Welcome back to life as a Yeovil Town fan. It’s been a long and sometimes stressful summer for us Glovers, however here our first preview of the season with Hartlepool United visiting Huish Park on the opening day.
Form Guide…
Nice and simple this week, in competitive action both teams are equal, as it is the first game of the new season. However, let’s take a look at both teams fared in their final pre-season friendlies.
Yeovil Town
Last weekend’s pre-season friendly result against Somerset rivals Weston Super-Mare was one that wont live long in the memory. Yeovil rarely offered anything up front, which has been an issue since manager Mark Cooper joined the club, and seemingly ran out of ideas by the time the second half kicked off.
The Glovers were then made to pay after a silly challenge from defender Jake Wannell fouled former team-mate Louis Britton inside the box. The resulting penalty was calmly put away by Luke Coulson. Cooper clearly was not happy with the defeat, giving a talking to his team on the pitch after the final whistle.
Hartlepool United
The Poolies side did not fare much better in their last game of pre-season last weekend, losing 2-0 at National League North side South Shields, giving up two quick goals inside the first 20 minutes of the game. South Shields broke the deadlock inside 10 minutes as Paul Blackett converted. The second of Blackett’s goals came shortly after, who converted his own rebound.
Manager Simon Grayson fielded a side in an experimental 4-4-2 formation, different to the 3-5-2 they are likely to line up in against Yeovil with first-teamers Jay Benn, Reiss McNally, Besart Topalloj, Jamie Miley and Nathan Sheron all starting on the bench.
Safe to say both teams will be looking to improve on their performances last time out and hit the ground running in the National League Premier Division.
Key Players…
Yeovil Town – Brett McGavin
The Glovers come into the game, after a turbulent off season with a host of last years squad leaving for pastures new. One player who has stayed put is the beautifully bouffant Brett McGavin. The centre midfielder showed last term how critical he is to the team’s performances. Without any prolific strikers in the side, McGavin quickly became a source of goals for the Glovers, contributing seven and assisting three.
Outside of the wonderful goals he scored, the midfielder also brought a presence to the middle of the park, controlling the game and often being the linchpin for starting attacks.
Hartlepool – Tom Parkes
The veteran centre half is a stalwart at the lower end of the professional game, having played 339 games in League Two and 106 in the National League ( yes, I am claiming it as a professional league). Now at the ripe old age of 33 Parkes is at the tail end of his career, but still possess the quality to stop forwards from playing.
📸 Mike Kunz
The former Bristol Rovers and Exeter City player had a brief one-month loan spell at Huish Park at the start of his career, he played twice between December 2010 and January 2011 – including a 4-2 FA Cup defeat for the Glovers against Hartlepool United.
He was confirmed as club captain this week and if the Glovers want to get on the score sheet on Saturday, they will have to get past Parkes first.
The Gaffer….
Simon Grayson will be a name familiar with almost all football league fans. Grayson started at Blackpool, before moving onto Leeds, Huddersfield and Sunderland to name a few.
For the older Yeovil fans, he is a man of great pain, as his Blackpool side defeated the Glovers at Wembley in the 2006/07 League One Playoff Final (it still hurts).
In his 20 years as a manager, Grayson has faced the Glovers 10 times and has not lost a single game. With eight wins and two draws. The most recent was over 10 years ago in the January of 2015, when his Preston North End side drew 1-1 with Yeovil at Deepdale.
Last Time We Met…
The last time the two sides clashed back in December last year, Yeovil fell to a 2-1 defeat. A late goal from Gary Madine sealed the victory after Kofi Shaw had equalised. The first goal of the game came through an Emmanuel Dieseruwerve penalty.
Yeovil also had the pleasure of welcoming Pools to Huish Park for opening game of last season, when the visitors took home all three points thanks to a Jack Hunter goal.
Don’t I Know You?
There are a couple of old Yeovil boys in the Hartlepool team.
Adam Smith – Pools keeper Smith played the Glovers 50 times over the period of two seasons on loan in Somerset.
Tom Parkes – If you thought his name sounded familiar it’s because he also came to Huish Park on loan back in 2010/11. playing two games.
Man In The Middle…
The referee for Saturday’s fixture will be Rob Massey-Ellis. Read all about him here in Ben’s write up.
not good today with yeovil