Yeovil Town boss Billy Rowley says he knows the players in his squad who can perform against different opposition in the upcoming National League season.
The Glovers were held to a 1-1 draw at National League South side Farnham Town in their penultimate pre-season friendly on Tuesday night, a fixture which saw the traditional high volume of substitutions in the second half.
Midfielder Brett McGavin gave the visitors the lead with a trademark free-kick after 24 minutes before the hosts levelled shortly after half-time.
Asked about how close he was to knowing his starting XI for the opening league fixture at Scunthorpe United in ten days time, the manager said: “You get idea of who is sharp, fit and hungry and I would say a lot of the lads are, but every game looks slightly different. Sometimes you are at home against a team who play with a back five and you need creative players, sometimes you are playing away from home against a team that presses and you might need fast players and sometimes you might be in a local derby and you need lads who will get stuck in.
“We try to build a team which can compete in different games and that will change week to week, but I have got a good idea of the players that can help the team win in different conditions. That is going to be the aim in the next few weeks, to find lads who can win games of football and not just look pretty. It is up to the coaching staff to lay out what the game plan looks like and that will look different week to week.”
One of the Yeovil substitutes was an unfamiliar face, former Fulham right-back Brad de Jesus, who was released by the Premier League side after his contract expired in the summer. He came on for Archie Davies after 68 minutes in Surrey.
Speaking about the trialist, Rowley said: “I had a phone call from a friend who coached him for years. I think he had a move to Portugal which fell through a few weeks ago and he asked if he could get involved. I have known Brad for a couple of years, he is a good player with a good attitude, I felt like he could do us a favour tonight and we could do him a favour and get him some game time. I will be catching up with in the next few days to see what that looks like, but he is a really good player and I was happy to have him with us tonight.”
The Glovers take on League Two side Newport County at Huish Park in their final pre-season friendly on Saturday and, whilst Rowley was pleased with his side’s performance at Farnham, he was less complimentary about the state of the pitch.
He said: “One thing that supporters do not see is the pitch. They were not able to water it before the game, so it was really sticky and dry which means you are not able to force balls between lines and split through teams easily. But I thought it was a good test, Farnham are a team on the up, they are only one league below us and have some lads who have played in our division. It was a good test, but I thought for the most part we were in control and dominate, we just didn’t create as much as we would have wanted to.”
