather 10, Abrahams 42, Tyrese Dyce 82.

Referee: Callum Walchester

Yeovil Town (3-4-2-1)

Substitutes: Harvey Greenslade (for Kyrell Wilson, 56), Josh Sims (for Ciaran McGuckin, 70), Dom Bernard (for Brett McGavin, 80), Lewys Twamley (not used), Sean McGurk (not used), Matt Gould (not used).

Maidenhead United: Craig Ross, Will de Havilland, Thierry Latty-Fairweather (for Tyrese Dyce, 72), Shawn McClousky, Kane Ferdinand, Casey Pettit (for Ricky Korboa, 46), Reece Smith (for Sam Barratt, 84), Miles Welch-Hayes, Tristan Abrahams (for Tobi Sho-Silva, 84), Alan Massey (for Joshua Johnson, 46), Manny Onarise.

Substuitutes (not used): Harvey Collins, Owen Cochrane.

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Yeovil Town have made one change for today’s trip to Maidenhead United (3pm kick-off).

Ciaran McGuckin comes in for the injured James Plant, who has been ruled out for the season with a hamstring injury, in the only change from Tuesday’s midweek 2-1 win over Tamworth.

 

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After a W on home soil in midweek, Yeovil Town are back on the road this weekend visiting Maidenhead United.

Form Guide…

Whilst Yeovil were picking up a 2-1 home win over Tamworth on Tuesday night, Maidenhead came away from Oldham Athletic with three points of their own. 

The Berkshire club are in a decent run of form with the 1-0 win in the North West being their third in their last five matches with a creditable goalless draw at Hartlepool United in there for good measure.

It appears The Magpies are making their annual push away from the National League Premier Division drop zone and find themselves in the top ten in the division’s form guide over the past six games. They have also won their last three home matches – against Southend United, AFC Fylde and Wealdstone.

For Yeovil, a hard fought win over Tamworth lifted some of the grey clouds which hung over Huish Park after more than two months without a victory.

Manager Mark Cooper and goalkeeper Aidan Stone have both said that the result needs to be the foundation upon which they can pick up their form between now and the end of the season.

Key Players…

Yeovil – Frank Nouble

We haven’t mentioned Frank Nouble’s name much this season, mostly because his winning goal in midweek was his first in almost a year.

The forward returned to the starting XI against Tamworth and showed just how crucial he can be to the team. It’s under appreciated how valuable Nouble’s experience can be in tough times, and with young squad around him, hopefully he can show his worth over the next couple of games.

If the 33-year-old can find his goal-scoring form, in the closing straight of this season, it will be a welcome boost.

Maidenhead United – Tristan Abrahams

If you don’t remember Tristan Abrahams’ time as a Yeovil Town player, you’re probably not alone. He had a fairly forgettable spell on loan from Norwich City in the ill-fated 2019-20 season which saw us drop out of the Football League – albeit one memorable two goal appearance in a home win over Morecambe.

But, the forward has made a name for himself in the lower leagues and he is a player in form going in to this match. Over the last ten games, the 26-year-old has scored three times and got five assists. In total, he has eight goals and six assists, and his strike-partner Shawn McClousky is a goal ahead of him.

Expect those two to be a test for the Glovers’ defence in Berkshire.

A collector’s item. Tristan Abrahams scoring one of his two goals in a home win over Morecambe during his loan spell in 2019-20. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

 

That’s what he said…

Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper spoke to BBC Somerset on Thursday and said he was expecting a tough game at York Road. 

The Glovers’ boss said: “It is a tough game because they have some physically big players, they play five at the back who are tough and have two lads up front who are a threat in (Shawn) McClousky and Tristan Abrahams. The other night (against Tamworth) we had to deal with untold numbers of balls in our box which we had to head, cleared and blocked and we will have to do that against (at Maidenhead) on Saturday. The work-rate and the endeavour has to be the same, that has to be the starting point. You have to match whatever they bring and we have to do that on Saturday. They are a team which fight and stay in the league every year, so it will be a tough game.”

Speaking after Maidenhead’s win at Oldham on Tuesday night, Maidenhead assistant manager Ryan Peters said: “It’s really important because we are looking at that dreaded line (just above the relegation zone) but this is a chance for us to push up. We have got a couple of wins together now and we can start to look at 14th place.”

We’ve met before…

Yeovil do not have fond memories of their visits to York Road and have only taken one point in their three visits there in recent years with the last coming with a 2-1 defeat in February 2023.

In all their four previous visits, the Glovers have picked up one point – a 1-1 draw in February 2022.

However, they did pick up their first win against Maidenhead back in October when an Aaron Jarvis double secured a 3-1 win in the reverse fixture. Miss you, Jarv.

 

Don’t I know you…

As previously mentioned, Tristan Abrahams had a spell on loan at Huish Park in the second half of the 2019-20 season which proved to be Yeovil’s last in the Football League – for now, at least!

Then in the Norwich City youth set-up he was brought to the club by then-Glovers’ boss Darren Way on loan on transfer deadline day in January 2019. He scored twice in a 3-2 home win over Morecambe that season – a game capped by a memorable late Ryan Seager winner – but otherwise did not do too much to make his spell in Somerset a memorable one with three goals in 15 appearances.

However, since leaving Norwich he had spells at Newport County and Carlisle United before dropping in to non-League with Eastleigh, Welling United before joining Maidenhead in February 2024. 

Tristan Abrahams in a Yeovil shirt during his loan spell in 2019-20. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz

Who’s been naughty then…

No-one.

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Yeovil finally registered their first win of 2025 on Tuesday night, as they came from behind to win 2-1 at home to Tamworth! Let’s see what the rest of the league got up to in chilly midweek conditions across two nights!

We begin in the north, where Gateshead triumphed over Sutton United in a 4-3 thriller, the visitors coming back from 2-0 down to take the lead via a belter from Lewis Simper, before the Heed staged a comeback themselves to take all three points. There were huge implications in the title battle, as Barnet defeated York City 3-1 to move seven points clear of their opponents. The Bees were the better side throughout the 90 minutes, and have built themselves a healthy gap at the top with 13 games to go…

On Wednesday night, Eastleigh disposed of a free-falling Dagenham & Redbridge in a 3-0 scoreline, leaving the visitors just four points from the drop and boosting the Spitfires up to 10th in the table. In further relegation drama, Wealdstone came from behind at Braintree Town to win 2-1, jumping out of the relegation zone in the process.

There were three more 2-1 results, all on Tuesday night; all three goals came late at Victoria Park as Hartlepool United were defeated at home to Altrincham, AFC Fylde started life without Kevin Phillips with defeat, as Boston United secured a vital three points in their fight against the drop, and Southend United condemned Aldershot Town to the bottom four with their win at home.

In a big shock, Saturday’s hosts Maidenhead United took all three points back to Berkshire in a 1-0 win at Oldham Athletic, Shawn McCoulsky scoring the only goal of the game for the Magpies. Woking secured a 1-0 win over Solihull Moors on Wednesday night, the final Wednesday night fixture was a 0-0 draw between FC Halifax Town and Rochdale, and the final Tuesday night fixture saw Ebbsfleet United hold Forest Green Rovers to a 0-0 draw at home.

National League results – in full

AFC Fylde 1-2 Boston United
Barnet 3-1 York City
Ebbsfleet United 0-0 Forest Green Rovers
Gateshead 4-3 Sutton United
Hartlepool United 1-2 Altrincham
Oldham Athletic 0-1 Maidenhead United
Yeovil Town 2-1 Tamworth
Southend United 2-1 Aldershot Town
Braintree Town 1-2 Wealdstone
Eastleigh 3-0 Dagenham & Redbridge
FC Halifax Town 0-0 Rochdale
Woking 1-0 Solihull Moors

National League table

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Goalkeeper Aidan Stone said the potential of helping Yeovil Town back in to the Football League is what attracted him to the club.

The stopper, who was part of the Port Vale side which won promotion out of League Two in the 2021-22 season, arrived at Huish Park at the start of the month and replaced loanee Ollie Wright following the youngsters return to Southampton.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah about his start to life in Somerset ahead of this weekend’s trip to Maidenhead United, he said: “It has been brilliant, I have hit the ground running with games coming thick and fast. To be straight in to the team is a good thing because every player wants to play games. Towards the end of the transfer window my agent gave me a call to say the Gaffer (Mark Cooper) had expressed his interest and, once we had a conversation, it was something I wanted to get sorted. I have moved my family down South last year, so being closer to home was a priority. I always remember this club being in the Football League and players I know spoke highly of the club, so it was that which made me interested. I wanted to be part of the journey of taking the club back in to the League.

“It has been good so far. It is always hard coming in to a team midway through a season, but the boys have been brilliant. Jake Wannell and I share a car and it is has been good to make a relationship there. We are chatting about the club, different formations and everything to do with football.”

Asked about his early experiences of playing at Huish Park, the 25-year-old said: “It is an atmosphere which can grow, but that is down to our performances. I like to think that if we can put in performances like we did (in the home win over Tamworth) on Tuesday night, the support will only continue to get better. The club got promoted last year and you would snatch your hand off for a mid-table finish, but we do not want to settle for that. We are better than that, there’s a great group of players there with a lot of ability. It is about using the momentum, when I was at Port Vale I think we were 12th and went on an amazing run and ended up getting promoted, so you never know what can happen in football. I think if we can be in and around the play-offs, that would be an amazing achievement.”

The Glovers travel to Berkshire this weekend on the back of a 2-1 home win over Tamworth on Tuesday night, a match which saw them come from 1-0 down at half-time to claim their first victory in more than two months.

Stone echoed the words of his manager Mark Cooper saying that the victory had to set the benchmark for the club’s remaining matches in the National League Premier Division.

He said: “It is always important to get a win whether you are in good form or the run of form we were in before I joined. What is important is whether we can build on it and take that momentum in to the remaining 15 games and finish the season strongly. If we continue to use the momentum and togetherness we showed on Tuesday night and we will see where it takes us. At half-time we spoke about getting forward and getting shots off, but we knew that eventually there would be balls coming in on top of us and it was how we dealt with that. In previous games we had not been as good, but on Tuesday night we were top class. Now we need to show that every single game, that has to be the benchmark. We have shown we can do it for 45 minutes at least, but it has to for 90 minutes going forward.

“I played against Maidenhead (during a loan spell) at Boston earlier in the season. They manage to find the form to get out of trouble every season, so it will be a tough game for us, but if we show what we showed in the second half the other night (against Tamworth) I think it is going to lead to a positive result for us.”

 

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Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper has said the fight which his players showed in the midweek win over Tamworth has set the benchmark for how they have to attack the rest of the season.

The Glovers travel to Maidenhead United on Saturday looking to build on their first win in more than two months and will do so without loanees James Plant, who has been ruled out for the season with a hamstring injury, and Kofi Shaw, who returned to Bristol Rovers in midweek.

The boss also said he expects defender Morgan Williams to be missing for another six weeks with his hamstring injury, whilst midfielder Jacob Maddox is not expected to be available for the weekend with a foot injury.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah about the 2-1 win at Huish Park on Tuesday night, Cooper said: “When you have gone a while without a win, it is a relief to get one. When you work so hard as a group, the frustration builds and once you get over the line and get those three points, it is a relief and it was a good changing rooms after the game and rightly so because we worked hard against a tough team. Society is about everything having to be now, you are not allowed to make mistakes and you have to win every game, but the message is clear – you have to start with giving everything and, if you do that, the ability comes through in the end.

“The other night, we were front foot for the whole game, we had to stand up and be counted and in adversity and dark times, you learn a lot about people. You certainly learn about yourself, as a manager, you learn about which of your players are going to stand up, pick the flag up and march forward and which are going to not do that. The other night we had some warriors who picked the flag up and march straight down the middle and we have to keep doing that.”

The boss picked out forward Frank Nouble‘s performance against Tamworth. The 33-year-old netted the winner just before the hour mark, his first goal in almost a year. His manager said: “Frank is a good pro, he never misses a training session, he always puts himself out there and when you are a forward and you do not get the goals that your play deserves, however, you dress it up, it plays on your mind. It is not a lack of confidence, it is a moment in time, but we all knew it would end. He led the line superbly well the other night and that is what we need from him. He made the opposition defend the other night, but there was another 12 of them out there.”

James Plant has been ruled out for the season with a hamstring injury suffered in the 2-1 home win over Tamworth on Tuesday night.

Shaw was not available for the midweek win having been recalled by Bristol Rovers the day before and came off the substitute’s bench for his parent club’s 2-0 defeat at Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday night.

On Shaw, Cooper said: “It is a big loss because he can play in a number of positions, he can play as a high midfielder, as a number ten. He has just turned 18 years old and we had to be careful about the environment we put him in. He got an awful lot of minutes with us and Bristol Rovers were delighted with his progression. It is good for him because he went and played League One football the other night and I do not think he would be doing that if he had not had such a good time with us.”

Plant limped off after 64 minutes on Tuesday night after becoming the latest Glovers’ player to fall foul to the hamstring curse which has already taken out striker Aaron Jarvis, defender Williams and Plant who suffered the injury in his first loan spell at the club.

The boss said: “It is not the same hamstring he did before. Morgan Williams we have lost with a hamstring. I have my own theories why that is…… It is really frustrating because he was a top player for us, he has an unbelievable work ethic, he goes past people, crosses the ball, he can play in different positions. We have not been able to train on grass for three months, we just train on a quagmire and I am sure that has an impact on the injuries we are picking up. It is not an excuse, but it is something we are trying to solve.”

Yeovil travel to Maidenhead United in the National League Premier Division this weekend with their hosts riding high following a 1-0 midweek win at promotion-chasing Oldham Athletic. In their last three games, the Berkshire club beat Southend United at home and earned a point on the road at Hartlepool United.

Cooper does expect to have on loan Swindon Town midfielder Sean McGurk, who missed the win over Tamworth with an injury, available for that match, but is expecting another tough encounter.

He said: “It is a tough game because they have some physically big players, they play five at the back who are tough and have two lads up front who are a threat in (Shawn) McClousky and Tristan Abrahams. The other night (against Tamworth) we had to deal with untold numbers of balls in our box which we had to head, cleared and blocked and we will have to do that against (at Maidenhead) on Saturday. The work-rate and the endeavour has to be the same, that has to be the starting point. You have to match whatever they bring and we have to do that on Saturday. They are a team which fight and stay in the league every year, so it will be a tough game.”

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Yeovil Town will have a repeat referee in charge on Saturday, we’ve already seen Mr Callum Walchester once this season… actually, we’ve almost seen him twice.

Mr Walchester was the man in the middle for the Glovers’ 1-0 win over Braintree back on August 17th.

Morgan Williams bagged the only goal of the game, with Messrs Jarvis and Nouble bagging themselves a yellow card in the game.

He was also scheduled to be in charge for our 0-0 draw with Sutton United in September, but he was replaced late on by Paul Johnson.

That Braintree fixture represented his first game in the middle for the Glovers, and the record books show that he’s only refereed our opposition on one occasion too.

A 0-0 draw with Bromley in January 2024.

Overall this season, he’s officiated in seven National League games, dishing out 36 yellows and 1 red, but it is worth noting that 11 of those (…and the red) came in the same game, a feisty encounter between Braintree and Fylde.

Callum has been an assistant referee in a Wembley final in 2017 so has already clocked up a vast amount of experience on the National League circuit.

He will be assisted by Tim Walker and James Hurst, Tommy Breen is the fourth official.

 

Matt Robinson strikes at goal for Braintree.
(Referee Callum Walchester in the background)

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Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper has hailed the performance of his players in tonight’s 2-1 win over Tamworth at Huish Park.

The boss admitted it had been “a difficult few days” after last weekend’s home defeat to Wealdstone extended their run without a National League win to more than two months.

Having fallen behind just before the half-hour mark, the Glovers turned in an impressive second half display which saw them pull level courtesy of a deflected Charlie Cooper strike before frontman Frank Nouble’s first goal in almost a year sealed the win on the hour.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman after the game, the manager said: “We had to work really hard after Saturday. The chairman (Martin Hellier), myself, the players to try and turn the negativity around and it had to start with desire and commitment and I thought the energy players provided to the stadium was incredible. To go 1-0 down in what could be a toxic atmosphere makes it an even greater performance, the players were top draw tonight.

“They are a really difficult team to play against, they have got points off the big teams and you know what is coming with ten minutes to go. They brought (long throw specialist Tom) Tonks on who is a good player with a missile of a throw which you know you are going to have to defend it. But the start of the second half was key, we got that goal and it gave the Thatcher’s the impetus and they drove us on.

“It has been a difficult few days and we showed a united front which is important. In today’s day and age, the way society and social media works, everything is about ‘now’ and you have to have everything now. People have to have everything now, but sometimes it takes time to build. We are trying to build this club back in, the owner has put an incredible amount of money in that he is never going to get back and we are trying to make it better.

“It is not going to happen overnight, but when you have a group of players with that commitment and show in negative times that they can do that, you know we can have a really good end to the season and put things in place where we can just do everything better, but it takes time.”

Cooper praised the performance of Nouble who was brought back in to the starting line-up having come off the bench towards the end of Saturday’s defeat. His winning strike was his first goal since the 1-0 win at Braintree Town in National League South on March 24th last year.

The boss said: “Frank is a proud man who has scored goals and to go that long without scoring would play on anyone’s mind, but even if you take away his goal, his performance was top draw. We had some eight or nines out of ten tonight and we have to do that more and more. It is about how do you bottle that desire to get that feeling of pure relief, but real pride at how we responded to get the win.”

One negative of the evening was the sight of on loan Port Vale midfielder James Plant limping off shortly after Yeovil’s second goal with what the manager said appears to be a hamstring injury.

Cooper added: “Aaron Jarvis is probably the best number nine in the league in my opinion, Morgan Williams is a top centre back, Sean McGurk is a top player, Jacob Maddox, they are big misses for us. James Plant has done his hamstring now, it looks like, so I am going to have to ask the chairman for some more money – which I know he is pleased about! But that happens to every club, sometimes you get injuries and sometimes people step up.”