It was another three points for the Glovers and another unconvincing performance, but who cares? Ian was at Huish Park for the 1-0 win against Truro City and here are his Five Conclusions…
We looked exhausted in the first half. It was the main point Billy Rowley made in his post-match interview, but from kick off we looked dead on our feet. Terrell Works, normally buzzing around pressing, wasn’t. Delano McCoy-Splatt and Brett McGavin weren’t able to control the midfield – I thought the first half passed them by in truth – and we ended up lumping it to the Truro defence for them to rebuild over and over. The wingers were on the ball sparingly and Truro could have gone in 2-0 up at half time was it not for poor finishing and Jed Ward in the middle of our goal.
We improved in the second half. I’m not so sure if the players got a rocket at half time or not, but you didn’t need a body language expert to understand how the manager was feeling in the first half. Rowley praised Darren Simpson for the positional tweaks which improved the Glovers and I think it was evident early on in the higher press and the early chances. Until…
We started dropping like flies. Our threadbare, (small squad of quality™) patched up team started to fall victim to their gruelling schedule. Since Morecambe, Yeovil have travelled more than 1300 miles in round trips. Away trips to Wealdstone, Gateshead, Southend in seven days will have killed any sort of meaningful preparation. Aaron Jarvis and Jake Wannell both exited through injury, Joy Mukena was on one leg and we found out pre-match the Josh Sims is out for the season too. Fitness has been an issue all season and the importance of getting it right in pre-season is even more evident given our current situation.
Will Merry still had some fuel in the tank. The youngster was full of running throughout the match and was Yeovil’s brightest spark. When a bit of space opened up in front of him in stoppage time he only had one thing on his mind and as he glided past the Truro defence and put the ball past Aidan Stone the roof came off Huish Park. It was, once again, pure relief as we found a way to grab all three points.
We need this season to finish. In my five conclusions following Sutton I said “each game will be it’s own cup final with varying levels of severity as we muddle through until May.” I think that’s generally how it’s gone. We’ve not seen much of a playing style come through for various reasons but with us now (all but mathematically) safe and sat in 13th we can relax. As I said on Friday’s podcast, I think we can go into the summer with calm off the pitch, but there is pressure on the Jamie ‘the HR guy’ Hedges, and the brain trust behind the recruitment plan to get it right to make us competitive. I hope we’ve spent all this time working on a strategy so as soon the final whistle goes after Solihull we know exactly what we’re going after in summer and we get our business done early.
Well written Ian, we think it’s less than fumes that they’re running on, more like the final sniff off the petrol cap seal. A very dangerous time for them all, injuries are only going to increase as their bodies have nothing left to protect themselves with. We’re safe, so surely it’s time to slot in more of our youngsters with a scattering of first teamers playing for half an hour here and there, it will give them invaluable playing experience with the first team encouraging and supporting them alongside our fans from the stands.
The season ends so early in April.. if there’s so much travelling, why don’t they spread it out a bit, and do August to May?
It’s a case of the tail wagging the dog, the strung out and over complex play offs dictate how early the season ends.
Dan Ellison should be selected for all the remaining games.
Is the ‘HR Guy’ still here ? I ask as I haven’t heard a peep out of him since he joined .
Agree with your description of the first half , a load of faffing about with the ball in our half , and then a launch up to a front three who could not have been further apart .
Playing with a back five and two sitting in front , the front three had to be a bit closer together to do anything constructive .
As the summariser said at Southend , difficult to score if you can’t get the ball out of your own half .
At least with Truro not taking their chances we knew that one bit of skill would win it .
Luckily that skill was from one of ours .