The Glovers got their first three points of the season with the 2-1 victory over Brackley Town at Huish Park last night. Ian was back at Huish Park and here are his first five conclusions of the season.
It was important to get off the mark. The pressure was really on last night following the opening two matches and ultimately, the Glovers responded. A confidence-boosting goal for Josh Sims and a memorable first for Ben Wodskou in-front of the Thatchers was exactly what the supporters, players and manager needed to ease the pressure. With a weekend trip to Braintree, who got an impressive 3-0 win over Halifax at home on the opening day, but have since lost two on the bounce with red cards in both of those defeats, Yeovil have a chance to build a bit of momentum now.
We have Jed Ward to thank. The goalkeeper was certainly the busier of the two over the course of the evening, making a series of saves as Brackley Town peppered the glovers goal. Three matches in and Ward is proving to be an impressive bit of recruitment. Aside from the ropey short goal kicks, he didn’t put a foot wrong in between the sticks last night and without him, it probably would have been a different story.
Credit to Brackley. Pre-match, I wondered if we’d see the visitors dig in and frustrate but the opposite was true. They got on the ball and played some nice football, carving Yeovil apart at times. In the first half in particular, we struggled to deal with their direct running. I was really impressed with Morgan Roberts (their number 10) in the attacking midfield. He only had one thing on his mind every time he picked up the ball, get forward and cause problems, and he did from the first minute. Maybe it was the pressure, but in that first half, they looked like the team playing at home.
Rotation paid off. There were four changes from Saturday’s dismal day at Forest Green and it showed. Harvey Greenslade was given the nod up front and his relentless running meant he was constantly putting pressure on the Brackley defenders. It was a shame he put his one chance over the bar when it fell to him, but I’d love to see more of Harvey. Kyle Ferguson stepped in for Jake Wannell and put in the type of performance we saw from him last season. The return of Brett McGavin from the start also meant we had a progressive midfielder with the ability to get us forward rather than the defensively-minded pairing of Charlie Cooper and Finn Cousin-Dawson. With games on Saturday and Bank Holiday Monday, we’re sure to see most of the squad this weekend.
We have to talk about the style. As brilliant as it was to get the three points (and stop talking about those cursed potatoes), it wasn’t the most inspiring night of football. That opening thirty minutes or so was dire. That is not a criticism of the players either, and clearly when Jed Ward realised it was working, he took responsibility on the pitch and sacked off the short goal kicks to cheers from the supporters. I don’t think we’re particularly dynamic in midfield and find it so frustrating when a visiting team comes to town and plays through us easily while we knock it about and struggle to make any meaningful openings. We’ve gone through change and brought in new players so some of that lack of cohesion is understandable, but we’re not an anomaly for that in the league. After all, what is pre-season for? I struggle to see an identity or attractive style of play, but hopefully the win will give us that confidence boost to play with a bit more freedom.
Thanks Iain. Spot on. The point about our not having a dynamic midfield particularly resonates. While the team isn’t built around the central midfield, the setup does seem to suit one player over the others. Not seen enough of McCormick yet; DMF is probably not FCDs favoured position if alongside Charlie; McGavin has loads of skill and seems to have that vision brain – his inclusion was definitely an improvement over the first two games. While fans argue if Charlie is/isn’t good enough, we haven’t recruited a like-for-like replacement (or is Maddox that player?) If we did/he is, we would have other options and possibly be more dynamic. Without Charlie, we lose something (grit? willing to rough it up?…fill in the blank) BUT I’m probably not the only one who gets fed up with the 5-yard pass back to the player who gave him the ball and we lost momentum…way too many times. That’s not new news -it’s been that way for so long it should be expected! His effort couldn’t be faulted though, even if those passes are still frustrating.
I think 2-1 was very flattering, Brackley were by far the better team, especially in the first half, and without Jed ward we’d of been a couple of goals down by half time. More uninspiring, boring, regressive and slow football to come under cooper.
Please sort those player names out, getting hold of yellow letters/numbers would be ideal. If people with perfect vision are struggling to know who’s playing, God knows what the experience is like for anyone who needs glasses!
Just want to say thought the Brackley fans were the best away fans I’ve seen in ages they made me laugh.Im guessing josh sims is going to be eating a lot of potato based meals for thr foreseeable future.looking forward to the gateshead game