Following a less than satisfactory Tuesday night at Huish Park, the Glovers are back and this time it’s Altrincham who make the long trip south from Greater Manchester.
Here’s our preview of an important game at Huish Park, our final home game before two more trips on the road to Oldham Athletic next weekend and Sutton United three days after that.
Form Guide…
Yeovil Town are looking to get back to winning ways after falling to Solihull Moors 1-0 on home soil Tuesday night.
The Glovers have now lost three of their four home games this season (all by a 1-0 scoreline) so will hoping to get their Fortress Huish Park plans back on track.
Overall though, eight games and a record of four wins and four losses isn’t to be sniffed at. Yeovil sit ninth going into the weekend’s games.
Altrincham are sat in 16th at time of writing, but such is the nature of the table this season, they could overtake the Glover with a win, they have ten points from eight games and lost against Barnet on Tuesday night.
That game ended 2-1 to the Bees – Alty were 1-0 up on the night through striker Justin Amaluzor, but Barnet clawed back into the game and bagged a 92nd minute winner.
Their last win was last Saturday a 4-0 thrashing of Ebbsfleet United, a result which ended a three match run without a win,
Key Players…
Yeovil – Aaron Jarvis
The Glovers’ frontman has done a lot of huffing and puffing over the last few weeks and has already scored twice, but both of those goals have come away from home.
The former Torquay striker is yet to find the net on home soil this season and with Mark Cooper challenging his forward players to show more quality in the final third, Jarvis might be the one to step up as he’s looked the most dangerous and likely to get on the end of something in the opposition box.
Altrincham – Alex Newby
Alex Newby is a midfielder who can do a bit of everything.
The 28 year old, joined Alty from Colchester United in January and has been at the likes of Barrow and Chorley before – he played against the Glovers twice for Chorley in the 2019/20 season.
This season he’s been one of their best players in terms of ratings and involvements at the business end of the pitch.
He scored (and picked up an assist) against Ebbsfleet in a 4-0 demolition job last Saturday and assisted Tyler Golden’s opening day winner at home toWoking. He can operate on either flank and either Michael Smith or Alex Whittle (or both) will have to have their wits about them.
That’s What He Said…
Mark Cooper told BBC Somerset on Thursday that Altrincham are a “very good football team” and was looking forward to the challenge.
“[They’re] very good to watch, they’ve got some really good forwards, some good players all over the pitch and they try and play real football, they try and pass the ball, rotate and it’ll be a difficult game. But listen, we’re at home, we’ve lost three home games 1-0…we have to put on a performance at home, our fans need to be invigorated and energised, we have to give them that.”
After their game against Barnet on Tuesday – whilst Dean Brennan was having a little rant – Phil Parkinson said that their defeat came down to a lack of concentration rather than a lack of a performance.
With regards to a trip to Somerset, Parkinson said that it was “critical” his side bounced back; “every game is the same, we didn’t come here [to Barnet] hoping to get a win, we believed we could get a win… when your fans have travelled a long way you want to entertain them, our fans demand that when we set the team up we want to win, so like every game, we’ll set up to try and force the issue and Yeovil will be no different.”
We’ve met before…
The last two meetings between the sides have been draws with a 1-1 draw at Huish Park in February 2023 the most recent coming together.
James Jones opened the scoring and was later sent off (he’s still with Alty, now) before some chap called Jordan Maguire-Drew equalised from the penalty spot. Matt Gould was on the bench for Altrincham that day.
Before that, Egli Kaja bagged a 90th minute equaliser in a 2-2 draw in August of the same season up north.
Malachi Linton and Gime Toure (now there’s a name!) the Glovers’ scorers.
However the most memorable recent meeting was a 1-0 away win for Yeovil on the final day of the 2021/22 season.
A single Tom Knowles’ (DFILWF) earned the Glovers three points.
It was the first team debut of Max Evans and Ollie Haste and remains the match in which Josh Staunton earned his perfect 100% record as Glovers manager.
We learned recently that Grant Smith had an outfield shirt printed with “Smith 1” on the back… just in case!
Don’t I know you?
Right, we won’t lie, we’re struggling here.
We can’t spot any direct YTFC links within the Altrincham squad, which makes this part of the preview quite short.
Matt Gould, the Glovers’ Goalkeeper/Coach joined Huish Park directly from Altrincham this summer though, so here’s a picture of him looking very happy about it.
Who’s been a naughty boy, then?
Neither club is dealing with any suspensions, but this feels like a good time to mention that five yellows will lead to a one-match ban, both sides have a number of players on three for the season.
Alty will hope that Ed Jones, Lewis Banks and Tom Crawford (all on three) keep their noses clean whilst the Glovers have the same concerns about Aaron Jarvis (also on three).
Here’s a handy graphic explaining the situation with regards to yellow card accumulation.
How can you keep across the game?
In Person
Get to Huish Park! Tickets are available for the game here.
On the Radio
Ian is back on the mic with BBC Somerset alongside the returning “Stone Cold” Chris Spittles.
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.