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YEOVIL
TOWN |
| Yeovil, ohmygod, you’re conjuring up nightmares… |
| Goal after goal after goal by the green team? Hydey taking an early bath? Rain on an open terrace? A big black hole with “Conference” written at the bottom just waiting for you to fall in? We understand. In fact, we get the same recurring nightmare ourselves. |
| Please tell me it will be better this time? |
| Well, after last season’s four-nil thrashing, Gasheads will
want to at least give Yeovil a game this time around. We’ve
yet to beat the Somerset side in a League game, although to get to
2-2 after being two goals and two men down back in October certainly
felt like a victory. It will almost certainly take at least as much
effort again – combined with less sendings off – if Rovers
are to get anything at Huish Park though: Yeovil have, like Rovers,
only lost once at home but unlike us they have won the vast majority
of the rest (eleven) with only three draws. The one defeat was to
Macclesfield – who completed an impressive double over Yeovil
last weekend – three days before the Glovers visited the Mem
last autumn. Of their last five home games Yeovil have won four and drawn only one (against Rochdale) and with Rovers without an away win since August, and having lost two of the last five away games (the other three ending one all), that elusive win on our travels looks only a very distant possibility. Still, optimists can console themselves that finishing of the quality seen at the Mem last weekend would give Rovers a chance against anyone. |
| Ah yes, those sendings off…can we expect a repeat of the heated atmosphere at the Mem? |
| Savage Dave and Steve Elliott both saw red in the home game while manager Ian Atkins ended up facing three FA charges (and consequently a hefty fine) for his behaviour. It’s fair to say that the Rovers squad may have been overly wound up by Atkins, who harbours a longstanding dispute with his Yeovil counterpart, Gary Johnson, as gasheads.com reported before that game (article here) and seeing as that particular spat doesn’t appear to have calmed down sparks could certainly fly… |
| And I get to see little Kevin Gall too don’t I? |
| You certainly should do. Gall has just been voted “FA Cup Player of the 4th Round” for his performance against Charlton a couple of weeks ago: not bad for someone that a number of Rovers fans were quick to dismiss as not up to the standard of Division Three. Here at gasheads.com we’ve always liked Kev (and we joined in the voting too) and we say a big “Congratulations” to him – and if he’s given a presentation on Saturday let’s hope the assembled Rovers fans do the decent thing and applaud him. |
| Anyone else to look out for? |
Rather a lot unfortunately! Leading scorer Phil Jevons has twenty goals in total while Bartosz Tarachulski has ten and manager’s son Lee Johnson nine. Meanwhile, sheedhead defender Kevin Amankwaah has recently joined the Glovers on loan, his first appearance rather amusingly being in the three one defeat at Moss Rose. Doubtless Amankwaah will get the special type of reception reserved for our neighbour’s players though we’ll have to hope Atkins doesn’t give him ammunition to play well, as he did with Stephen Gillespie last month. |
| I have a vague memory of something big and green at Yeovil… |
| Ah yes, that’ll be the Jolly Green Giant mascot, source of a rare piece of hilarity (for Rovers' fans that is) at Huish Park last season. During the pre-match warm-up Ryan Clarke (we had substitute goalkeepers – remember them? – pre-Atkins) managed to whack the ball at the mascot from a full 30 yards and hit his hat…causing it to wobble violently before the giant managed to steady it and conceal his true identity. In fact, Clarke was probably the only player to hit a ball sweetly all day. |
| Ah yes, how could I forget. Don’t I remember daft hats in the crowd as well? |
| Sadly, yes. Despite their current standing, there is something quintessentially non-league about Yeovil and it’s fair to say that they don’t help themselves: there are way, way too many jester hats about at Huish Park (and, god forbid, worn by adults – who should know much better - as well as children); last season they had some ludicrous little circular boards on sticks with “Goal” written on which they waved in the air when they scored (we kid you not); they even have a beer marquee. Don’t get us wrong, we love the idea of a beer tent but it’s just so quaint and, well, rather marvellously non-league. And then there are the Yeovil Stalkers. |
| The Yeovil Stalkers? |
| Oh yes. And they even have their own website the purpose of which seems to be to introduce the reader to a group of Yeovil fans who ‘stalk’ players. We’ll be fair, we’re sure they’re very nice people and the site does say that it’s all a bit of fun (phew) but, well, if we’re honest, it didn’t really do much to change our view of the stereotypical Yeovil fan. Oh, and if you want to know how to ‘stalk’ then here is an extract from Step One of their guide: “You need to select a player that is a) a fantastic footballer b) that a has a nice arse c) smells gorgeous d) is incredibly sexy!” |
| I’m getting scared now. Maybe you’d better tell me some nice things I can do in Yeovil should the football get too awful again… |
| Well, there’s none of the dreaming spires of Oxford, nor is there anything to rival Lincoln’s magnificent cathedral, hell, there’s not even many decent pubs in town but there are still plenty of worse places to visit than Yeovil as we found out last season. We’ve tried to find some touristy stuff but unless you fancy a trip down to that place famed by its HTV adverts – Cricket St Thomas (near Chard) – then we couldn’t really find much. Still, if you fancy checking out some of the ‘attractions’ the town’s website has a bonzer 3D navigation feature where you can – wait for it – do an online walkabout in the Asda car park amongst other places. Quality. |
| Any 3D pubs perhaps? |
Well, we can’t claim to have walked the whole of Yeovil online but we didn’t find any. Still, there are plenty of pubs in town and even if most of them are of that horrible modern staple ‘the theme pub’ we still managed to find a friendly old-school local last year, The Butchers Arms on Hendford (map here), which insisted on horseracing on the big screen (consigning the Premiership to a far lesser TV). Worth a visit if you're drinking in town. Nearer the ground, The Bell on Preston Road and The Arrow in the Abbey Manor Housing Estate are the two main Yeovil pubs. We’re told that The Bell is better for food and families while The Arrow attracts a younger crowd and both will welcome well-behaved away fans. Thanks to the excellent Ciderspace website for their pub advice and, should you be driving and want to stop off on the way, then the site also offers a number of recommendations for a stop as well as directions to Huish Park. Oh, and one final pub to mention: The Railway next to Pen Mill was very lively at about 5pm last season! And if you’re travelling by public transport (yes, that means the train that takes an hour and a half to go forty miles) then there’s a shuttle bus that runs to and from Huish Park. It’s Number 800 and leaves the bus station at 13.50, getting to the ground at 14.30. On the way back, the shuttle leaves Huish Park at 17.05 and gets to the bus station at 17.45. There’s also a Number 1 bus (going to Abbey Manor) which leaves from outside Lloyds TSB on the High St every fifteen minutes. You need to get off at The Westminster which is close to Huish Park and the last bus returns to town at 18.52. A timetable for the Number 1 is here. |
| And what about any fascinating facts for me to mention to the locals? |
Funny you should say that, and this is a fitting finale to the guide too, but we spotted this in The Sunday People about a local boy: “The late Bruce Sadler is having his final wish carried out – for his toupee to travel the world. Bruce, 87, of Yeovil, Somerset, died in June. Friends and family have so far taken the rug to Iceland, Mexico, Hawaii and New Zealand.“ What on earth could follow that? |
LINKS
Ciderspace Official Site |