Match Preview

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Yeovil Town return to Huish Park in triumphant spirits, off the back of their 1-0 win at Braintree Town last weekend.

The Glovers put an end to their indifferent run of form with the win, and they take on a troubled Torquay United. The two South West sides have clashed around the Christmas period for the last four years, with varying degrees of success between the two outfits.

The last time these two sides met in the league, it was the mighty Yeovil who were successful, goals from Frank Nouble, Sonny Blu Lo-Everton and Jake Hyde handing us a 3-1 win.

Yeovil Town Team News

Mark Cooper insisted that Torquay will still be a tough challenge for us, speaking midweek he said: “We know if they are fit they (Dean Moxey, Asa Hall, Kevin Dawson, Tom Lapslie) will play and they will be desperate to come here and get something, so we have to fully respect that and make sure we give everything we have got and get the result.“

Picture courtesy of Gary Brown

There are no returns from injury for any of our injured stars, the gaffer also confirmed mid-week that the highly anticipated returns of Michael Smith and Rhys Murphy would have to wait until after Friday’s game at least, saying: “Murphy and Smith are back in training, but it will be too soon for them to come back in.”

Alex Whittle will not be seen again this season, with initial injury concerns having been eased somewhat, as Cooper confirmed the dynamic left back wouldn’t need surgery on his hamstring.

Torquay United Team News

Interim Gulls manager Aaron Downes spoke to the media ahead of tomorrow’s clash, labelling his side as “rare underdogs”, stating: “It’s very rare that Torquay United in the National League South goes to a team, and is sort of looked at as underdogs, as far as the league position is concerned, so for once we’ll relish the opportunity to do that, but we know that if we play well and if we perform the way we can perform, then we definitely know we can get a result there”.

Downes also confirmed that starting striker Aaron Jarvis would miss Friday’s clash, with other injuries in the squad being assessed right up to kickoff, saying: “Marsh (Ross Marshall) and Daws (Kevin Dawson) both touch and go really, not 100% certain on them. Jarvs (Aaron Jarvis) will be out, he’s still not right; he was ill last week but he also got the knock at Tonbridge on his knee, and then he had to come off later in the second half. So Jarvs (Jarvis) will be out, and Daws (Dawson) and Marsh (Marshall) are both tight”.

The Devon side come into Friday off the back of a 1-0 win themselves, an Asa Hall penalty proving the difference between them and Hampton & Richmond. Torquay have also found themselves in spotty form, although still an improvement under interim boss Downes, following his appointment after Gary Johnson’s departure. The Australian has a record of two wins, two draws and two losses since being appointed near the end of February.

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Yeovil Town are back at Huish Park looking to bounce back from Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at home to Welling United, their first of the season on home soil.

They take on a Chippenham Town side which suffered heartbreak in their match at the weekend going down to an injury time winner at Hampton & Richmond at the weekend.

The Bluebirds had taken an early lead through midfielder Tom Owens-Evans before being pegged back in the second half and then Alex Gibson-Hammond snatched the three points in the sixth minute of injury time.

Yeovil Town Team News

The big injury news for Yeovil Town is the anticipated absence of influential full-back Michael Smith, who was forced off after just 16 minutes at the weekend.

Manager Mark Cooper admitted the Northern Irishman would be “a doubt” for the midweek match and the question is who will replace him if he is, as expected, unavailable.

Jay Foulston, who spent the 2019-20 season on loan at Chippenham from Newport, came on to fill in on the right side of defence in what proved a difficult afternoon for him.

Michael Smith is not expected to be fit to face Chippenham Town.
Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

Will Dawes, who was not named on the bench against Welling having picked up a knock in the goalless draw at Aveley last Monday, is an option if he is available, as is captain Matt Worthington, who has filled in that position already this season.

Up front, on loan Bristol City youngster Olly Thomas came off the bench with some effect in the closing stages of Saturday’s loss and will be a consideration for a starting place. However, having only recently come back from injury himself, Cooper may decide it is too soon for him to be thrust in to the frontline.

Both Worthington and midfield colleague Charlie Cooper have now passed the cut-off point for a suspension for ten bookings, meaning their slates have now been wiped clean.

Chippenham Town Team News

Manager Gary Horgan said he believed his side more than matched fourth-placed Hampton & Richmond at the weekend, but admitted defeat was a bitter pill to swallow.

The boss is hoping that his side can pick themselves up as they go up against the National League South leaders.

Speaking after the game he said: “We always go in to games looking to win them. We have had a tough game here and put an awful lot in to it against a side with huge ambitions and we have more than matched them.

“We will try and do that again on Tuesday and see where we are in terms of bodies and everything else and then we will go there with no fear, as we always do.”

Midfielder Alex Bray has returned on the bench in recent weeks having had a spell on the sidelines with injury and could be in contention for a start, but defender Eddie Jones is still expected to be missing through injury.

Defender Nathaniel Williams is available to Horgan having sat out the last two games through suspension.

The Bluebirds sit in 16th place in the table and their form away from home is equally mid-table having won one, drawn one and lost two of their last four games on the road. The losses came on Saturday at Hampton and at Tonbridge Angels with a draw at in-form Slough Town on February 17th and at win at Dartford four days earlier.

 

We’ve met before

Back in November, a Jake Hyde goal gave Yeovil the lead in Wiltshire before an error from Jordan Maguire-Drew saw him gift Chippenham possession in the middle of the park.

The Bluebirds flew forwards and a header from on loan defender Duncan Idehen deflected off his defensive team-mate Morgan Williams to hand the home side a point.

 

 

Around the Grounds

In Tuesday night’s other matches, second-placed Chelmsford City face a tricky trip to a Maidstone United side with strong ambitions of securing a place in the play-offs.

Worthing will be looking to bounce back from a shock 3-1 defeat to Taunton Town at the weekend as they take on Farnborough.

Hampton host Welling United, still high from their successes at Huish Park, St Albans City travel to Weston-super-Mare, Braintree host Dartford and Bath City face off against Hemel Hempstead Town at Twerton Park.

Aveley snuck back in to the division’s final play-off spot at the expense of Bath with a 2-1 win at home to Tonbridge on Monday night.

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Yeovil Town put their unbeaten home record on the line once more when 16th place Weston Super-Mare pay a visit to Huish Park on Tuesday night..

This may, or may not, be considered a Somerset Derby, both sides to lie within the county boundaries, but ‘Derby’ might be pushing it a bit.

Yeovil Team News

Picture Courtesy of Gary Brown

The Glovers are hoping to build on their 1-0 win over Havant and Waterlooville on Saturday.

In terms of team news; Jordan Young is available before sitting out the next two away games after this midweek match up, the forward picked up his 10th yellow card at the weekend.

It’s expected that Alex Whittle will be missing though, he’s been forced off early on each of the last two outing for the Glovers, Jay Foulston a likely replacement in the starting line up. Whilst it’s expected that Charlie Cooper could be involved in a match day squad for the first time in a while.

The Glovers are still missing a trio of significant forward options with Rhys Murphy, Jake Hyde and Olly Thomas all out through injury.

Weston Team News 

Reuben Reid. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The Super-Mare’s (I couldn’t think of their actual nickname when writing this) will bring a certain Reuben Reid with them to Huish Park.

Reid had two spells as a Glover and has nine goals in 26 appearances for Weston this season, however, hasn’t been named in a match day squad during February.

Other than Reid, Dayle Grubb leads their goal scoring charts with seven for the season in the league. 

Speaking after his side’s 2-1 win over Hemel on Saturday, Weston boss Scott Bartlett said;

“These are the games that you look forward to, these are the games that you want. Yeovil are doing really well, I’ve worked with Mark for a long time and they’re having a fantastic season… I think sometimes at home it might more difficult for Yeovil, than it will be away.

Teams are coming there to shut up shop, but we won’t do that, we can come and have a right good go, we know how strong they are, powerful they are, how good their squad is, Mark is an excellent coach, they’ll be really well drilled, they’ll know everything about us, we can go there as a club and give it our best shot.

It’s certainly a game we are looking forward to, after we’ve played that one, I hope they can go on and get the job done and go up, because they’ve had a difficult time as a club over the last period.”

 

 

When We Last Met.

Yeovil went to Weston Super Mare and picked up a 3-2 win earlier in the season, goals from Jordan Young, Jamie Sendels White and Frank Nouble giving the Glovers all three points away from home.

 

Elsewhere in the NLS

Aveley and Maidstone met on Monday night, but on Tuesday, the other promotion contenders are in action too;

Bath host Truro, Worthing head to Welling, Chelmsford travel to Hemel Hempstead, St Albans are away at Dover, Braintree host Tonbridge whilst Torquay are playing…. sorry, we said promotion contenders, didn’t we?

How To Watch/Listen

The best place it at Huish Park itself, tickets are available right up until kick off.

BBC Somerset and Three Valleys Radio will have live commentary, whilst the game is also available on National League TV for £9.50

 

 

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****FRIDAY NIGHT UPDATE – All the plaudits, see comments below, handed towards ex-Glovers’ loanee David Noble (2 games, 2015) were obviously read in Wealdstone, as St Albans announced they had lost their manager to the National League side on Friday night, just hours before the Glovers’ visit. His assistant Jon Meakes and coach Harry Wheeler will take charge on Saturday.****

Yeovil Town travel to the ninth-placed St Albans City this weekend to face a side which in a rich vein of form.

The Saints have won five of their last six matches in National League South and sit only behind the Glovers and Chelmsford City in the division’s form table at this stage.

Yeovil team news

Manager Mark Cooper was in the crowd at Clarence Park on Tuesday night and watched three second half goals earn them a 4-1 win over Havant & Waterlooville.

Having gone ahead with a goal from Zane Banton, the Saints were pegged back by a goal from ex-Glover Ryan Seager for the visitors before three goals in the last 23 minutes sealed the win.

Speaking on Thursday about his thoughts on the opponents, Cooper said: “They are on a great run and play really good football.

“I listened to their manager (ex-Glovers’ loanee David Noble) after the game and like he said, teams raise their game to play against the team that is at the top.

“The credit we should give to our players is that every game we play against sides that raise their game by 25% minimum. To deal with that every week and win, credit to them.

“There will be a brilliant atmosphere, we will take another load of fans and we are expecting a tough game.

“Their manager has done a brilliant job there, he was a good footballer himself and they play a style the way he liked to play. They are very expansive, very easy on the eye.”

Substitute Jake Hyde suffered a calf strain just minutes after arriving into the 2-0 home win over Hemel Hempstead Town on Saturday. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown

 

The boss also revealed that he has a fully-fit squad with the exception of long-term injury victim Jordan Stevens, who he said was “not far away.”

If there’s not mind games being played, that means top scorer Rhys Murphy is back from his hamstring strain and fellow striker Jake Hyde, who limped off with a calf injury in the 2-0 home win over Hemel Hempstead Town last weekend.

Defender Jamie Sendles-White, who is yet to feature after his Achilles operation, is also presumably available.


St Albans City team news

St Albans saw midfielder Dominic Hutchinson, who is on loan from National League Premier side Wealdstone, limp off with a hamstring injury early in the win over Havant.

Boss David Noble said he is not sure whether he would be available at the weekend and the Saints will also be without injured left-backs Sam Brown and Ben Wyatt, who have both missed a number of games recently.

Top scorer Shaun Jeffers, who had an unsuccessful spell at Huish Park on loan at 2015, has 18 goals in all competitions this season having worked his way back in to Noble’s plans having started on the bench in the reverse fixture in August.

Shaun Jeffers scored his four goals as a Yeovil Town player.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Speaking after the Havant game, Noble was quick to give credit to his players for their recent run of form – and he is eyeing up continuing it at the weekend.

He said: “Players deserve a huge amount of credit, coming off a really bad spell we have put a really good run of form together.

“Our mentality doesn’t change, I look to win every game of football and we will be looking to win again on Saturday.

“Yeovil are runaway leaders at the minute and looking very strong. When you play the top teams, you lift your game and we will be going in to Saturday looking to do that.”

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The Glovers are back in action following their FA Trophy exit and it’s back to League matters with an away day at Chippenham Town.

This is a Huish Park derby… of sorts, the home side’s ground is known as Hardenhuish Park… we can only assume for the reverse leg, we’ll change our stadium’s name to Softenhuish Park… might as well.

On Monday night, Maidstone United cut the gap at the top to just eight points with a win over play-off contenders Chelmsford City, and with others in the chasing pack including Aveley, Bath City and Hampton & Richmond all playing away from home on this midweek round of games, it could be an important night to get three points.

Chippenham needed penalties to get past Southern League South side Basingstoke Town in their FA Trophy clash at the weekend, Craig Fasanmade’s 100th minute equaliser sparing their blushes in normal time – he also took, and scored a spot kick.

The Chips (I assume they’re nicknamed ‘The Chips’ because, why wouldn’t they be?) are actually on something of an unbeaten league run though, with a 2-2 draw against Chemlsford , home wins vs Farnborough and Eastbourne all in November.

Northern Irishman Matt McClure tops their goal scoring charts.

Jake Wannell celebrates with Jordan Young.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Yeovil Team News

The main headline here is that Jordan Young, who signed for Yeovil on a two-and-a-half year contract from Chippenham in January (yes, feels longer ago, doesn’t it?), is missing from the side through suspension. His fifth yellow card of the season means he misses one game, which just so happens to be against his former side.

This week represents the final full week of games before the ‘5 Yellow Card Cut Off’ so Charlie Cooper, Matt Worthington and Rhys Murphy can keep themselves out of trouble for a week (which includes the weekend’s trip to Welling United), we won’t have to worry about the accumulation of yellows until they get to 10.

It seems highly unlikely that Jake Wannell  will be risked following his injury seven days ago, Duncan Idehen will likely make his first league start since signing on loan from Bristol City.

Mark Cooper pointed to a couple of niggles among some of the players he rested for last weekend’s FA Trophy exit at Torquay United when he spoke to Three Valleys Radio‘s Football Bloody Hell podcast on Monday night.

The manager said: “Michael Smith is 35 and has been arguably one of our best players and he covers 12 kilometres every game, he started to feel a little bit of tightness in his hamstring and it made no sense for him to play another game and risk losing him for six weeks.

“Morgan Williams has played the last three games with a tight hamstring and hyper-extended his knee against Torquay in the league game. Jake Wannell tweaked his hamstring (against Farnborough) and was not fit. Matthew Worthington and a tight something and has played almost every minute of every game.

“Jordan Stevens pulled his hamstring, Frank Nouble and Rhys Murphy have been on fire, so we had to freshen it up and I make no apologies for that, it was the right thing to do. Even if we had won the game it would have been the right thing to do.”

Long(er)-term injury victims defender Jamie Sendles-White (Achilles) and midfielder Stevens (hamstring) are both certain to not feature tonight. 

 

Chippenham Team News

The Chips (we’re going with that) are reporting a long and winding injury list with winger Alex Bray the latest to suffer with a knock – he could be missing. They also have concerns over; midfielders Tom Owen-Evans, Aaron Amadi-Holloway, Tyreke Johnson and Will King, plus striker Owen Windsor who have all struggled to maintain a spot in the side of late.

A quick look at the FA’s suspension list, experienced defender Eddie Jones is listed as serving a one-match ban for this game too.

Keep an eye out for a feisty dug out too, both manager Gary Horgan and assistant Matt Coupe are both due to serve suspensions of their own at the weekend.

As an aside, the home team’s Goalkeeper, Will Henry is listed as one of the smaller ‘keepers in the league… I do hope we spot him off his line at some point and have been practicing our long range efforts… hopefully someone tries…. CHIPPIN’HIM….. 

I’ll get my coat…..

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Unless you have been living under a rock this past week, you will be in no doubt as to the fact that this weekend’s visit by Braintree Town to Huish Park offers the Glovers the chance to extend their unbeaten run to ten matches* on Saturday.

In what is sure to be a special day with the club’s ‘Paint the Town Pink’ campaign, which aims to raise money for the Yeovil Hospital Charity’s effort to fund a new Breast Cancer Unit, the 

Yeovil Town News 

In terms of availability, it is hard to look beyond those players who started the 2-0 win over W*ymouth at Huish Park on Tuesday night.

Speaking on Thursday, manager Mark Cooper revealed that midfielder Charlie Cooper is unlikely to be available (at least from the start) having missed the last four matches through injury, and long-term absentee defender Jamie Sendles-White is expected to be out for “six to eight weeks.”

No-one has confirmed (perhaps because they haven’t directly been asked) exactly what has happened with the summer signing, but a post on his Instagram account featuring a protective boot on an Achilles injury suggests an operation.

On the opposition, Cooper’s comments are consistent with what he’s been saying all season: “The next game always has to be the most important and we don’t look too far ahead, we have to focus on Braintree and put all our effort in to that.

“If you look too far ahead you are asking for trouble, so Braintree is key, we are enjoying being top of the league but we are not getting too carried away by it.”

Braintree Town News 

The big news for Braintree is the signing of experienced striker Shaquille Coulthirst, who has arrived on a one-month loan from National League Premier side Barnet.

The 28-year-old has made four starts for his parent club this season and is yet to find the net and has not had a prolific season since scoring 15 for Barnet in the 2018-19 campaign, but undoubtedly comes with higher division pedigree.

Announcing the signing on Thursday, The Iron described the new arrival as a player with “a wealth of experience” and Coulthirst posted that he was “excited to get started“, presumably starting at Huish Park on Saturday.

 

Speaking following the midweek 2-0 win at Hemel Hempstead Town – not an easy place to go, as Yeovil discovered on the opening day of the season – manager Angelo Harrop said he felt the result had been coming.

He told the club’s YouTube channel: “I thought in the first half that was our best performance of the season. But I also thought it had been coming, we are such a good talented, young group and once we click we will be a real force in the league.

“Tonight I thought they stood up to the challenge and I always fancied us and I am absolutely delighted for everyone at the club, it is a big win from us.”

That means Braintree have picked up back-to-back National League South wins after a 2-0 home win over Weston-super-Mare last weekend and Harrop believes they will head to Somerset full of confidence.

He said: “We can be excited about that game. We are going to roll the dice on Saturday and enjoy the game and it will be a really good experience for our young group.

“(Yeovil) are a big side in our league so, I don’t often do this, but I am going to give them Thursday night off (training) because I think we need time to recover. We have had a really tough ten days, so they will recover right and on Saturday we will give it everything we can.

“We will go in to it full of confidence, that is seven or eight games unbeaten, it is great to have back-to-back wins so we can go there full of confidence.”

In team news, on loan Norwich City keeper Vicente Reyes has kept two clean sheets in his last two outings.

The 19-year-old has played four times since arriving at the club following an injury to number one, Jack Sims.

Striker Will Davies scored twice in the 2-0 win at Hemel having added another from the penalty spot against Weston in the previous game.

The frontman joined from Step 3 side Leiston in the summer where he scored 31 goals last season.

 

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Having picked up their first home win of the National League South season with a 2-1 win over St Albans City at the weekend, Yeovil Town host newly-promoted Truro City at Huish Park on Tuesday night (7.45pm kick-off)

The Cornish side, who play their home games in Bolitho Park in Plymouth, picked up a 5-2 opening day win at home to Welling United, but suffered late heartbreak at the weekend going down 3-2 at Braintree Town having battled back from 2-0 down to level the game.

Yeovil boss Mark Cooper has said he is expecting an “aggressive” opponent from tonight’s opponents – somewhat different to the free-flowing passing football played by St Albans three days ago.

Mark Cooper in discussion with captain Josh Staunton during the 2-1 home win over St Albans. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Yeovil Town News

Speaking about Truro following the win over St Albans, Cooper said he knew the opposition, managed by ex-Glovers’ midfielder Paul Wootton, having watched their Southern League Premier South play-off final win over Bracknell Town which earned them promotion in May.

The boss told BBC Somerset reporter Ian Randall: “I watched their play-off games last season and they are aggressive with some decent players so it is going to be a test.

“We had to win today, no-one wanted to mention it but I knew we had to win today and that is pressure. At times, the players feel that and they are just pleased to be off and running and looking forward to Tuesday.

“I have been a manager for 19 years and I have never had an easy game, nobody gives you anything. You have to respect your opponent and find a way to win and that is what we have done today.

“We witnessed their home ground (in pre-season), the pitch at Plymouth Parkway was really poor, they have a nomadic existence at the moment which I know they are going to change shortly.”

Glovers’ goal-scorer Jake Hyde said that the team’s focus would be on their own performance as they go in search of back-to-back wins for the first time since March 2022.

He said: “We want to concentrate on ourselves, but we do our homework as well.  The stronger we get and the more efficient we get, it will be more about us but in these early stages it is important to know enough about the opposition so we can give them respect, but not too much.

“It is a new league for a lot of us and we are all coming up against teams we have not played against before, but it is mostly going to be about us especially at home.”

Truro City News

Truro battled back from going 2-0 down in the first half of their (600-mile round) visit to Braintree Town last weekend. Having trailed at the break, on loan Bristol Rovers striker Harvey Greenslade pounced on a goalkeeping mistake to get his first since arriving at the club to pull one back before the experienced Rocky Neal levelled with six minutes of second half injury time played.

 

However, a goal one additional minute on from that (it’s going to happen a lot this season, isn’t it?) Braintree full-back Kyran Clements struck the winner.

Wootton said: “The first half we were poor and we gave them two goals and we were off it. There were a few home truths in the dressing room at half-time and I don’t know how we haven’t won the game, let alone drawn it.

“If the game finished 2-2, it would have been a good point, but we battered them in the second half. But we can’t give a team two goals, we aren’t good enough for that. We have to get over our disappointment quickly because we have another game on Tuesday night.”

As well as Greenslade, Truro have brought in defender Sam Sanders on loan from York City and young striker Obed Yeboah following his release by League One AFC Wimbledon.

Sanders played the full 90 minutes when York won 1-0 at Huish Park last September while Yeboah, the nephew of ex-Leeds United frontman, Tony, joined permanently after impressing on trial.

Sanders started the defeat at Braintree at the weekend whilst Yeboah was on the substitutes’ bench.

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Reuben Reid scores
Pic: Mike Kunz.

Yeovil Town’s pre-season campaign comes to a conclusion with a game against Weston Super Mare. A match dubbed “El Ruebenico” by absolutley no-one other than Gloverscast Ben as Reuben Reid makes his first appearance against the Glovers since leaving at the end of last season.

The Glovers’ will head to the seaside with a near full strength side to choose from and not one, but TWO new signings to get some all important minutes into.

Central defender Ben Richards-Everton and young loanee Sam Pearson are in the mix, as is Matt Worthington – he was sent off in the pre-season game against Exeter and YTFC.net is reporting that he has served his sole one-match ban.

The game kicks off at 3pm

Team News

Weston have added Max Harris in on loan from Cheltenham, the goalkeeper will spent his second spell on loan.

Their most recent friendly saw them fall 2-1 at Slimbridge, a match in which a certain Reuben Reid hit the post…

Their squad is largely based of players with plenty of local experience at the likes of Plymouth Argyle, Exeter and Bristol City, they are lead by former Bournemouth and Forest Green Rovers coach Scott Bartlett.

From the manager

Here’s a strange one – I couldn’t find anything at all, from anyone at WSM about the game… so…. urm…. let’s pretend he said it would be good for the side to test themselves against National League opposition and that he’s sure Reuben Reid will be desperate to play well in the game, but only for himself and his new side rather than anything else…

That do? Why not.

Tickets

Gates will open on the day at 1:30pm. Tickets will be available to purchase on the turnstiles.

Ticket prices:

Adult – £9.00
Concession – £6.00
Under 16 – £2.50
Family (2x Adult & up to 2x U16) – £17.00
Under 8 – FREE

To purchase your tickets, click HERE.

Match Day Programme

Match Day Programmes will be available on the day – costing just £1 and can also be purchased online HERE

Directions

Weston super Mare AFC
The Optima Stadium
Winterstoke Road
Weston-super-Mare
Somerset
BS24 9AA

By Car:
Leave the M5 at Junction 21 and take the A370 towards Weston town centre. Continue across three roundabouts and at the 4th (where there is a McDonalds) turn left into Winterstoke Road. Go straight across the mini roundabout, over a railway bridge and you will see the ground on your right hand side. There is a fair sized car park at the stadium.

Please note:
CAR PARK:

Our supporters’ car park charges £2.00 to park on a match day.

Unfortunately, we are unable to accept card payment for this. Please ensure you have £2.00 available to pay on arrival.

By Train:
Weston-super-Mare Railway Station is situated around a mile and a half away from the stadium, which is a 25-30 minute walk away.

As you come out of the station entrance turn right and then follow the station approach road around to the left. At the bottom of this road you will reach a T-junction where you turn left. You will then reach another T-junction with the A370 dual carriageway, where you turn right. Continue along the A370 passing by two roundabouts and an Asda store on your left. At the third roundabout that you reach (with a McDonalds outlet on one side) take the third exit onto Winterstoke Road (signposted Weston Industrial Estate). The stadium is further down this road on the right.

 

We will do our best to bring you team news, goal updates and any post-match analysis here at the Gloverscast – if you’re going to the game and have any thoughts, opinions or whatnot, reach out to us on Twitter @gloverscast or via email gloverscast@gmail.com

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The Somerset Premier Cup is down to three teams, Bath City await either Yeovil Town or Odd Down in the final with the latter two playing off at Huish Park this Tuesday.

The Glovers haven’t won the SPC since 2005 and will be hoping that Charlie Lee’s first home game in charge takes them to final.

Yeovil have, due to squad size, have taken this competition fairly seriously this season

The Glovers have already beaten, Bridgwater United 4-1, Larkhall Athletic 0-2 and Cheddar 2-0.

Odd Down received a bye in the first round before progressing past Paulton Rovers and Wells City, both on penalties.

Odd Down currently sit 7th in the Toolstation Western League, Division one.

They’ve played 35, won 15, lost 13 and drawn 7.

Their man attacking threat comes from Luke Bryan, who has 31 goals this season in 32 games, a tally which includes six penalties, although he was absent in their defeat to Sherborne Town.

TEAM NEWS

From a Yeovil point of view, Charlie Lee suggested on Friday that a number of first team players would be included, whilst prior to his departure, Darren Sarll had indicated that young goalkeeper Max Evans would get some game time.

With Grant Smith, Jack Robinson and Max Hunt edging towards fitness after injury, they could play a part alongside others who have been without a huge amount of game time recently.

Whilst, the Down will be able to call upon former Glover Omar Simpson in their squad.

Former Glover, Omar Simpson in action for Odd Down.
? J Healey/JRH Media

 

We’ve met before

This is actually a repeat of the 2004/05 Somerset Premier Cup final, you’ll remember it well.

The Ciderspace report goes as follows;

“In a one sided contest, completely dominated by Yeovil Town Reserves, the Somerset Premier Cup returned to the Huish Park trophy cabinet tonight for the first time since 1998.

Goals from Andy Lindegaard (28 mins), Richard Cullingford (33 mins), Stephen Reed (66 mins), Andrejs Stolcers (68 mins), and an own goal from Tony Quoi (79 mins) wrapped up a comprehensive victory. Odd Down were never in the match, and were fortunate to escape a real thrashing.

The one black spot of the evening from the point of view of the hosts was an absolutely diabolical tackle on Dale Williams by the Odd Down goalkeeper at the nine minute mark. He should have seen two red cards: one for violent conduct and one for the professional foul as last man. Referee Mr Buller opened a poor performance of bizarre decision making that continued all night by merely issuing a yellow. The game was held up for some minutes as Dale was stretchered off and then rushed to hospital. It was feared he had had his leg broken, but the latest update is less pessimistic.

Final score : Yeovil Town Reserves 5-0 Odd Down

Attendance : 2,164″

 

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Defeat at home to Yeovil Town this weekend will spell relegation out of the National League for Dover Athletic with more the a quarter of the season to go.

They can actually still win the match if Aldershot Town beat fellow relegation strugglers King’s Lynn Town on Saturday..

Should results go against the Kent side – and given our current form, that is far from a given – then it brings about what has been fairly inevitable since the opening day of the season.

Having failed to fulfil their fixtures last season, the Whites started on minus 12 points and, heading in to the weekend, they still sit on minus four having picked up five draws – including one at Huish Park back at the end of November.

Their only win of the season in any competition came at home to Eastleigh at the end of January.

Manager Andy Hessenthaler admits they have been fighting a losing battle, he told Kent Online: “It’s been coming and it’s a shame but before we even kicked a ball it was always going to be tough because we’ve got the smallest budget in this league.

“It doesn’t take a genius to work out that the sides down the bottom of the table, not just Dover, are the ones with the smaller budgets.

“It was always going to be a mountain to climb and deep down maybe we knew that this day would come (when we started).

“Of course, we want to be in the top flight of non-league but next season Dover will be in a league that we can compete in financially.”

Top scorer Alfie Pavey is on loan from Kent rivals Maidstone United and has five goals to his name which is only one fewer than Yeovil Town’s top scorers (no, not Joe Quigley) Charlie Wakefield and Adi Yussuf with six each (or four if you’re Adi).

FROM THE MANAGER

Dover manager Andy Hessenthaler has blooded some products from the Crabble academy this season and says this is something he will continue to do for the rest of the season.

He told Kent Online: “The kids are showing how good they are and we’ve got to try and promote them.

“Hopefully the fans recognise that and come to support them, watch them play and see how good they are.

“We’re focusing on that to the end of the season. Will Moses had his first start in over a year, played out of position in midfield and did very well. George Wilkinson also started and Luke Baptiste and Harrison Byford came on.

“We’ve still got to have the experienced players in the team, even though they are quite young themselves in most cases with the average age of 21!

“We can’t throw too many of them in (at once) but it’s nice that they are handling themselves well at this level of football.

TEAM NEWS

Striker TJ Bramble, who scored the second minute goal for Dover at Huish Park back in November, missed the trip to FC Halifax Town last weekend with a back injury.

He was joined on the injury lies by wingers Marshall Wratten (hamstring) and James Caton (both hamstring), and teenage striker Noah Carney (foot), who was called up by England Schoolboys’ earlier this year.

All four are facing a battle to be fit for the visit of the Glovers, but certain to be missing are Yeovil old boy Seth Twumasi (knee), captain Ryan Hanson (ankle), defender Alex Green (ankle), and winger Travis Gregory (knee).

Player-coach Reda Johnson, who has played more than 150 Football League games for clubs including Sheffield Wednesday and Coventry City, is available having been unavailable since November.

 

A FOOT IN BOTH CAMPS

Seth Nana Ofori-Twumasi seems certain to be out of the match to face his old employers, see ‘Team News’ above, and the only member of either playing squad with a foot in both camps.

Seth Twumasi in action for Yeovil Town in 2014. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The 31-year-old arrived at Huish Park at the start of our season in the Championship making just three appearances towards the back end of the season.

But, despite a red card in a League Cup defeat at home to Gillingham at the start of the following season, he went on to make 30 appearances before being released and turning up at Newport County.

The Ghanaian arrived at Crabble in July following his release by Maidenhead United and has made 11 appearances this season.

Other players with connections in Somerset and Kent include Mitch Brundle (is there anyone he’s not played for?!) who began his career at Huish Park and had a two-year spell at Dover between 2017-19, and Ryan Bird, the striker who scored eight times in 36 appearances for Yeovil in 2015-16 and was more prolific at Dover with 20 in 48 appearances between 2017-18.

Colin Miles/Pluck was one of Gary Johnson’s first signings at Huish Park following his departure from Crabble in the summer of 2001 and went on to play more than 150 times in green-and-white as a legendary whole-hearted centre half.

Steve Browne was part of Graham Roberts’ side which earned promotion back to the Conference in 19797 and went on to manage Dover in the 2004-05 season. Steve, who sadly died after a battle with bowel cancer in 2017 aged just 52, is the father of another former Glover, Rhys, now a player at Wealdstone.

Midfielder Gareth Risbridger was a graduate of the Yeovil Town youth set up in 1998 before he followed manager David Webb to Southend United, where he was sent on a three-game loan spell at Dover in 2001.

Jeez, there’s more of these than you think, here’s a few more:

  • Carl Alford (Dover Athletic – loan – 1998, Yeovil Town 2001-2002)
  • Oscar Gobern (Yeovil Town – 2017-18, Dover Athletic – 2019-2021)
  • Terrell Forbes (Yeovil Town – 2006-2010, Dover Athletic – 2013-14)
  • Keanu Marsh-Brown (Yeovil Town – 2012-13, Dover Athletic – loan – 2018)
  • Michael Woods (Yeovil Town – 2012, Dover Athletic – 2019-2020)

Finally, Jerahl Hughes – anyone? I’m going to file him under ‘really don’t remember him’, but apparently he made two substitute appearances for us in the 2007-08 campaign before going on to play 52 times for Dover in the next season.