Yeovil Town are back at Huish Park on Saturday afternoon as they take on fellow strugglers Morecambe in the league.
FORM…
YEOVIL TOWN
The game was marred on the Glovers behalf at least by striker Aaron Jarvis receiving his 10th yellow card of the season meaning a suspension. With Jarvis out and Tahvon Campbell on loan, Billy Rowley now only has new recruit Millar Matthews-Lewis to rely on up top.
Speaking of Rowley, his damming post match interview, where he questioned his players mentality and pleaded for “some more passion” will hopefully get a spark out of his squad.
MORECAMBE
If this was a month or so go it would be a different story. A team that was minutes away from being extinct, languishing near the bottom of the table with poor result after poor result. However, they have since parted ways with Ashvir Johal and brought in Jim Bentley, who has done a good job in getting a more consistent tune out of the side.
Over the last five games, the Shrimps have won twice, drawn twice and lost once (to York). It was a 1-1 draw for the Seasiders last time out as they faced Braintree at home, but it has been the scoring prowess of the Lancashire side that has been impressive. In the last five games they have scored 15 goals, a cause for concern for the Glovers defence.
KEY PLAYERS…
YEOVIL TOWN – MILLAR MATTHEWS-LEWIS
I feel bad for putting him in the position of key player when he has only played a handful of minutes on Tuesday night. But it shows the level of desperation we are now at that we have to rely on a very new loanee to get us going. As mentioned with Aaron Jarvis now suspended. Matthews-Lewis will need to step up in a big way on Saturday.
A big problem for the Glovers all season has been goals, so the hope of bringing the 21-year-old in is that he can hit the ground running. In his 24 appearance in the National League South this season the Burton Albion youngster has bagged 12 goals, something he can hopefully transfer in the step up.
MORECAMBE – JACK NOLAN
There was only one man that I could pick for this after doing some research and that is Jack Nolan. The 24-year-old is a midfielder that every manager dreams of. Technically very good, can set up a goal and even finishes them himself. In fact so far this season the midfield master has found the net 15 times, yep you read that correct.
Although performing at a good level before the arrival of Jim Bentley, Nolan has stepped it up a gear for his new boss with 10 goals in that time, six of which have come in his last three games. And what is perhaps even more impressive for you geeks out there is that he hit a match rating of 10 (on Sofascore) when Morecambe beat Sutton 5-0 two games ago.
It could be a long day for Yeovil if they don’t set up well against the tricky winger.
THE GAFFER…
As I have mentioned a couple of time already the Shrimps now have Jim Bentley in charge after dismissing Ashvir Johal. The 49-year-old is no stranger to Morecambe though serving as their manager from 2012-2019, before leaving for AFC Fylde. After three years at the Mill Farm, the Scouser was dismissed. He then went on to manage Rochdale and Southport.
Bentley also played professionally only playing for two clubs, Telford and Morecambe. It was with the Shrimps that he was most associated with playing over 300 games for the club.
As a manager Bentley has faced Yeovil nine times, winning five, drawing two and losing two.
LAST TIME WE MET…
DON’T I KNOW YOU…
There are no former Glovers to look out for on Saturday.
THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE…
Aaron Farmer will be the man with the whistle on Saturday afternoon. For more on him and his team read Ben’s article here.
They do have an ex Yeo Player. George Thomas. Played back under Sturrock.