Ahead of Yeovil Town’s FA Cup fourth qualifying round clash against Leatherhead, Glovers manager Billy Rowley has been speaking with BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah about his squad’s phenomenal run of form, recent recruitment, and the magic of the cup.
Yeovil head into the weekend fixture riding the wave of confidence following an impressive string of victories, including consecutive 6-0 wins. While acknowledging the score lines might flatter them slightly, Rowley remains quick to praise the tireless day-to-day efforts of his players.
”I said it in the post-match last week, sometimes you do get some freak results,” Rowley said, reflecting on the team’s dominant streak. “The lads’ hard work day-to-day… it’s been another really good week out here for us”.
“I think we’ve got a really level-headed group, really professional group of lads, so I haven’t really sensed any like overconfidence or cockiness. I think we have to approach every game, I said this pre-Wealdstone, I think we have to approach every game with a kind of equal amount of confidence and cockiness as we do humility, so you know, we want to run harder than everyone, we want to fight for every ball, we want to win every goal, but we also want to be really confident on the ball and show show what we’re about.
So I think the lads have bought into that and um and they’re showing that they’re capable of of both sides of the ball at the minute which is which is really really important for us.”
Rowley is fully focused on keeping his squad’s feet planted firmly on the ground. He insists that the group’s professional and level-headed nature prevents any danger of overconfidence or cockiness creeping into the changing room;
“I’ve been I’ve been so pleased with all the boys. I think we we worked really hard to to profile players that would fit into our system, on top of that, fit in from a personality perspective, are they good humans? What do we know about their background? How do they train? All that stuff… I think for the most part we’ve been we’ve been spot on with with most of the lads, and I’ve been really full of praise for them in these recent weeks and like you’ve just mentioned, I think it’s important that we keep our feet on the ground, we keep working hard every day and every week and and long may it continue ” Rowley added.
Looking ahead to this weekend’s opponents, Rowley is under no illusions about the challenge Leatherhead will pose. Rowley retains absolute faith in his squad’s mindset.
“I’ve got full faith in our lads to approach this in the right mindset. It’s a competition that we as a club, I’m sure, and I know the fans do, the ownership do, we want to do really well in this. You often dream of going a playing against a, you know, a Man Utd or something in these competitions, but, you know, that’s that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? So, we want to make sure that we are turning up at at Leatherhead, [the] best version of us, you know, work really hard and and we should we should get a positive result there.
As the squad finalises preparations, fitness concerns remain minimal, though Zane Westbrooke is ruled out (calf) and forward Ryan Jones faces a late fitness test following a head knock sustained vs Wealdstone.
For the players currently watching from the sidelines, Rowley offered a clear message of encouragement: stay ready, because opportunities in football can change in a single week.
“That’s my message to the lads as well, you’ve always have to be ready, I fully appreciate when you’re not picked on a Saturday, you know your head goes down, but you’ve seen what Joel Powell’s done, you’ve seen what Jack Kingdon’s done in these recent weeks. You’ve got to be ready for your opportunity and as soon as it’s given to you, grab it with both hands and and they’ve both done that, so I think it’s a really good learning curve for them, but also like an opportunity for for the other boys to learn from that and see that that’s all it takes, one injury, one moment, one week and you’re a star player”
With the financial incentives of reaching the first round proper running parallel to the psychological boost it offers, Yeovil Town travel to Leatherhead fully aware of potentially setting the next chapter of our wonderful club’s history in this competition.