Yeovil Town’s on loan players will still have a major part to play in the club’s season, according to manager Chris Hargreaves.

The Glovers’ boss has left Bristol City goalkeeper Will Buse out of his squad for the past three games and Plymouth Argyle defender Finley Craske is yet to make the final 16.

Speaking ahead of the (now postponed) match at Woking, he told our man Ben Barrett that the situation would not continue forever.

Chris Hargreaves. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

He said: “We haven’t got an under-23s group but we do have a lot of young players and sometimes we are tapping in to even younger players to make up 11-v-11 games in training.

But, when we have a couple of injuries, it soon turns in to a smaller squad and this is sometimes a problem with under-23s players and we won’t be the only club experiencing that.

I hope we’ve got the balance right but it can’t continue where nobody gets a look in, I understand that, and that won’t be the case.” 

Of Buse, who joined just over a month ago, the manager said the lack of substitutes and substitutions available in a National League match and the form of number one Grant Smith was keeping him out.

He said: “Will is highly competitive and he wants to play, he came in to battle for that number one jersey and that’s what any keeper wants.

But, Grant Smith is pulling off saves, he’s competent, his talking, his distribution’s positive, so at the moment Will has to be patient.

The reason he’s not been on the bench is that we have five subs, three changes and we’ve gone on the premise we might need an extra attacking player on the bench because of injury.”

Earlier in the week, Plymouth Argyle boss Steven Schumacher said he would like to see  Craske playing games at Huish Park – but said he trusted Hargreaves with the 19-year-old’s development.

The Glovers’ boss said: “He’s had a lot of players in front of him because everyone became fit and there was an opportunity to bring players in that we hadn’t had before.

That meant he was further down the pecking order. Does that mean he’s not a good player? Absolutely not, he’s a fantastic footballer with an unbelievable attitude who trains brilliantly.

Other loanees winger Sam Pearson and midfielder Sam Perry, on loan from Bristol City and Walsall respectively, have featured along with Bolton Wanderers striker Matt Grivosti, who returned to his parent club after two substitute appearances.

Alfie Pond. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Defender Alfie Pond played twice in a loan spell from Exeter City before it was cut short by his move to Premier League Wolves on transfer deadline day.

Hargreaves revealed that conversations had taken place to try and get the 19-year-old back after he impressed in clean sheet performances against Dagenham & Redbridge and Wealdstone.

He said: “I thought because of his performances there was a chance he could have left, but I didn’t think it was going to happen on Transfer Deadline Day as it did.

There was a conversation (with Wolves) about his loan continuing but it was felt being around our first team and transitioning to their under-23s would have been more beneficial to the player.

It was a shame because he was showing glimpses of the player he can be, but we wish him the best for the future.”

The other loan player on the books at Huish Park currently is AFC Bournemouth youth team captain defender Owen Bevan who was named on the bench in the 1-0 home defeat to York City last weekend, but did not feature.


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