Josh Staunton

Yeovil Town will host in-form Hampton & Richmond at Huish Park on Saturday, which will be the Glovers first home game in a month.

In what has been a busy week for the Glovers off the pitch, which has seen the termination of the Club Captain, Josh Staunton’s contract. Sonny Cox was recalled by his parent club Exeter City as well meaning this game will come as welcome relief from the off field issues.

Hampton & Richmond come into the game as the in form side, having not lost a a league game since the reverse fixture on September 23rd.

Yeovil Teams News

Manager Mark Cooper sees the game like any other. He said: “Like every week it’s a big challenge. It’s very rare, if ever that you get an easy game.

“Hampton have got have got a real confidence behind them from a real good run. We know if we do what we need to at home we have a big chance to get points. ”

The 54-year-old was cryptic in his reasoning for Captain Josh Stanton contract termination, claiming “the squad don’t need distractions” as one of the reasons why the two parted ways. In what seemed an awkward exchange for Cooper, he also noted how the team “wants to look forward to winning” as another reason for Staunton’s exit.

Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper speaks ahead of the home fixture with Hampton & Richmond.

Frontman Rhys Murphy also spoke about The Beavers’ good run of form. He said: “They’re on a really good run at the moment and we’ll show them the respect they deserve. But we go into it confident.”

The Glovers will be without Jamie Sendles-White (long-term).

Hampton & Richmond Team News

Manager Mel Gwinnett recently received the Manager of the Month award for November after guiding his team to four wins from their five games played in the month.

Centre-back Dean Inman is the key player for the Beavers having played the most amount of minutes in the squad.

Two former Glovers for fans to look out for on Saturday are Jake Gray and Ben Seymour who now ply their trade with the London club. l Gwinnett also had a spell at Huish Park during his playing career.

The Beavers announced permanent signing of Joshua Anifowose after spending the first half of the season on loan from Dover.

When we last met…

The previous fixture between these two, saw the Glovers run out 2-1 winner. The game was fairly even until Jordan Stevens scored a goal to remember, a half-volley which nestled in the top corner. Rhys Murphy was also on the scoresheet that day who finished smartly after a through ball from Alex Whittle.

The game was also marred by two sending off’s for Coopers men, Jake Hyde receiving two yellow cards and Matty Worthington seeing straight red for a handball in the area. With the resulting penalty seeing ex-Glover Ben reducing the scoreline to 1-2 in the 98th minute.

Yeovil Town boss Mark Cooper has said the departure of former club captain Josh Staunton removed “distractions” from the league leaders.

The defender ended his three-and-a-half-year association with the club when his contract was mutually terminated this week.

His last appearance for the club came in the 2-1 defeat Torquay United as the club exited the FA Trophy last month and you have to go back to the end of September when he came on as an 84th minute substitute in a 2-1 win at Hampton & Richmond to find the last National League South action Staunton played.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah ahead of this weekend’s return fixture against Hampton at Huish Park on Saturday, Cooper said: “Where we are now, the squad doesn’t need any distractions, they need to be left to focus on football and give their best between now and the end of the season. We don’t need any distractions and for Josh it is a chance to go and play.”

Josh Staunton, left, in conversation with manager Mark Cooper. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

He added: “He’s been a focal point of the community, he’s done lots of interviews and speaks very well and has obviously struggled with an injury.

But he’s been here three years and he’s been a good servant. Like Morgan Williams and Matt Worthington he’s been here a long time.

The club has had three or four years of struggle, since the play-offs (in 2020) the club has been near the bottom of the league, and now it is about looking forward.

We want now to be a club that wins games and promotions, not talking about struggle and having to talk about ownership wrangles which Josh did well last year.

We want to be talking about winning games, big crowds, Cup runs, we want to be talking about all that now.

The squad did not need any distractions and we had to do the best thing we could to give us the best platform to go forward.”

Cooper confirmed midfielder Matt Worthington, who has taken the armband in the absence of Staunton, would be the club’s captain, the manager added: “Worthy’s been the go to and he will remain the captain and we will probably name a vice captain.

Asked about the departure of Staunton, top-scorer Rhys Murphy revealed that the captain was one of the people he spoke to before returning for his second spell in Somerset in the summer.

He said: “I got on really well with Josh, he’s a good guy and a good character. In my first spell at the club he had a terrible injury and I remember having a conversation with him towards the end of his rehab and saying that every day he came in and did it right, he never took a day off or took a short cut, and that summed him up.

He led by example, so he was a really good character to have around the place and he will be missed. He was one of the people I spoke to before coming back, he was liked by everyone in the changing room, but, for whatever reason he is on to new things, so I wish him all the best.

The Glovers return to Huish Park for the first time in a month – when they won 4-2 at home to Farnborough – with South Somerset having been beset by torrential rain.

Cooper added: “Our training pitches today (Thursday) were really soft. We’ve stayed off the main pitch since the Farnborough game, and hopefully we get a couple of dry days and it will be fine.

The pitch at Dartford (last weekend) was really good and we showed that with the way we moved the ball in the first half, compare that to (the 4-1 defeat at) Welling it is chalk and cheese, but you have to adapt and find a way.

We are looking forward to being at home in front of a big crowd this weekend.

Yeovil Town club captain, Josh Staunton has left the club.

The defender/midfielder/one time caretaker Manager departs the club having found game time hard to come by.

Staunton, who has more than 100 appearances to his name, leaves his contract early following rumours surrounding his future over the past week or two.

In a statement posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account, Josh said: “I owe a massive thank you to the people of Yeovil, for making me feel so at home at your club.

It has been an honour to wear the green & white and be your captain. We got through the hard times together and I wish the club and players all the best in promotion and beyond ?”

Josh Staunton joined Yeovil from Halifax and told the Gloverscast in an exclusive chat that Huish Park was the ‘only other team he’d join’ if his future lay away from the Shay stadium.

He captained the side for the last couple of seasons and, alongside Mark Cooper, showed real leadership in times of uncertainty and hardship as the club dropped out of the National League.

He also leaves the club as the Glovers’ most successful manager in terms of win ratio, with a sole victory from the final game at Altrincham at the end of the 2021/22 season.

On behalf of us all at the Gloverscast, we’d like to say Thank You to Josh for his captaincy during his time at Huish Park.

 

Yeovil Skipper Josh Staunton has spoken to the BBC ahead of the trip to Hampton and Richmond this weekend and has said he is enjoying the challenges this season has thrown up… including a positive kind of pressure. 

“It (This season) been a bit more unpredictable in terms of style of play, I’d say I think when you’re in the league above, it’s probably easier to do analysis on teams you’re playing against and teams are a bit more consistent in terms of players and style of play.

You kind of know what to get and obviously you’re going to games completely different, there’s a difference going to Chesterfield where you come away and think a point is a result, where we’re in a position this year where we want to try and win every game, so it’s enjoyable. 

They serve up the different challenges and sometimes going to games a bit more blind than you’d like to be it gives you a real chance of focus on yourself and not worry about about the opposition.”

“It gives you a real chance of focus on yourself and not worry about about the opposition.”

“I think pressure is relative to the position you’re in isn’t? I think it’s about learning to deal with pressure and making pressure bring out the best in you really, I know much rather have the pressure of being at the top of the table and winning than the pressure of scrapping around for points.
It’s a much more enjoyable situation and although there’s pressure, it allows you to be more free.
There’s pressure in football in every game, no matter where you’re playing, or who you’re playing for, there is pressure and as I say it’s a different kind of pressure, it’s one we need to learn to relish and and the team really needs to learn to make that pressure ‘positive pressure’.

 

Josh Staunton Pre-Tonbridge

When asked about the changing room environment, it’ll come of no great surprise to hear the skipper talk about the current situation as if it’s night and day compared to last year.

“Obviously there’s a wealth of experience in there this year and it makes life easier in terms of delegation around the dressing room and around the club things kind of look after themselves a bit more and obviously winning is a much easier environment than losing but it serves up his own challenges, keeping boys level headed – just because you win one game doesn’t mean you wouldn’t win the league – and it’s about that striving to be better every day – just because you won on Saturday doesn’t mean you’ve cracked it for this weekend – it’s it’s building building and trying to progress to where we want to be and it is it’s a much there’s no I think people should say it was a bet they were worse environment it’s a better environment when you win against a football and towards a writing at the table but it’s not coming complacent and it’s working every down there’s raining ground like you want to be a champion come the season and that’s the that’s the environment you have to try and build day to day in the dressing room.”

Focusing on this weekend’s game, Staunton says the homework has been done, but they’re ready for whatever is thrown at them.

“We know their shape in the last few games, but as I say the teams still searching at this time of season to find their perfect formula, I think we’re by no means the finished perfect form of ourselves so, we’ll go into it with an idea of what they’re going to produce, players might change they could throw different shape out and especially when you’re one of the bigger teams in the league you find a lot of teams adapt for you so you do kind of go into a game thinking they’ve done this the last two weeks but then they’re playing a bigger team they might change up completely so, its still a lesson still learning curve for us but we’ll go there focusing on us and believing if we do it right we’ll we’ll be able to get the job done.”

“We’ll go there focusing on us and believing if we do it right we’ll we’ll be able to get the job done.”

“I’ve grown up playing in and around London myself so I’m kind of adapt to that there’s always a physicality which comes with London teams there isn’t it from sick under 16’s onwards they used to be built like blokes at 15 – I don’t know what they put in the water around the Central London area.

The away day experience is learning to adapt to the environment, it’s eleven players playing against you every single week and it’s how you find the solution to beat them.

The away day experience is not letting the environment be an excuse for you, we could say ‘it’s hard to go to London’, but they’re going to come here and it’s the same group of players, so we can’t use that as an excuse.”

“At this moment in time the pitches are all to a relative standard, but we dont know where that’ll be in January, when the pitches are a bit more beaten up, but we’re not looking to make excuses, we’ll go to London with our chests out hoping to bring three points back.

With plenty of players performing well and the goals starting to flow, Staunton was pleased with how the team – including backroom staff. – had worked hard to make sure as many players were available and fighting for a spot and that depth could well become key as the season rolls on.

“Firstly, we’ve had a real onus this year – Joe the physio has done really well, we’ve brought in Weston who’s been excellent, to add to that department and oversee the football, it’s been about getting players on the pitch and making players available to be on the pitch. There were times last year we were down to the bare bones,

“There’s been a real hard work in that department, to try and make sure we are managing loads during training and managing minutes for some people, and that adds to the squad depth.

It’s a lot easier when you’re not relying on the same eleven players to play 44 games, you can take someone out for one and it stops them missing four games, that squad depth is key and it’s probably a strength we have over other teams because of the calibre of players we have in every position.”


You can listen to the full interview below

Yeovil Town skipper Josh Staunton spoke to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins following the Glovers’ 3-2 win over Weston super-Mare, you can hear the full audio at the bottom of the article.

Staunton spoke about feeling the relief of a first away win for 220 days, abut also, a performance that seemed to click earlier than we have been.

“It feels really good, to do it in front of a massive crowd, from our following. We started like a house on fire, didn’t we? Started exactly how we wanted to start in a derby, two goals in front of our fans, the noise – which was electric – we kind of lost our way a little bit, but when you come away from home, especially when you haven’t won away from home for a long time, the most important thing is three points.

I think the 12 games for us, is about how many points can we accumulate and we’ve amassed another three points on to our total now and that’s a real springboard for us for the rest of the season.”

…that’s a real springboard for us for the rest of the season.

With the game at 2-0 to the Glovers, the Seagulls fought back, scoring a long range deflected strike and playing their way back into the game, which wasn’t a surprise to the Captain.

“When you go two goals down, you’re kind of free aren’t you? You’ve got nothing else to lose, you can commit another man forward and kind of play a bit more cat and mouse, especially when you’re at home, you’ve got nothing to lose. They did that, they went forward well, I thought they played well, we knew they were going to have a good passage with the ball, it was important we kept our shape and we did that.”

Changes were made, goal scorer Jamie Sendles-White made way for Zac Bell at half time, and the skipper had credit for all of the subs and the way the manager rotates the group.

Credit to the gaffer really, we’ve got a squad of a lot of characters and the hardest thing about characters is that they all want to play every game, the gaffer has used his man management skills excellently and keeping everyone chomping at the bit. 

It’s clear to see, the rotation between the front boys is clear to see and will pay dividends, I think that’s testament to the way the manager is dealing with big characters, it’s easy for Belly to come and sulk today after not playing, but he came in second half excellent. 

Sends (Jamie Sendles-White) first half, out of position at right back, did excellent, it’s a long season, it’s important we manage characters and so far, so good.

I’m really pleased tonight, I thought the boys that came on made a difference; Belly opening up down the right hand side, Stevo is looking sharper and sharper. It’s just another step in the right direction, if we continue to trust the process, I think we’ll be ticking teams off.”

…if we continue to trust the process, I think we’ll be ticking teams off.

The Glovers got the win, thanks to three goals, all from set pieces. the Points, performance and the set piece prowess all pleasing the Glovers’ number 32.

“The most important thing for us was three points, as a squad, we are strong, the gaffer is dealing with everyone, keeping everyone driven and it’s a really good place to be at the moment.

Last year, we scored one or two (goals from set pieces) and (now) look really dangerous from set plays, Youngy’s free kick outstanding, the second one is a great header from Sends and the third one we’ve worked well, we worked the extra man round the back across goal.

I think if you’re going to be successful and you want to win a league, set pieces are massive, if you can keep them out at one end – which we need to get better at, we’ve been a bit unlucky, every deflection seems to go in the top corner at the moment, – if we can score more set pieces than we concede, we’ll be a very, very dangerous force.

It gives teams something else to worry about especially when shooting towards our fans, it was sucking the ball in the goal. It was a really good atmosphere tonight, it was a fun one to play in. “

850 Glovers fans sold out the away end at Weston and the skipper has been proud of the group’s ability to react to a loud, passionate and positive supporter base that continues to grow and grow.

“You can see everyone, the togetherness when we win, everyone is there, the noise is really, really, good behind the goal – I think Martin (Hellier) has purchased a drum, a massive drum for home games.

It’s just another string to our bow of togetherness, let’s enjoy the run, let’s go on a bit of a run, it’s easy to get clouded by negativity, we’re in a good position, we’re trusting the process.

As a club we’re trying to build long term success, not a knee jerk reaction and I’m really, really encouraged by what we’re doing.”

The game did go beyond 100 minutes (not for the first time this season) and Staunton was adamant that his side were up for the fight regardless of how long they were on the pitch for.

“The extra time is really, really hard to get your head round all the time, it’s almost like playing Extra Time, especially after playing Saturday-Tuesday, in the blazing heat.

It was clear for both teams, from 85 minutes onwards, the tempo really dropped, it’s just relentless.”

Soon though… it was back to the fans…

“I think we want to be together, when we concede a goal, we all concede a goal, when we score a goal, we all score a goal and that runs right from the top, right to the bottom and we want the fans to be part of that.

It’s fantastic having this sort of following, it’s really making a big difference, when you come out to the noise and you score a goal, it makes the hair on the back of my next stand up.

It’s another positive step for us as a football club, and when you look at the bigger picture it’s about learning to deal with playing in front of big crowds, big away following with big expectation and today will be a good step in the right direction for us as a Football Club.  “

 

The Full Audio Is Available Below

Yeovil Town skipper Josh Staunton has said he’s confident that the Glovers are heading in the right direction.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference ahead of the double header against Tonbridge and Havant, he confirmed he wouldn’t be available for Monday’s game but that Saturday’s was the first port of call.

“It’s a bit of a different one for me knowing I wouldn’t play on Monday but it’s it’s a good opportunity for us, we have the squad to be able to rotate which is is always crucial, it might give us an edge over some teams in the league with the quality we have in depth it’s a good opportunity for us to hopefully go back to back and really stake our claim and and get right up the league.”

Speaking to BBC Somerset, Staunton said that the situation, form and division of the team may have changed since last season, but that leadership was still throwing up it’s challenges.

“It’s a different challenge, I’d much rather be dealing with this situation than last year, but everything puts its own challenges up, we’ve been more focused on the things we haven’t done as a group and and how we can build and and about trying to build some momentum and confidence reallyand keep us on a level playing field; never too high when we win and and don’t feel like the world is going to end when we lose or draw so it’s been a different challenge but every every game is a different challenge and we’re trying to build as a group so it’s kind of like a work in motion”

Mark Cooper in discussion with captain Josh Staunton: Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

With two wins, a draw and a single loss on the record, Staunton was adamant the side are gelling and working towards getting into a full flow sooner rather than later. 

“I think that fans have turned out in their numbers and it’s been brilliant and hopefully throughout the season we’ll give them plenty of reasons to come back and those who have stayed away still, we’ll hopefully entice them in.

“It’s an exciting thing to be a part of, I think the fans are probably anxious when we’re not not ahead and understandably so, I think it’s going to take a bit of time for us to kind of get used to this positioning in the league and come to terms with the fact that we’re going to have to be probably a bit more patient in terms of the way teams are going to set up against us, I think it’s clear to see we’re all in it together, I think of us as one big community now and look to be focusing and trying to do things in the right way on and off the pitch and long may tit continue and and hopefully we’ll give them something to cheer about.

“We understand our shortcomings in the first four games we’re by no means a finished product and um yeah we’ll just look forward and it’s about looking ahead really isn’t it and I think the longer the club can do that rather than focus on kind of looking over at shoulder which has been the case for several years, it’s nice to be able to try and just focus on the football and and look forward to what’s ahead.”

There was plenty of chat about the differences between playing part-time and full-time teams and even about how they can go about scouting and preparing for each opponent, but Staunton was sure it was down to us to implement our game plan and dictate the games. 

“I think we’re making steps in the right direction, I thought the first half on Saturday was a progression I thought we implemented some of what we wanted to do, and understanding a bit more (about) each players movements and where people need to be on the pitch, I think it’s going to take time.”

“It will take time because we’re making the manager’s lives harder than it should be because we’re not implementing ourselves as we should do, we’ve had to change shape a lot of times, that’s the players on the pitch’s responsibility in terms of sticking to the plan and doing what’s expected to us but in terms of personality wise the group is very good, 

I feel like we’re going the right right direction.

When we have a performance which doesn’t quite represent what we want to be, regardless of the result, we’re very honest with each other and strive for better. It’s not ‘okay so let’s just paper over the cracks with a 2-1 win on Tuesday night’ we we understand we need to be better in certain aspects and implement ourselves further up the pitch, I think that’s clear to see, more penetrating passes and be a bit braver in that final third and we’ve been working hard to to make sure we rectify that and get ourselves ready for the upcoming games.”

Yeovil Town captain Josh Staunton has revealed he will miss eight matches next season having been advised not to play on artificial surfaces due to a knee injury.

The skipper told 3 Valleys Radio‘s programme ‘Football Bloody Hell’ that he would miss the opening three away fixtures of the National League South season with Hemel Hempstead Town, Maidstone United and Havant & Waterlooville all having artificial pitches.

He was not involved in Tuesday night’s 5-0 pre-season friendly win at Dorchester Town due to the 3G surface at The Avenue Stadium.

Asked about the matches he would miss, Staunton said: “My target is ever single game other than 3G games, that is my target every single season.

I know I can’t run around like a 21-year-old anymore so I will adapt and find a way, but my aim is to be available for 39 games. They are all unfortunately marked down. There’s no grey territory, it’s a green light or red light.

I won’t be available for an away game until September, our first three games are all on 3G surfaces. The gaffer is taking me on as part of the coaching staff, so I will be there in a different form.”

Josh Staunton rises highest for a header. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

According to our resident National League expert, Seb White, the following clubs have artificial surfaces:

Aveley
Eastbourne Borough
Havant & Waterlooville
Hemel Hempstead Town
Maidstone United
Slough Town
Tonbridge Angels
Worthing

 

He said that a decision to play on the 3G surface at Bromley last season had nearly ended his career after suffering a painful reaction to playing on the pitch, and said that he was now having to have a tailored programme of training during the current pre-season campaign.

Speaking of the impact of the 4-1 defeat at Bromley in January, the 27-year-old said: “It nearly ended my career it was that bad. I have never felt anything like it, I was not the same after and we had such a flurry of games thereafter, so I could not settle my knee down.

It all came from the impact of playing on 3G, I just could not get the swelling back under control and I did not have time for injections because games were coming thick and fast.

On his pre-season fitness regime, he added: “I try and keep the pounding out of my knee, so every time they do a run, I substitute it with a bike, so I do non-impact stuff. I have trained a lot more than I expected to, I am trying to get some bedding back in to it.

I had a summer where I was completely off it and I was not allowed to do any running, so I have bedded it back in through careful management and I hope to be in a much better position that I was last year.

It is just a case of trying to keep low impact where possible until I can build up a tolerance of it, but hopefully I will be managing it and will be available for 39 games of the season.

Yeovil Town skipper Josh Staunton has been awarded a Community Champion award by the Professional Footballers Association.

The award, for the 2023/23 season recognises those who have made a difference in their communities.

Staunton was heavily involved in the battle against the National League’s contract changes and led the division’s captains in working with the League to resolve the issue.

He fronted up to supporters during a difficult season and lead the club’s acknowledgement and apology following relegation and has been a constant presence in the local, Glovers’ community.

He said on twitter that he was ‘proud and honoured’ to have been given the award.

All that whilst tending to his new lawn… sorry  child. His new child!

Congratulations, Captain.

In yet another highly passionate post-match chat, Yeovil Town captain Josh Staunton has promised that he’ll not give in as the Glovers stare relegation to the National League South in the face.

We at the Gloverscast would encourage anyone to listen to the full eight minutes from the skipper, we’ll post the full YouTube clip below.

On the match itself, Josh was clearly frustrated at conceding two and scoring none: “At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it’s two really soft goals at one end and not putting it in the goal at the other end, to be honest, there’s not really a lot I can say, it was the story of the game and the story of the season, it’s disappointing.

On the horrible injury suffered by Alex Fisher, Staunton sent the striker his best: “At the end of the day, forget football, that’s not a nice thing to see regardless of whether you’re living your day to day life, when you go down and one of your players is in agony, his leg is clearly in a very, very bad way, it’s rocks you a bit psychologically, it wasn’t ideal as we had players around it, which leaves you in a curious position to try and focus on a game when you’ve just seen your mate and I don’t know if that puts a bit of fear in you. It was important we rallied the troops after and it gave us an extra incentive to try and go and do it. We send our well wishes to Fishy and we’ll be with him every step of the way.

Now, here’s where Gloverscast Ben wants to use some editorial licence, listen to the skipper talk about the situation and the upcoming seven games, listen to his voice, listen to how every single word means something. Sorry for the long quotes below, but every word was worth reading, typing and understanding.

“Look, I don’t need to sit here and try and save myself for the club, but what can we do? We can either give everything we’ve got – the players that are available, and give everything we’ve got for seven games and see where it takes us and start finding excuses and pointing fingers at everyone else but ourselves, but that’s not what we need to do.”

“I’m not a silly man, this is Yeovil Football Club, we are a massive club at this level and the situation we are in in ludicrous really, it hurts, it hurts me every day, I wake up and come into this place it seems to be a glaring reflection of what we’ve put ourselves into and they (the fans) are well within their rights to (show their frustrations) the fall that this club has had, look I’m part of it, unfortunately, I’m a guilty party, but they turn up, they turn up and support us and when we actually look like we can attack they support us. 

“I think, as soon as the second one went in, I don’t blame them for their dejection and turning their back on us. It’s our job to try and get them onside, and I thought we had periods of the game where we played good.”

To be honest, we don’t actually have to play well at the moment, it’s just that we have to try and find a way to do whatever we can to get a result.

In the last few games we just don’t look like we are capable of that.”

But this isn’t me resigning to defeat, Jesus, I’ll go down swinging, I’ll take every punch someone has got to give me, there were times I thought we were going to get back in the game, we are just falling on the wrong side of lady luck at the moment, and we are definitely not helping ourselves with our decision making,” 

“I said to the boys in the week, as a footballer, regardless of what level you play at or what level you go to play at, you probably wont face a bigger week in your life as a footballer, in terms of, they can make or break your season, and they are pivotal.”

It hurts me saying it, because we really shouldn’t be in this situation, it really does, I feel like a punchbag, I’ve been smashed to pieces today, to be honest, but we have got a big week, you can either sit there and cry about it, or you can get yourself up for Tuesday and give it everything you’ve got again and show yourself as a character and as a man”

“We’ve got to understand pressure, I said to the boys, two years ago we lost our captain nearly to the day and myself personally, I had a very close friend who we lost three years ago, and they’re real pressures in life, and it’s important that you can’t take the weight of the world onto the football pitch, there’s no need, and I’m trying to relay that message to the boys, you’ll face bigger pressures than this in life, so you have to stand up and show yourself in situations like this, it’s not a time to wilter, it’s a time stand up as a character, to feel the shirt with pride and display what Yeovil is about.”

“You should thrive under pressure, if you want to be a professional footballer, you want to strive to play at the best level you can, you need to learn to strive and to play under pressure – and it brings the best out of you, because if it doesn’t, we all know how that ends.

We can’t hide it forever, there is pressure, players are playing under pressure, it’s not proper pressure – there’s proper pressure in everyday life and you need to open your eyes and realise that.

I understand, but this is 90 minutes of your life where you can express yourself and you have to have the freedom, you have to have the,… urm… balls… to express yourself or the game will leave you behind and we have to find that for seven games, it’s my duty to the football club to find something and I’ll die trying,”

OUR. CAPTAIN.

 

Yeovil Town captain Josh Staunton had called on his team-mates to unite to pull the club out of the relegation scrap at the bottom of the National League table.

The skipper admitted the recent influx of a number of new players in recent weeks had proved difficult to integrate in to the group which started the season.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the 1-0 home defeat to Bromley, he said that he was “taking the pressure” on behalf of his team-mates and urged them to play with a “freedom” which was obviously lacking at Huish Park this afternoon.

He said: “It is important every single player is pulling in the same direction and it is my job to unify the dressing room. People are under pressure and pressure does strange things to people in terms of decision making and characteristics, this would be a much easier integration if we were relaxing in the middle of the table.

It is clear to see that we look like we have the weight of the world on our shoulders and it is my job to relieve that pressure and keep it on myself and let the boys play with a sense of freedom they should have.

I would run through a brick wall for this football club and it is important that everyone in that dressing room has the same mentality. You will never find me blaming my body – I hurt, I ache but will go out there and do everything for the football club. The boys do look tired, but when I am looking them in the eye I am asking them to give everything for the club and I wanted every single player to find that extra 10%.

It’s essential (we have that unity) and if we don’t have it we will be in a very difficult position in a few weeks time. Characters at this stage of the season are worth points, they make a difference, stand up, run through brick walls for each other and get you those few points when you really need them. So it is important we all take the time to realise what we are playing for and it has to be your driving force.

He gave his backing to manager Mark Cooper who is looking to lift the team which could be in the National League relegation zone before the kick a ball in the televised fixture against Southend United next Saturday afternoon.

Gateshead, who sit one point and one place below them, host Dagenham & Redbridge in midweek and a win for the North East side would see them go above the Glovers.

On his manager, Staunton said: “I support Mark Cooper, he is one of the best managers I have ever worked under. As a person, he is a fantastic person and there’s not a better man to deal with the pressure. I trust the Gaffer and I respect that he takes a lot of the responsibility and I will try and take as much pressure off every single player in the dressing room as I can.

On the performance against Bromley, he added: “The first five or ten minutes we were in disarray, but we managed to gain some sort of control and finished the first half well. I thought second half they had a lot of territory and really could have hurt us on the break but we had lot of balls in the box and we are clearly trying to do things the right way. But we had no answers to any questions today.