Yeovil Town will go in to this weekend’s home game with AFC Fylde with a full strength squad as they look to bounce back from their first defeat of the season.
Manager Billy Rowley said that defender Ben Radcliffe midfielders Brett McGavin and Luke McCormick, who both left the field early in the 3-2 defeat at Southend United last Saturday, are available along with defender Joy Mukena who has been suffering with illness earlier in the week.
The only omission from the Glovers’ first-team is midfielder Joe Haigh who is in training having undergone surgery in the summer and is yet to kick a ball in green-and-white since signing from Dagenham & Redbridge in the summer.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah on Thursday, Rowley said: “Luckily, we’ve had a couple of boys back training today. Joy (Mukena) was sick, I think he might have caught something a couple of days after the Southend game. He was probably 85 or 90 per cent back today as well. So, touch wood, we’ll have a full selection and a really good squad to pick from.
“Brett (McGavin) had what I think was food poisoning or a virus. He was throwing up two or three times before the game and also threw up at half-time (at Southend). He did so well to stay on, but he looked a bit of a shadow of himself. Macca (McCormick) had some issues with his calves which blew up and he had to come off. (Radcliffe) pulled out on the day of the game, so it left us limping into that game a little bit. But we’re a little bit stronger this week.”
Rowley admitted he had spent the days since the defeat at Southend, where Yeovil led 2-0 before losing to an 85th minute winner from a rampant home side, looking at how he and his side could improve as they look to get back to winning ways at Huish Park.
He said: “What it does is really motivate me to improve heavily. When you win, you can sometimes just enjoy it for 24 hours but when you lose a game, as soon as you step foot on the coach home, you’re looking at the game back and figuring out how you can improve. It speeds up the process of trying to improve.
“We have had good meetings with some of the lads this morning, looking at ways to improve every week. Everyone’s fully on board and today was one of the better training sessions we’ve had in a while.
“I’ve always been pretty good at that and try to stay as level-headed as possible. For young players to see that from the management team is also very important because it is a long season. We’re going to have so many ups and downs with this group. We’re going to have good spells and bad ones, and as long as we can stay consistent in our behaviours, how we train and what we’re working on, I think it will improve them much quicker.”
This weekend’s opponents, AFC Fylde, suffered their own late heartbreak last Saturday as they conceded an 89th minute equaliser to draw 2-2 at home to fellow new boys Worthing. The Lancashire club won the National League North with 100 points last season and Rowley is expecting a tough test at Huish Park.
He said: “I have been very impressed with Fylde and I’ve been talking about this all week with the lads. They press really high, they’ve got a high defensive line and they really get after the ball. We’re going to need to be a really good version of us. We’re going to need to be really clean and have some fantastic ideas about how we’re going to score, which is what we’ve been working on in training today and will continue tomorrow. I’ve got a lot of respect for what they’re doing there and we’re hoping for a really good test against them.
“They’ve got some really good individuals with a lot of talent, but they’re also really well coached. Marrying those two together forms a strong potion. They’re trying to play football the right way. They get it down and have some really good ideas in build-up, very much like us. So I think it’ll be a slugfest and a good toe-to-toe battle.”
The game is the start of a run of three games in six days for Yeovil who travel to Aldershot Town on Tuesday night before facing bottom club Solihull Moors at Huish Park next Tuesday night.
Rowley is expecting to have to utilise every part of his squad and is confident he has the quality to bring in to his starting line-up to compete.
He said: “Naturally in football, every player wants to play every game. But over the next 10 days or two weeks, there will be a chance for everybody to be used. In training today, everybody looked hungry to play, which is exactly what you want to see. They just need to be ready to be called upon, which I’m sure they will be.”