Finlay Skiverton

Benjani Junior and Finlay Skiverton were both on target as Yeovil Town Under-18s picked up a 2-1 win over South West Counties Youth League leaders Mangotsfield United on Saturday.

The pair put the Glovers 2-0 up at the Alvington Playing Fields before the visitors scored a late consolation goal.

The victory means the young Glovers have won four and lost two of their opening six matches.

Darren Sarll praised the club’s youth team players for their performances in Yeovil Town‘s 4-1 win over Bridgwater United in the Somerset Premier Cup first round on Wednesday night.

The Glovers’ boss singled out defender Jake Graziano, midfielder Ollie Haste and strike Finlay Skiverton who all featured in a strong side which included a number of first-team players.

The trio are all regulars in the club’s Under-18s side which works in partnership with Yeovil College delivering an Elite Player Development Programme.

Yeovil Town manager Darren Sarll.

Sarll said: “I was really pleased with the boys who came out of the college programme.

“Ollie Haste I thought was magnificent, talk about standing up to the opportunity.
In terms of the experience I was able to give him, he will remember that for the rest of his life and the same with young Jake Graziano, they coped brilliantly.

“Obviously Fin came on and scored (the game’s fourth goal) and as soon as the game was out of sight I wanted to give as many of them an opportunity.”

The boss described Skiverton’s goal as “a wonderful moment” for his father, assistant manager and club legend, Terry, but insisted the young striker was in the side on merit alone.

He said: “I can tell everyone now that no-one gets a game because of their surname, they get a game because they can help us win and (Finlay) certainly helped us do that.

I think he had the two best chances of the game in the last 15 minutes and you have to credit someone for knowing how to get there.

“I was not too impressed with how he knows where to be out of possession but for a centre forward that needs to be the last detail rather than the first.”

There was also some valuable game time for first-team squad members including defender Morgan Williams, midfielder Matt Worthington, who is available after a three-match ban for his red card against King’s Lynn on the opening day, and Alex Bradley who has been out through illness.

Matt Worthington, who returned following suspension in the win over Bridgwater United.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Sarll said: “I thought it was important that we got some minutes in to some legs. Morgan (Williams) has played one 90 minute game in eight months, I wanted to get Max (Hunt) back out there.

“Because of how small the squad is, the opportunity to practice in training is reduced because we do not have the numbers, so I thought that was a better environment for Max to carry on practicing.

“Max Evans deserved a game, Adi (Yussuf), Sonny (Blu Lo-Everton) both needed minutes, as did (Matt) Worthington after his suspension and (Alex) Bradley after missing out through illness.

“So it was enjoyable to see what they can contribute and what they could contribute on Saturday and after that.”

To many people, the Somerset Premier Cup doesn’t mean an awful lot, a Wednesday night tie against Bridgwater United only attracted a little over 300 supporters to Huish Park.

However, they got to witness a little bit of Yeovil Town history.

For the Skiverton family, a name synonymous with the green and white of Yeovil Town, it was a night of pride as Terry – the legendary Glovers’ player, manager, player-manager, academy manager, assistant manager – signalled for a subtitution, a substitution that would welcome his son, Finlay on to the pitch.

With the number 9 on his back, Skivo Junior not only made his first team debut but scored an 88th minute goal to wrap up a comfortable 4-1 victory.

We here at the Gloverscast are suckers for a statistic, so here are a few numbers we’ve crunched.

Between Skivo Senior and Skivo Junior, they have a combined 384 appearances and 45 goals for the Glovers’ first team, but of course, Terry has most of them!

Terry’s final competitive appearance for the Glovers came on Saturday 21st March 2009 – a 0-0 draw against the MK Dons, he came off after just 36 minutes in a game that included the likes of Chris Weale in goal, Paul Warne and Andros Townsend.

That equates to 4568 days since a Skiverton graced the hallowed turf of Huish Park.

As for scoring, Terry’s final goal in green and white came a few week’s before that on Saturday 22nd November 2008, a 23rd minute goal against Tranmere Rovers (see below) would be the last time the name Skiverton made the goal scoring vidiprinter.

So… with a little maths (and some help from Google…) it’s taken exactly 12 Years and 10 months  for the feat to be repeated – or if you’d prefer, exactly 154 months, or maybe 670 weeks, or 4687 days.

Number one in the music charts was ‘Live Your Life’ by T.I. (featuring Rihanna), in the Premier League that day; Man City beat Arsenal 3-0 thanks to goals from Stephen Ireland, Robinho and Daniel Sturridge.

(Feeling old yet? Me too)

Who knows what the future holds for Finlay at Huish Park, but everyone at the Gloverscast congratulates Skivo Junior for his debut appearance and goal… here’s to many more!