Darren Way

Former Glovers favourite Kieffer Moore has been in the news recently for his exploits at Euro 2020 with Wales, and his former coach, Darren Way has been speaking to BBC Radio Wales about the strikers journey, including a stint playing for the Glovers at centre-back.

Gary Johnson was manager, we were in the dizzy heights of us in the Championship at the time, we signed him from Dorchester and he came in to a level which was a few jumps up,” said Way.

“For me, personally, to work with him, to play 50 games was excellent for his experience”

Way was asked about how Moore adapted from part-time Non League football to Tier 2 of the football pyramid after swapping Dorchester Town for Yeovil Town in the Championship.

“Gary Johnson has to take huge credit for giving Kieffer that opportunity… it was a huge jump and I think it took him time to adjust to that level”

The former Swansea midfielder was quick to praise Moore’s attitude and talked about how much he learned in a short period of time, whilst also having to adapt to some slightly unusual situations when asked to play in defence.

“One thing I can witness is that his perseverance, the number of clubs [he’s played for], dealing with team selections, coming in, coming out, it’s helped him massively”

“He’s very brave, he had a number of bandages playing for us, in fact he had a number of appearances playing as a central defender, to put someone at centre half, you’d got to be willing… show a huge willingness to be brave”

“I think that was one of his strengths, his willingness to run, you can see his athleticism… there was always going to come a time where someone was going to bear those fruits”

“The experience of playing in all of those positions, I think, has helped his understanding of the game”

Moore scored nine goals in 57 appearances for the Glovers.

Former Yeovil Town player, coach and manager Darren Way has been speaking to BBC Radio Wales about a couple of the nation’s Euro 2020 stars and their time at Yeovil.

On Connor Roberts, who spent a season on loan at Huish Park in 2015, played 50 times for the Glovers something which Way says says wasn’t a surprise given his attitude.

Way said: “(He’s) probably the hardest working player that I’ve ever coached, I feel quite honoured to still speak to Connor regularly, he would probably be the only player that I’ve seen complete a full training session and then do 10 ‘box to boxes’ off his own back”

“It doesn’t surprise me that Connor Roberts would be defending in the last five minutes and end up in the six-yard box in the last five minutes all in one run”

“He’s got an incredible drive”

Darren would go on to draw comparisons with another former Glover who has gone on to better things in higher divisions, Luke Ayling:

“It wouldn’t surprise me if he did get a big move, because he’s gone under the radar for the quality that he’s got…”

“He reminds me of Luke Ayling in terms of that journey (to the top) completing 50-odd games in a loan spell…  I had huge belief that Connor’s perseverance, his hard work, his commitment, his energy around the training ground, he inspires others… I feel very proud to just be a very small part of Connor’s journey, because you want to work with the best players.”

“He was up there as being one of the best that I’ve worked with”

Huge congratulations from everyone at the Gloverscast to Connor on his performances with Wales, and his goal vs Turkey.

 

May 24th 2003

International honours are rarely bestowed upon those at Yeovil Town, let alone winning international tournaments, yet, on this day in 2003 no fewer than five Glovers stars got their hands on the prestigeous… (checks notes)Four Nations Cup.

The England National Game XI – which would later become rebranded as ‘England C’ – was the international side where players were picked exclusively from Non-League sides.

Yeovil had just been promoted from the Conference and would go on and take their first crack at the Football League later that year, so this tournament represented the last chance for many of these stars to pull on the ‘three lions’.

In total, six Glovers were called up by Paul Fairclough; Chris Weale, Terry Skiverton, Lee Johnson, Darren Way, Kirk Jackson and Nick Crittenden.

Critts would sadly have to pull out of the squad, but the other five all played in a key role in lifting international silverware for their country.

A 1-1 draw vs Scotland, on May 24th 2003, was enough to secure the medals.

Ealier in the tournament, Jackson had scored a Hat Trick vs the Republic of Ireland whilst Way notched vs Wales a few days later.

The squad also contained a few familiar names alongside the Glovers quintet.

Scott Guyett (who we were sure was Australian) was called up from Chester City, Michael Rose represented Hereford whilst Lee Elam and Paul Terry both played their parts in the squad too.

 

There were mixed fortunes for two former Yeovil Town midfielders this weekend.

Darren Way’s Plymouth Argyle under-18s team won the Merit League One title after a 1-1 draw at Cheltenham Town at the weekend.

But, Paul Warne, who had two seasons at Huish Park between 2007-2009, saw his Rotherham United side relegated from the Championship after drawing 1-1 at Cardiff City. Former Yeovil loanee Lewis Wing was on the scoresheet for the South Yorkshire side.

Congratulations and commiserations to both our old boys.