Boreham Wood

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That’s that then! As Yeovil Town made it 20 defeats – to surpass their total of draws by one – with a 1-0 defeat at Boreham Wood on the final day of the National League season.

Coatesie was among the 226 supporters in the away end trying desperately to avoid getting sun stroke on the terraces of Meadow Lane, here he desperately tries (and fails) to come up with an original conclusion.

 

Thank God that’s over. My overriding emotion at the final whistle was one of relief. Relief that for at least another three months I will not have to wait for the inevitable “moment we switched off” or hear my fellow supporters shouting “just f***ing shoot” as we enjoy possession and fail to have a meaningful effort on goal. Forget the off-the-pitch stuff (for now, see Conclusion #5), on-the-field this is one of the worst Yeovil Town teams I have seen in a long while and many supporters have told me they feel it is the worst they have ever seen. I’m not knocking the effort of some and the quality of others is undoubtedly there, there’s off-the-field issues which have played a part, but the stats don’t lie – those who have turned out for us this season have failed to deliver too many times. They have a relegation on their playing records now and (by and large) they deserve one.

Story of the season klaxon. It’s right up there with the ‘we know our problem is scoring’ and ‘things happening off the pitch aren’t helping’ in the list of Yeovil Town’s lines which are trotted out in every interview going – this performance was the story of our season. Concede a goal through failing to do the defensive basics, fail to turn up for a 45 minutes (the only question is whether it is the first or the second 45 minutes), and then spend the other 45 minutes dominating possession, huffing and puffing and failing to blow anyone’s house down. I lost count of the amount of times we got the ball, played it around and failed to test Nathan Ashmore in goal for Boreham Wood. When the club’s official Twitter account is talking about one of their own players and “fluffing their lines” to summarise Reo Griffiths’ 68th minute ‘chance’, it tells you everything. Though if it were a player with ‘less back story’ then perhaps the tweet would have been different.

Ollie Haste is some player. Let’s try and inject a positive in to these conclusions, Ollie Haste looks some player. He was obviously highly rated in our Under-18s set up and I seem to remember him looking a bit gangly, but a season on loan at Truro City has done him wonders. Against some very good centre forwards in Tyrone Marsh and Lee Ndlovu, he was brave in the tackle, powerful with his head and looked every inch the one who would throw himself in front of anything-type defender we have needed. I don’t think it’s true to say that him playing more would have changed anything this season, but I hope that we see a lot more of him next season. An honourable mention also to Benjani Junior, who it was great to see come off the bench for his first senior appearance.

Ollie Haste.

Do-do-dooooo, relegation party. Allow me to throw a few statistics at you.

Boreham Wood: 226
Wrexham: 217
Solihull Moors: 176
Aldershot Town: 526
Gateshead: 191
FC Halifax Town: 103

Those are the number of away supporters who attended our last half-a-dozen matches this season. At Meadow Park on Saturday there were inflatables being chucked around, singing, chanting ‘Yeovil til I die’ and even doing The Worm (Hi, Pete!). I’ve said it before and I will say it again, but this club has betrayed the unblinking loyalty of these people in recent years. I just hope they can begin to repay the huge debt they owe them – and soon!

Owner-in-waiting Matt Uggla (blue shirt) was joined on the terraces by Paul Sackey and Sky Andrew.

 

We’ve done our part (again), over to you. Which brings me neatly on to my final conclusion. Matt Uggla and Paul Sackey – accompanied by Reo Griffiths’ agent Sky Andrew – were in the away end until about a minute before the final whistle and telling people to “ask <INSERT NAME OTHER THAN THEIR OWN>” what was going on. Stuart Robins and Martyn Starnes turned up to glad hand people at the final whistle and were quick to say they couldn’t say anything about the cliff edge our club is at. No surprise whatsoever that Scott Priestnall (the biggest villain of this pantomime out of them all) was nowhere to be seen. The players have failed (honourable mentions, as standard) on the pitch, the supporters (see Conclusion #4) have played their part – and now it’s time to deliver. Enough of the ‘there’s something happening we can’t talk about’ and ‘if you only knew about….’, enough of the ‘it will be next week’, do something. In the same way the history books will reflect the failure of this squad this season, it is these people who will be judged by what happens next and history is unkind to losers. We’re judging you on what you do, time’s up – now do something.

Conclusion 5a. I promised him that if I got the chance, I would add in a conclusion which London Green, Mark Green, gives to me every match. That was sh*t. Mark, I could not agree more. Season over.

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Yeovil Town striker Jordan Young believes injuries to key players have cost the club in their fight against relegation from the National League this season.

The frontman, who has missed a number of games through injury since joining from Chippenham Town in January, played 77 minutes in the 1-0 final day defeat at Boreham Wood yesterday, but failed to find the net meaning he is still looking for his first goal for the club.

Just a few of those missing in Hertfordshire were defender Morgan Williams, midfielders Jordan Stevens, Jordan Maguire-Drew and Lawson D’Ath and striker Alex Fisher, all players who you would have had in your starting XI.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the game, he said: “After the (2-0 win at) Dagenham (at the end of January) I came in and I felt we were really in control and had a good squad, but injuries have played a massive part, we have missed some big players at some big times which is obviously not ideal.

“Obviously the new boys have come in and people need time to get used to everyone, that is probably the problem we have had.”

Yet again, the summary of the match was one of ‘a story of our season’, which Young summarised as: “We concede a bad goal which is probably a free-kick (for a foul on Scott Pollock in the build up) but we don’t mark in the box, concede and it’s a mountain to climb.

“We just struggle creating chances, and it’s not for the want of trying, everyone showed today what they are capable of. It’s such a difficult one to take.”

Having come up a division to arrive at Huish Park three months ago, the 23-year-old is now returning to National League South – including a trip to his old club ( “….Chip-pen-ham awaaaaaaaaaaaay…..”) – and believes there is enough in the Glovers’ squad to compete for a return next season – albeit with the usual caveats.

Young said: “I have come from that league and know what it is about and I think if we can sort things out, get a good squad together, stay full time, I think we will have no problems.

“I don’t think we are miles away, you can see today we are a good team at times and we just have to start afresh, come in for pre-season ready to go and have a good season next year.“

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Yeovil Town’s final game of the 2022/23 season will now kick off at 5:30pm on Saturday 29th of April, the National League have confirmed.

Glovers fans heading to London for the game against Boreham Wood will have to wait a little longer for the season to come to a conclusion.

As ever we will have a fully updated Ciderspace Away Travel guide for you closer to the time.

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Alex Fisher. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Yeovil Town’s scorer Alex Fisher spoke to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins following the Glovers’ 1-1 draw with Boreham Wood and the whole game came down to one word – frustrating. (Editors Note: anyone else sick of that word?)

The striker opened the scoring after 39 minutes with his first goal of his second spell at Huish Park, but just six minutes later visiting midfielder Jack Payne equalised.

Fisher said: “It’s nice to get on the scoresheet, but I’d trade that in quite quickly for three points. I thought we played really well today as a team, it seems to be a common theme, it was a bit of a clouded emotion.

“It was frustrating to not see it through until half-time. The right things were said at half-time with regards to both ends of the pitch and it felt like we had really strong territory in the second half. But it falls on the responsibility of us all, but especially (the players) up top, to get that second goal that we needed so much.

“Ultimately you train all week to put the ball in the back of the net, you can curse your luck about a goalkeeper having a good game, but we can look at ourselves and say we should have put it out of his reach.”

The conversation remained positive and Fisher was adamant that the side was not far off turning draws into wins.

He added: “It’s so frustrating for the players, I imagine it’s the same from the fans – great support again, loyal support – we don’t want these games to fall away from us. It’s something we’ve had a very stern chat about in the changing room, we know what we need to do and I can only thank the fans for their continued support. We are working as hard as we can, we know what we need to do. We are just fine margins away from achieving something very special here.

“We need to be ruthless in both boxes and that falls on us in the front line to score more goals and put more chances away. Today is a frustrating day, but there are positives to take out of it.”

 

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Yeovil Town manager Chris Hargreaves has said he isn’t feeling the pressure after the Glovers recorded a sixth draw from their opening ten games of the National League season.

Following what the boss described the 1-1 draw at home to Boreham Wood as a “dominant” performance, he expressed his frustration that his side wasn’t making it count in the “areas that mattered“.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins, he said: “It was (a dominant performance) but it doesn’t get us the three points, which is hard to take, I’ve got to admit. It’s a case of being very, very good with the ball, but in that final third not being ruthless enough.

“(The players are) absolutely giving me everything and it was a dominant, confident performance, but where it matters, is that 18-yard box and there’s enough chances in the second half to score five.”

Hargreaves promised it would be another hard week training in the lead up to next weekend’s trip to Southend United.

For the seventh time this season, Yeovil took the lead through a 39th minute goal from Alex Fisher, his first since returning to the club in the summer, but – as happened in five out of the previous six occasions- they were unable to hold the lead.

The equaliser from visiting midfielder Jack Payne on the stroke of half-time took them in level at the break.

The manager said afterwards: “(It’s) just bad decision making, thats all it is, there’s no trait or pattern that we see that we don’t talk about, we talk about it a lot. It’s just a case of staying on your feet, the basics of football, keeping your units tight and seeing danger when someone is running toward your goal.

“That’s a real dissapointment again, but what they didn’t do against a very good side who have done well over the years is wilt, they went at it and went for the throat second half.”

Alex Fisher. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

There was plenty of praise for both the Boreham Wood goalkeeper Nathan Ashmore who (again) played well against Yeovil, and Fisher who scored his second, first goal in the green and white of Yeovil Town.

Hargreaves said: “You come back here and you want to prove yourself again, there has to be some real anger, if you haven’t got the anger, you won’t be able to do it. (Alex) showed that in his goal, that he followed up and wanted to put himself in those areas, he had a couple of chances second half that I’d expect him to score… but great for him to get his first goal.”

Finally, with six draws from ten, there was the promise of effort and that the side was giving everthing, but, ahead of two tough away games in a row, Hargreaves was asked if he felt the pressure to get some results, the answer was rapid and emphatic.

“No.”

“No, I don’t feel pressure, I put pressure on myself anyway and so do the players. That’s why I’ve been in football for 35 years because I put pressure on myself, if the lads feel pressure, good, that’s good, they should want to get in the team and stay in the team.”

For what it’s worth, Boreham Wood manager Luke Garrard was gushing with praise for the Glovers’ side, he told his media team post match.

He said: “I think Yeovil will be gutted, I have to say they were deserved of all three points, they had chances to win three games, let alone one, I thought they were excellent this afternoon… they stifled us, we were fortunate to take a point this afternoon.

“We were below par… Yeovil didn’t allow us to get our game going, I thought Gime Toure was fantastic today, I thought (Sam) Pearson‘s runs in behind were fantastic, I have to give full credit to Chris and his team as, like I say, they were very deserved of three points.”

Thanks for the kind words, Luke, but leave that ‘keeper at home, next time, yeah?

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Venue: Huish Park
Saturday September 24th, 3pm kick-off

Conditions: Cloudy and cool
Pitch: Soft and cut up as the match went on

Attendance: 2,146 (65 away supporters)

Scorers: Alex Fisher 39 (1-0), Jack Payne 45 (1-1)

Bookings: 

Yeovil Town: Morgan Williams 62
Boreham Wood: Zac Brunt 45, Dion Kelly-Evans 77

Referee: Scott Jackson


Yeovil Town : (3-4-3)

Grant Smith

 Morgan Williams   Josh Staunton   Ben Richards-Everton

                                      Charlie Wakefield   Matt Worthington   Lawson D’Ath   Jamie Reckord

Sam Pearson (for Jake Scrimshaw, 80)

Alex Fisher (for Malachi Linton, 80)   Gime Toure

Substitutes: Will Buse, Fin Craske, Max Hunt.


Boreham Wood: Nathan Ashmore, Dion Kelly-Evans, Femi Ilesnanmi, Will Evans, David Stephens, Josh Rees (for George Broadbent, 61), Tyrone Marsh, Danny Elliott (for Newton, 54), Dennon Lewis, Jack Payne, Zak Brunt (for George Williams, 85).

Substitutes: Connor Stephens, Jude Murphy.

Match Report

It was a yet another case of what might have been as Yeovil Town’s search for their second National League win of the season continued with a frustrating 1-1 draw at home to Boreham Wood.

And, it was not for a want of opportunities being carved out by the host, but repeatedly they were denied by visiting goalkeeper Nathan Ashmore.

Ironically it was a mistake by the gloveman on 39 minutes which gifted Yeovil their opener with striker Alex Fisher on the spot to take advantage after the keeper spilled a tame Gime Toure shot, but on the strike of half-time Jack Payne equalised.

The Glovers pushed in the second half and limited Boreham Wood to few chances, but it was another case of so close, but yet so far. Six draws from the opening ten games of the season for Chris Hargreaves’ side.

First half

The opening exchanges were a bit of a non-event with neither side particularly looking to take the game to their opponent with the nearest Yeovil got to carving out a chance came after 12 minutes when a ball over the top set Sam Pearson away, but he was denied by visiting midfielder Jack Payne.

At the other end, Dion Kelly-Evans found himself in a good position before Jamie Reckord’s covering tackle denied him. Can you tell it was a struggle to talk about things happening in the opening third of the first half?

The visitors began to up the ante and the best chance came on 16 minutes with Yeovil temporarily down to ten men with Lawson D’Ath off the pitch getting treatment for a bloodied nose. A well worked move; by the visitors found Femi Ilesanmi who put the ball in to Danny Elliott whose effort went over from close range.

Moments later, Gime Toure broke clear of the visitors’ defence and found himself one-on-one with Wood keeper Nathan Ashmore, but rather than taking a shot he tried to round the gloveman who made a superb stop to deny him.

On 21 minutes, Matt Worthington had a low shot from the edge of the box which Ashmore did well to get down to and turn around for a corner and Wakefield called the keeper in to action again two minutes later.

In a five minute spell after Elliott’s opportunity, it was Yeovil who were in the ascendancy with the game picking up after a slow start. Other than Toure’s chance our efforts were at probably half chances, but there seemed to be opportunity in getting at the visiting defence with some pace.

Having kept his side in the game with some decent stops, it was a mistake by Ashmore which led to the Glovers taking the lead on 39 minutes. Toure fired in a shot from distance which was spilled by the big keeper and Alex FISHER was in the right place to fire home his first goal in his second spell at the club.

The previous weekend, Yeovil had twice failed to hold on to a lead against league leaders Chesterfield and just as the game ticked in to added time at the end of the first half – they did it again.

Matt Worthington swung a leg to make a tackle and the ball broke to a visiting player, the Yeovil defence switched off and the ball broke to Jack PAYNE free at the back post to fire home the equaliser.

The half-time whistle was met with a muted response from the Huish Park crowd frustrated at a seeming inability to hold on to a lead. Cue Ben Barrett’s dog walking puns.

Half time:  Yeovil Town 1 Boreham Wood 1

Second half

Ashmore was back in action to tip a thunderous strike from Lawson D’Ath over the bar on 52 minutes before Ben Richards-Everton flashed a shot wide from the edge of the box.

A lovely lay-off by Matt Worthington found Sam Pearson whose effort was superbly stopped by Ashmore (yep, him again) who did not know the assistant referee’s flag was up.

There seemed to be a desire to get the ball forward quicker in the second half with any effort to retain possession changed for getting the ball up the field as soon as possible.

With 67 minutes played, a corner found the head of Fisher whose goal-bound header was superbly denied by you know who. Yes, Nathan Ashmore who came to the rescue of the Wood again. How many opportunities do we need? No, you know what, don’t answer that.

With ten minutes of the game replacing, Yeovil manager Chris Hargreaves made a double substitution with Malachi Linton and Jake Scrimshaw replacing Sam Pearson and Alex Fisher, clearly not keen to add to the draws column of the National League table.

But, even with plenty of attackers on the pitch, it was giant centre half Richards-Everton who again found himself in space on the edge of the box to warm the palms of Ashmore.

Six draws from the opening ten matches of the National League season. Remarkable. Not good remarkable, but remarkable.

Full time: Yeovil Town 1 Boreham Wood 1

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Charlie Wakefield replaces the injured Chiori Johnson at right wing-back as Yeovil Town face a Boreham Wood side with the second best away record in the division at Huish Park (3pm kick-off).

Alex Fisher, who missed the 2-2 draw with Chesterfield seven days ago, is in for Malachi Linton who drops to the bench, while Morgan Williams replaces on loan defender Owen Bevan, who is missing on Wales under-21s duty.

On loan Bristol City goalkeeper Will Buse is back on the substitutes’ bench.

Boreham Wood drew 1-1 at Gateshead in their last outing and make just one change with striker Lee Ndlovu replaced by Danny Elliott up front.

Yeovil Town : (3-4-3)

Grant Smith

Morgan Williams   Josh Staunton   Ben Richards-Everton

                                                Charlie Wakefield                                                                  Jamie Reckord

Matt Worthington   Lawson D’Ath

Sam Pearson

Alex Fisher Gime Toure

Substitutes: Will Buse, Finley Craske, Max Hunt, Malachi Linton, Jake Scrimshaw.

Boreham Wood: Ashmore, Kelly-Evans. Ilesanmi, Evans, Stephens, Rees, Marsh, Elliott, Lewis, Payne, Brunt Substitutes: Murphy, Broadbent, Newton, Stevens, Williams.