Rowley: There is going to be some changes

Yeovil Town manager Billy Rowley said he expects there to be changes to the squad after the Glovers ended 2025 with a 1-1 draw at home to Eastleigh.

The boss said he had highlighted areas he wanted to “build upon” and pointed to the recruitment at the club being different to his own philosophy for the game, suggesting there will be incomings at Huish Park in the coming weeks.

Loan deals for both James Plant and Andrew Oluwabori are both due to expire at the end of the year and it seems likely that attacking changes will be Rowley’s priority with Yeovil having managed just 23 goals in their 25 league games this season.

Reflecting on his time at the club so far to BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman, the manager said: “The thing I have not enjoyed so much is putting as many points on the board as I would have liked to, so that is going to be the aim in 2026. I know we need to continue to help this group, whether that is with ideas or fresh players, there is going to be some changes in the near future. I have really enjoyed working with these lads, they are good pros and there are a lot of good characters in there, so it has been a good start.

“How I see football and how I want to attack teams is obviously slightly different to how recruit has gone in the past which is natural, so I think we are going to highlight some key areas that we want to build upon and that is going to be the work in the next couple of weeks.”

A first half goal from midfielder Luke McCormick, the summer signing’s seventh of the season, put Yeovil ahead after 28 minutes on a chilly night in Somerset, before a defensive lapse gifted Eastleigh a penalty in first half stoppage time which striker Aaron Blair dispatched.

The Glovers’ goal was their only effort on target in the first half, but Rowley said he felt his side controlled the opening 45 minutes.

He said: “When I watch it back I think there will be large parts I enjoyed and there will be parts we definitely need to improve on. I thought we had some good control in the first 20 minutes of the game and found ourselves 1-0 up, but then we went a bit against the game plan because we were not great in our positions in that spell leading up to half-time. The lads know that because a lot of them were nodding (in the dressing room), we turned the ball over too cheaply and it was just poor decision-making. No disrespect to Eastleigh when I say this, but that spell was comfortable for us and what we needed to do was double down and score two or three goals. We obviously didn’t, we took our foot off the gas and then you are dealing with the elements, it’s two degrees, slippery, the crowd are frustrated which I completely understand. The second half I thought the substitutes changed the game and we should score in that second half.”

Talking about his side’s lack of attacking threat, he added: “That is going to be the message to these players for the next few months. We do not want to be predictable when we attack, that was the message and for large parts of the game I thought we executed it well, we found space and we found space when we needed to, got on to second balls, so there were some really pleasing parts of the game. Obviously the scoreline is disappointing.”

Yeovil open 2026 with a home game against Braintree Town on Saturday. The Essex side picked up a valuable 1-0 win at Woking on Tuesday night, but sit just one point above the National League Premier Division relegation zone.