Yeovil Town manager Billy Rowley has said home advantage could be crucial as his side look to step over an FA Cup banana skin in tonight’s fourth qualifying round replay at home to lower league Leatherhead.
The Glovers needed a late equaliser from midfielder Johl Powell to bring the Isthmian League Premier Division side back to Somerset after the Tanners scored three times in a frenetic last 15 minutes in Surrey.
Speaking to BBC Somerset reporter Mark Stillman ahead of the game, Rowley said: “Home advantage is massive. It is such a shame we couldn’t play here in the first game, but this is what the FA Cup is about, isn’t it? I’ve got a lot of respect for Leatherhead. They’re a good local club to me, and it should be a really interesting game for us.
“But this is definitely more suited to us here. The grass is shorter, the pitch is wet, and we’ll be able to move the ball with a bit more purpose and rhythm. Obviously, we’ll be supported by our brilliant fans, so hopefully we can put on a really good show for them, and that will give the boys a little bit more energy.”
Yeovil looked to be cruising in to the First Round Proper at the weekend when they led 2-0 with 15 minutes remaining at Leatherhead three days ago, but they conceded three goals in 13 second half minutes to trail and grabbed a replay courtesy of Powell’s strike with a minute of normal time remaining.
Rowley pointed to criticism of his decision to make five changes in the second half, the last of which saw influential midfielder Brett McGavin replaced by defender Loick Ayina just two minutes before Leatherhead’s first goal.
He said: “I really think it was a good performance up until the last 15 minutes, which were a bit crazy. Obviously, I can take a lot of flak for making so many substitutions, but I was just talking to the ownership upstairs, and we made the same substitutions, and the same number of substitutions, against Boston at home and Wealdstone away in 6-0 wins.
“It just so happens that the substitutions didn’t help us score more goals this time, and we conceded a couple of corners. I’ll obviously take the flak for that, but I thought the performance was good, barring the last 15 minutes.”
The manager said winger Mason Obeng, who appeared as a second half substitute at the weekend, had been left out of the squad with a hamstring injury, he is replaced by Under-19s’ striker Liam Nardiello on the bench. The only change to the starting XI sees captain Joe Gubbins replace Jordan Norville-Williams in defence.
Rowley said: “Jordan is physically getting through some serious yardage and high-intensity work every game. We’re going to try to, not necessarily rest him, but have him available for the second half if we need him.
“Also, Joe coming in adds a lot of height from a defensive aspect. His left foot is incredible, and he might be able to open up some longer-range passes to the opposite side of the pitch for us.”