Billy Rowley’s winning start to life as Yeovil Town manager came to an end with a 2-0 defeat against an impressive Forest Green Rovers side on a miserable night at Huish Park. Dave finally managed to make a home match and was among those in the Thatcher’s Stand at Huish Park, here are his thoughts.
We were beaten by a better team: This was a match between two sides at very different places in their development and it showed. For them, they looked like a side which had come close to promotion last season, strengthened in a way we never even could when we were a Football League club and looked head-and-shoulders the better side. For us, we are still a work in progress and listening to Billy Rowley speak after the game his talk about “clarity” underlined the fact that the way he wants us to play is still a way off. I was pleased to hear him sound obviously disappointed and wanting more despite the fact this was a bit of a hiding to nothing.
Not brave enough against ten men: When Forest Green went down to ten men with 25 minutes remaining, you sensed Huish Park saying to the team ‘come on then, let’s just have a go’, but it never happened. You have to give some credit to Forest Green (all this credit for a Robbie Savage side makes me feel dirty!) as they managed those minutes well, but we made it very easy for them. We could have taken a leaf out of their book and used our wide players to get a few balls in to Jarvis and Campbell when he came on. It started with a roar from the stands, but finished with a whimper on the pitch.
Set pieces were off: Did we take a good set piece all night? There were a couple of occasions in the second half in front of the Thatcher’s when Brett McGavin did not even beat the first man with a corner (‘that should be a bookable offence‘, I hear Ben cry!), none of our free-kicks ever really did anything to trouble them and generally we were off it with set pieces. The conditions were not great, but we could have used that to our advantage and just had a go – see previous conclusion.
Don’t fall in love with footballers: Tom Knowles looked very bit the player we remember him being at Huish Park. Pace, trickery, hard work. I stood next to Ian and I can tell you there was a tear in his eye – and not just watching our set pieces! Then when TK came over to the Thatcher’s at the end to applaud the home fans. Don’t fall in love with footballers, but has there ever been one harder not to do that for?
On to the next one: It’s a massive cliche, but our season is not defined by losing at home against Forest Green Rovers. If what we are doing is all about a project to build a side which is playing good football and challenging, the next three or four matches are the place we can really kick on. A long trip to Truro City on Boxing Day and then back-to-back league games at home to Eastleigh and then Braintree Town are the games which are going to define us. Whilst I didn’t feel the substitutions made much of an impact, it was good to see we could bring the likes of Plant, Sims and Joliffe off the bench and I would expect them to feature more in the next few games. You can call my attitude defeatist because you feel we should be competing at the top, I call it realistic for where we have come from and where we are going. Billy Rowley and the ownership have set the play and now they have to deliver them, our job as supporters is to back them and I have no doubt we will.
You mention the substitutions we made . Well , firstly , they seemed to take an awfully long time in getting on the pitch , and secondly , I think that we lost a lot of the momentum we had been building before they were made , whether that was to do with the number we made I’m not sure .
As you say they were the better team , certainly in the first half , but I think we missed a chance to have a real go at them when they went down to 10 .
Completely agree, George. Savage was ranting at the fourth official to get their subs on and we seemed to mess around waiting to get ours on.
I agree that when we had the man advantage we should have had a go at them. You try as many points losing 4-0 as you do 2-0, but we never showed any real desire to have a go.
*Gareth 🤦🏻
On board with all your thoughts. Expecting 3/4 changes on BD not for rotation but for the tin eared guys who haven’t listened to BR and those who didn’t turn up last night like McGavin and Efete. I like McGavin but his contribution was poor. Expecting Tobin and Joliffe in CM, Sims and Ellison to start
Oh come on, FGR might be going well in the league, and finances might be similar between the clubs, but they can only fit about 4000 in their ground.
We should be up the top of the league challenging them.
Think I came away more optimistic than other commentators and have posted elsewhere about being impressed by our new manager and not wishing to emulate last nights opposition as a model for development. Was my first game since Southend.
Turning to one aspect, The last quarter.
We had some momentum building, and then the sending off.
I sensed an aching around Huish Park to have a real go at them. Maybe not to turnover the result, but to show what we can do when HP comes alive to those who have yet to truely witness this. To provide a validation for Bill Rowley and this team of what they are working on.
The first game I’ve watched since Billy Rowley became manager.
We were totally outclassed from start to finish.
When he took over, Rowley mentioned various qualities he liked to see in players, these included movement & intelligence. I took that to mean movement off of the ball & awareness.
Unfortunately, both of these things are totally lacking in the present side.
It might be possible for the manager to eventually get them to do the first part, but I fear the second quality is something a player either has or hasn’t.
The other problem which I’ve mentioned before, is the lack of width.
If you play 4-4-2 with full backs who can get up & down the pitch, this isn’t a problem.
If you play with wing backs, as Rowley is clearly going to do, somebody, somewhere, has to support the wing back & as with Cooper & Dryden it isn’t happening. We mostly had to rely on individuals taking on two or more players on their own.
That’s a good point about the wingbacks. One attack came to a complete halt when Efete didn’t have anyone to pass to and seemed reluctant to go any further up field. Almost like he’d been told ’10m past half-way, no more’!
That said, the atmosphere was good and we can certainly beat weaker teams than FGR. Jed Ward wasn’t having too much of the sideways pass to a CB from a goal kick, either, which I was pleased to see. Would be happier with 4 at the back, though. And so would our defence, I reckon.