It has been ten days since Wealdstone kicked a ball in National League anger.
A 2-1 defeat from a long trip to Grimsby Town the weekend before last was their last outing, making it seven defeats in their last nine matches.
For context, those losses have come against some of the division’s toughest oop
with home defeats to $tockport County and FC Halifax Town and losses on the road at Bromley, Boreham Wood and….errr….Woking.
There was also a loss in the FA Trophy away at Needham Market – and we’ve all been there right?!
The points they have picked up have come from a creditable home draw with Notts County and a 2-1 win at home to bottom club Dover Athletic .
Defender Connor Stevens scored our hosts’ winner in that victory, but his form this season saw him join Boreham Wood and make his debut in his new club’s FA Cup giant-killing at AFC Bournemouth at the weekend.
Forward Craig Fasanmade is the other departure since the Stones’ last outing. He joined Hemel Hempstead Town where he had previously been on loan.
But, boss Stuart Maynard has been able to recruit with midfielder Nathan Ferguson joining from National League rivals Southend United, and teenager Aaron Henry coming in on a one-month loan deal from League One side Charlton Athletic.
Ferguson has already tasted success against Yeovil this season having come on as a second half substitute against the Glovers in Southend’s 2-1 win last month.
FROM THE MANAGER
Wealdstone manager Stuart Maynard is hoping the conditions of a midweek match can work in his side’s favour against Yeovil Town.
The Stones have a decent record under the floodlights having only lost twice in midweek, away at Notts County and in their last midweek outing at home to Boreham Wood.
At Grosvenor Vale, they have beaten Grimsby and Dover and drawn with Solihull Moors.
Maynard said: “We try and move the ball quickly and in the day games the pitches can be a bit dry, we don’t have the sprinkler systems set up that other clubs have.
“On a Tuesday, you have a bit of dew and it makes the game higher tempo.
“I know the fans get frustrated about use going round the back, we don’t want to do that slowly, we want to do that quickly to open up an overload against the opposition.
“But at times when the pitch is a bit sticky, the ball travels a bit slower and it allows the opposition to get a bit closer.
“That has probably been the main differences between a Saturday and a Tuesday, that tempo of the game.”
TEAM NEWS
New signings Nathan Ferguson and Aaron Henry are both in line for their Wealdstone debuts having joined since the Stones’ last outing at Grimsby Town ten days ago.
Midfielder Ferguson has joined from National League rivals Southend United whilst Henry is on a one-month loan deal from Terry Skiverton’s Charlton Athletic – that’s what they call themselves these days, right?
There is a possibility of a return to fitness for former Glovers winger Rhys Browne making a comeback having been out since the end of November with an ankle injury.
Injured defensive pair Jack Cook and Nikola Tavares will have both benefited from the gap in fixtures and could be in contention, but defensive colleague Andrew Eleftheriou is a long-term absentee.
FOOT IN BOTH CAMPS
There will be two very familiar faces in the Yeovil Town squad which arrives at Wealdstone in the form of forwards Charlie Wakefield and Sonny Blu Lo-Everton.
The pair were both on the books at Grosvenor Vale last season with Wakefield starting the season with the Stones with Wakefield playing – and getting booked – in the 2-2 draw at Huish Park at the start of last season.
He departed for full-time football with Bromley last January before being released at the end of the campaign.
Sonny played ten times for Wealdstone on loan from his parent club Watford including as an 18th-minute substitute following an injury in Yeovil’s 2-0 win in London last May.
For the hosts, winger Rhys Browne could make it back after two months out with an ankle injury tonight. He played more than 60 times in two years at Huish Park before joining Port Vale in the summer of 2019.
His father, Steve Browne, is another connection having had two spells at both clubs. In green and white he was part of the side which won promotion back to the then-GM Vauxhall Conference under Graham Roberts in 1996-97. In 2017, Steve sadly died after a battle with bowel cancer. He was just 52.
However, the strongest links to these two clubs date back to the late 1980s and early 1990s when Brian Hall was manager at both clubs, bringing a number of players with him.
Hall had led the Stones to the Conference and FA Trophy double in 1985 before taking the move to Huish in January 1987 where he picked up a Yeovil side in the game’s sixth tier.
The Glovers were beaten to promotion back to the Conference by Wycombe Wanderers in 1987, but won promotion back in Hall’s first full season, switching places with Wealdstone who came down that year.
The success of Yeovil and the demise of Wealdstone was down in no small part to Hall attracting a number of players to join him in Somerset.
Central defenders Neil Cordice and Steve Rutter, the latter who would go on to manage the Glovers, made the move along with full-back Tiv Lowe, Steve Tapley, goalkeeper Bob Iles, and midfielders Gary Donnellan and Andy Wallace.
Hall was sacked after four years and replaced with Clive Whitehead who had an unsuccessful six-month spell before being replaced by Rutter, who was one of a number of ex-Stones who remained in Somerset.
When Rutter left in 1993 his eventual replacement was Hall who brought a number of his old Wealdstone players with him, unfortunately, he could not match the success of his previous spell and lasted just under a year.
If you’re heading to Grosvenor Vale and are interested in the connections between the two clubs – make sure you pick up a copy of the matchday programme which features an interview with Neil Cordice about his time in both camps.