Yeovil Town boss Billy Rowley said the seven changes he has made to his starting XI for today’s home match with Tamworth would “freshen up the legs and the energy levels.”
The Glovers will kick-off against Tamworth at Huish Park just less than three days after they finished a draining 2-1 win at Barrow – followed by a 300-mile journey home – on Friday night.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman ahead of the match, the manager said: “None of the changes are enforced. I think it’s just a massive pat on the back to the squad. I can’t fault anyone’s attitude in training, everybody’s been brilliant.
“It was just having one game a week for the past couple, it’s easy to name the same team. But we’ve had two days’ rest, really. That’s all. So it’s more of a thought to just freshen up the legs and the energy levels, and that’s it really.“
The seven players named on the substitutes’ bench at Barrow – defenders Joe Gubbins, Loick Ayina, Hayden Muller, midfielders Mason Obeng, James Daly and Johl Powell and striker Slavi Spasov – all start with the seven who have dropped out named on the bench against Tamworth.
Midfielder Powell, one of three summer signings from Rowley’s old club, Walton & Hersham, starts his first league game for the club having appeared off the bench since the start of the season.
Rowley said: “Johl deserves his start. I think because of the role of Archie Davis at the moment, it’s been really hard to get Johl in the team, and it’s through no fault of Johl. He’s trained really well and he’s deserved a chance.
“But Archie gets through probably the most high-intensity sprints out of the whole team. He’s constantly sprinting 60, 70 yards. Especially with the sports science today, we just thought it would probably be a bit of an injury risk. But he’s still available. We just didn’t want to play him another 90 minutes.“
Tamworth had an even more dramatic Friday night than their hosts today as they came back from 2-1 down to beat newly-promoted Worthing on their artificial surface with two goals in second half injury time. The Lambs have made just three changes from the starting XI in their previous game.
The Yeovil manager said: “Traditionally they are better at home than they are away from home. We’re excellent on our pitch at the moment. The surface suits us, the support is behind us. So, look, we want to start this game really quick. We want to try and put them on the back foot, score an early goal, settle the fans down, and then we can start playing our football.”
The boss also revealed that the players recovered from a 600-mile round trip to Barrow with a relaxing day at a spa at the weekend – albeit without the management team present.
He said: “The lads had a day where they went to a little kind of outdoor spa resort, which is lovely for their recovery — outdoor saunas, cold plunge pools, little lakes to swim in. We tried to get them to top up their energy levels as much as possible, but it was a bit of a team bonding one as well.“
Asked if he got an invite to the day, Rowley added: “I did, but I didn’t want to crash! You know, sometimes when the manager’s not around, they can talk about things that they can’t when I’m in the room, so I just leave them to it.“