Yeovil Preview

By: Richard Hubbert
Date: 10/12/2004

THE Mariners go into their first ever league meeting with Yeovil on Saturday off the back of three decent results, which sees Russell Slade's men just three points from seventh place.

The Opposition

Overview The Glovers narrowly missed out on the Third Division Play Offs last season - their first season in the football league, after promotion from the Conference in 2002/03. After flirting with the upper reaches of the division last year, they fell short of beating Lincoln into seventh place, on goal difference. Gary Johnson (left), the former Latvia coach, will be hoping to go one better this season - and it is looking that way, with the Glovers currently occupying third place in the division. Their Squad Michael Rose is a former Manchester United trainee who joined the Huish Park club in the summer from Hereford, who just missed out on promotion to the football league. In the centre of defence for Yeovil, you expect to see Colin Miles and Terry Skiverton. Skiverton is in his fifth year with the Glovers now after brief spells with Chelsea, Wycombe and Welling. In midfield meanwhile is the managers son, Lee Johnson who is a small midfielder, with an eye for goal. In August he scored a bizarre hat-trick in the 3-2 win against Plymouth in the League Cup. Earlier this week, Yeovil sold attacking midfielder Gavin Williams, but still have plenty of goals in them. Latvian Andrejs Stolcers cost Fulham £2 million back in 2000, but now finds himself in the league's bottom division under his former national coach, Gary Johnson. Barosz Tarachulski has got nine goals this season, whilst Phil Jevons (left), who needs no introduction to Mariners fans, has 14 league goals to his name. Therefore Tarachulski and Jevons have got 23 goals between each other this season - only one less than the entire Town team!

Recent Form

  Town Yeovil W Notts Co (h) 3-2 D Southend (a) 1-1 W Kidderminster (h) 2-1 L Exeter (a) 0-1 (cup) L Scunthorpe (a) 0-2 Currently 16th in League Two. W Kidderminster (h) 2-1 W Histon (a) 3-1 L Lincoln (a) 1-3 W Darlington (h) 1-0 W Southend (h) 3-1 Currently 3rd in League Two.

Top Scorers

  Town Yeovil Pinault 5 Parkinson 4 Crowe 3 Jevons 14 Tarachulski 9 Johnson 6

Team News

  Town Yeovil The Mariners are expected to be unchanged from the side that beat Notts County on Tuesday night. Russell Slade has been trying to bring a striker in, but so far has been unsuccessful. Richard Logan may yet sign for Town, but that probably won't happen until next week. Darren Mansaram could well make the bench after recovering from a recent back injury. The young striker has not appeared for the Mariners since August, but did enjoy at two month loan spell at Halifax where he bagged four goals in eight games. Simon Ramsden could make a welcome return to the squad after being sidelined since September with a back problem. He could make the bench, with Whittle and Forbes continuing at the centre of the defence. Utility player Paul Terry has been struggling with an ankle injury recently and could miss out of the squad again. Gavin Williams completed his £250,000 move to West Ham a few days ago, but he has been suspended for the Glovers in the past few games, so no changes will need to be made in Gary Johnson's starting eleven.

Probable Teams

  Town Yeovil 1 Anthony Williams 2 John McDermott 16 Ronnie Bull 6 Justin Whittle 28 Terrell Forbes 8 Jason Crowe 17 Thomas Pinault 15 Terry Fleming 24 Dean Gordon 10 Andy Parkinson 29 Colin Cramb 1 Chris Weale 4 Terry Skiverton 5 Colin Miles 3 Michael Rose 17 Scott Guyett 8 Lee Johnson 6 Darren Way 16 Andy Lindegaard 11 Phil Jevons 9 Kevin Gall 18 Bartosz Tarachulski

Subs

  Town Yeovil 19 Darren Mansaram 9 Michael Reddy 11 Stacy Coldicott 7 Ashley Sestanovich 23 Simon Ramsden 10 Adrian Caceres 27 Andrejs Stolcers 2 Adam Lockwood 13 Steve Collins 24 Yemi Odubade

Head to Head

This is the first ever league game between the two clubs, therefore there is no last time!

Connections

Mariners full back Ronnie Bull (left) had a brief loan spell at Huish Park last season. Between September and October, Bull made seven appearances for the Glovers, before then playing 20 games in a loan spell for Brenford. He joined Town in the summer but has struggled with injuries of late - though he is now back in the starting eleven, and of course scored on Tuesday night Phil Jevons still divides many Town fans as to whether he was a hero or a lazy so-and-so. Whichever you side with - it cannot be denied that Jevvo has had a pretty decent start to life at Huish Park, with 14 goals to his name. Interestingly, since the departure of Gavin Williams, Jevvo has dropped back into midfield - as he did last season with the Mariners

Prediction

Town to nick a 2-1 win, to get us ready for the big Christmas charge to the top of the table! 2-1 Recent Predictions Game Prediction Score Points Notts Co 1-0 3-2 1 Exeter 1-1 0-2 0 Scunthorpe 2-1 0-2 0 Swansea 2-0 1-1 0 Chester 0-0 1-2 0 Northampton 2-1 1-0 1 Cheltenham 1-1 1-1 3 Cambridge 1-0 2-0 1 Charlton 1-2 0-2 1 Leyton Orient 2-2 2-0 0 Reader's POMs

Directions

Click on the link for directions to Huish Park (left).

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