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.
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.
Who’s been naughty then…
No-one.
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