Yeovil are back in the road this weekend, as they make the trip to Greater Manchester to play Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park on Saturday.
Form Guide…
The Latics have been the kings of 1-1 draws this season with five results ending with that score line, with four of those coming in their last five games.
However, their latst result against Woking saw them triumph 3-1 winners away from home.
Over the last five games the Glovers have picked up seven points with wins on the road at AFC Fylde and Boston United, and two defeats and a draw on home soil against Rochdale, Solihull Moors and Altrincham respectively.
Away from home, Yeovil go in to the weekend with the third best record in the division, facing the 15th-best home record in the division in Oldham, who have not won since a 3-0 success over Braintree Town on the opening day of the season.
With the Somerset side currently sat in 12th in the National League it has been a steady start to the new campaign, however, on paper, Premier League founder members Oldham will provide a much sterner test than the past couple of weeks.
Key Players…
Oldham – Mike Fondop
Fondop has been the Greater Manchester side biggest threat this season with three goals and two assists in nine games. The striker has started 67% of games for The Latics, becoming someone they have heavily relied upon.
He will be a familiar face for all the wrong reasons for Glovers’ fans having scored against us both home and away in the 2022-23 season, including a brace in a 3-0 win for Oldham in the penultimate game of a forgettable season (for us) at Huish Park.
Another notable name is James Norwood who hasn’t been his prolific self but his qualities at this level could be on show if he finds form. Norwood rose to prominence with an impressive goal-scoring record at Tranmere Rovers which earned him a move to Ipswich Town and then Barnsley, before arriving at Oldham in the summer of 2023. He scored 18 times last season and has just one in five appearances so far this campaign.
Yeovil – Sam Pearson
The winger has been very productive this season with four assists and one goal in nine games so far this season.
The Welsh youth international has contributed mainly when playing on the left with one goal and two assists coming from when playing in that position. But the ex-Bristol City man has found himself more often than not on the right where he has been far less effective.
Pearson will need to be outlet this weekend for Yeovil as attacking opportunities may be hard to come by against a recently relegated team.
Thats what he said…
Glovers boss Mark Cooper talked to the press about the talent Oldham have at their disposal. He said: “They have a squad of players that are probably above the level and at a club like Oldham they know they have to win games of football, otherwise the crowd are not happy.”
Latics’ manager Micky Mellon spoke to the club’s website about the weekend, he said: “We are definitely competing with the better teams in the division and we need to turn these draws in to victories, we are certainly creating chances and the next stage is being more clinical and ruthless.
“This is the most balanced National League I have known, every game seems to be contested evenly, there’s loads of quality players in to this division and every week is a tough challenge and the next game (against Yeovil) will be that.
“There’s loads of Football League experience, loads of players that have been schooled well at Under-23s level, but we believe we have a really good group that can handle that.”
We’ve met before…
Oldham and Yeovil have met 22 times in their history with The Latics winning eight of those, the Glovers have also won eight with the other six fixtures being draws.
The last time these two side met was in 2019 at Huish Park with the away side winning 0-3. In fact Yeovil haven’t won a game in this fixture since 2015 when they won 2-1 at home.
Don’t I know you…
The former Yeovil players don’t stop as former Glovers man Otis Khan is now in Micky Mellon’s squad. Khan played 87 times for the Glovers netting 18 times and setting up 15 goals. The Pakistan international was at Huish Park for two years between 2016 and 2018.
Since leaving Somerset the winger has gone to play for Mansfield, Newport and Tranmere to name a few.
Who’s been naughty then…
Neither team will have anyone missing through suspension.
How can you keep across the game?
In Person
If you fancy the 500-mile round trip from Somerset to Greater Manchester, tickets are available – check the Huish Hugh Ciderspace Away Travel Guide for full details.
On the Radio
BBC Somerset will have full coverage of the match with Josh Perkins the man with the mic.
On the TV/ stream
National League TV has this game listed as available to watch outside of the UK
On the Gloverscast.co.uk
We’ll have team news, match report, Five Conclusions and our usual reaction podcast to follow on Monday.
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