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Once, Twice, Third time against Yeovil: Match Preview
Blues take on Yeovil Town for the third time this season as they look for their first home win in the League since the start of October. Gary Johnson’s men haven’t won in the league since the start of December themselves and will be looking for three points to help get them out of the relegation zone.
Yeovil Town
Gary Johnson’s men lie in 23rd place in the Championship, ahead of bottom club Barnsley only on goal difference and some six places and twelve points behind Blues. Whilst they did beat Leyton Orient in the Cup at the start of January that is there only success since defeating Blackpool 1-0 on December 3 and their last two away games were heavy defeats – 3-0 to Bournemouth and 5-1 to Huddersfield Town.
New loan signing Zoumana Bakayogo goes straight into the squad for this game having arrived from Leicester City on Friday to replace broken toe victim Liam Davis; Byron Webster is hoping to be declared fit and there could be starts for strikers Kieffer Moore and Adam Morgan
Blues
Blues come into this game on the back of a fine win in the cup against Bristol Rovers but in a wretched run of home league form. Midfielder Brian Howard could make his debut provided international clearance was received in time yesterday, with Reece Brown likely to make way from the side that won in midweek.
Blues are likely to revert to the 4-2-3-1 formation although both Mitch Hancox and Lee Novak are struggling with knocks – both should be fit however. Defender Amari’i Bell also returns to the squad after being cuptied in midweek.
I hate saying this but we really need to start winning at home and this is the kind of game I cannot see why we shouldn’t win. Yeovil are struggling, have only won twice away from home all season and are the sort of opposition we need to take three points against. Blues have struggled to create chances of late and I think Clark knows that – it’s all down to the final ball.
Tags: Brian Howard, Mitchell Hancox, Olliver Lee, Yeovil Town
60 Responses to “Once, Twice, Third time against Yeovil: Match Preview”
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After living in Yeovil for 30 years, I feel sorry for the Glovers, a good small ground in nice surroundings and a fairly consistent supporter base.
But my loyalty and passion always has been and always will be the Blues, as Daniel says, it would be nice to see a home league win, and today will be that day.
2-0 to BCFC KRO.
I went down for the cup game and found it a very weird place. There was a strange vibe, that I just couldn’t put my finger on, in the town.
I too think a comfortable home win.
This should be a home win but with a very small home crowd it will be hard for the players to motivate themselves. I going for a very close and nervous home win 2-1
KRO
I hope that bad sport Webster comes in for some serious flack from the terraces today.
Yes Howard can play, says on blues wall international clearance was received
I think this is a must win game with Leicester and Derby our next two home games.The fact that we have lost some players and the way we struggled against Barnsley,i can only see a 1 1 Draw.
Big win for us today, another 3-0
hi all……you are all as miserable and depressed as me!!!! but my excuse is i have been like it for 70 years….
today it is cold and wet and we all expect a poor match….so i will go for 3 – 1 as i always do..it has got to be right sometime….i will think about who will score first…
fingers crossed…………
We need someone to keep a close eye on Ed Upson. Also, Webster at corners and free kicks. Other than that, I’ll go for 3-1 like mike b. Burke, Howard and Zigic.
I wonder if they will let us walk another goal in?
Blues always raise their game against better opposition so I fancy good results against Leicester and Derby.
Yeovil are another Barnsley and I can only see a struggle, without our regular central defenders I can see Yeovil trying to play the ball over the top and causing more problems due to our lack of height and pace.
We created plenty of chances against Rovers but failed to find a blue shirt, the same in the Brighton game, where we could have nicked a point had one of those late crosses been converted.
I think Blues to get on a winning streak with a very nervous 1-0 result, but I really wouldn’t be surprised at a 0-0 draw.
KRO+DNM
I’d be hoping for a team similar to this:
Randolph
Caddis Mullins Robinson Hancox
Lee Reilly
Burke Novak Howard
Zigic
(or maybe Howard alongside Lee, with Ferguson on the left.)
Not bad but would prefer Will Packwood to get a run out and this is an ideal game.
Yeovil are probably the weakest team in the division, despite Barnsley being below them and we really need someone to step in when Robbo gets his two match suspension.
Personally I think Mullins is lazy and playing in central defence he can’t hide. Eventually he will be caught out, he may just turn out to be the star of the season, but I haven’t seen anything to change my mind yet.
Leicester and Derby will be real tests for this make shift defence.
KRO+DNM
Seen Mullins play in both games both games at Centre half and he hasn’t put a foot wrong.He deserves his place in the side.
So have I Steve and against Rovers neither he or Robbo won a ball in the air, luckily Rovers forwards were just as poor in the air.
The Albion game they covered and worked hard but we were always under pressure.
Never have been a Mullins fan and think he is just using us as a meal ticket, why has no one come in for him?
KRO+DNM
Chris,after today,Robbo or Mullins need to be taken out.Packwood has to play.
I would have liked to see Packwood too… but I think if he wasn’t in for the Bristol Rovers game, he ain’t got much hope of being in this one. Hopefully, we’ll have a new centre back in by the time Robbo has to do his penance.
If we can’t win against Yeovil…………….
……………….then we really are in trouble,
One thing is sure – it’s going to be 0-0 at half time.
Bloody glad you aint MY Doctor, Doctor..:-) Burn is playing for Fulham again today.
Gotta be time to fear the worst. Leicester and derby to come alarm bells ringing loud. Time for a change of manager if only to have a change of ideas cos clark aint got it anymore im sorry to say.
Can we play all our games away please !!!
Absolutely crying out for a goalscorer. According to BBC, we had 24 shots. The goals department is now desperate.
Dominated the game but we wouldn’t have scored if we’d have played until midnight. First goal a gift from Mullins and 2nd Robbo should have done better. Ironically we played some lovely passing football but were totally toothless up front which wasn’t helped by Zigic having one of his worst ever performances in a blues shirt. He was beaten to every one of the headers he could be bothered to challenge for and generally looked totally disinterested. We are very much back in the relegation dogfight and could find ourselves back in the bottom 3 after our home games to Leicester and Derby. Just to round off a thoroughly miserable day the vile are 2-0 up at liverpool. A beer or several beckons methinks.
I’m home, I’m cold and quite frankly that was awful.
i don’t even know where to try and pull some positives from.
Its the first time this season that I can honestly say they were very very poor. The issue is that Yeovil are a poor team that ship goals and we couldn’t break them down.
Bad times ahead……..
If you say it’s the first time we’ve been poor,it must be your first game.Tbh,this is the first time i’ve seen us dominate at home.We are desperate for numbers.Individual mistakes cost us today and you can’t legislate for that.I thought Mullins and Robbo deserved to keep their place today,but why leave Packwood on the bench.Zigic was crap,but i don’t agree with cheering when players are taken off.He should be told,get in the box and stay there.Don’t keep coming deep.As the only striker he has to get in the box.Saying that,he lays off some great balls when he gets it played to feet.Reece Brown was superb,why take him off? All in all a poor day for a game imo we needed to win,especially with the home games coming up.
I got home a couple hours ago, we have had games like this home like Barnsley, Charlton Bolton Ipswich and todays. The mistakes was going to happen saw it against Bristol Rovers, Mullins got away with them that night.
Why did Clark call Packwood back if he’s not going to play him (only fit CB we have)
Midfield looked weak today thought He would of starts with Elliot
The two positives today had to be Brown and Howard was my MOM
KRO
I will never be a Clark fan but he does to a degree have my sympathy.
The club from top to bottom is in a complete shambles and until we get some serious player investment and a stable financial footing results like today’s should not come as a surprise.
We are a bargain basement club operating on a shoestring budget.
More pain to come I’m afraid..
No defenders no midfield and no forwards what do we expect, perhaps a miricule the slow death continues
Ii still doesn’t look balanced to me. When the ball got to Novak on the left he had to come backwards or infield because he doesn’t have a left foot. Howard showed some nice touches but is not a goal scorer so even if Zigic won headers who was supposed to get on the end of them. Losing two centre backs. Adeyemi and all of our pace up front in the space of a week or two has got to have an impact. I would like to see Ferguson get a few games in a row in to see if he can recapture last seasons form. At least we can attack down both sides then.
bournemouth re-visited………………….. 2 out 3 aint bad……………………..
Losing Bartley, Burn, Lingard and McLean, it was always going to be tough, until we can get some bodies in. Add Murphy, Eardley, Spector and Asante to that and that leaves us very very thin on the ground. Now we have Adeyemi and Lovenkrands out too. So, we’re almost a team down. We’re going to have to struggle through and pick up what points we can until reinforcements arrive. We hope.
looking at this imo i would taken 3 points today and stuff winning against the swans……….. but we were due our kick in bollox against these……..made worse obviously by not having the defenders and attackers we were use too.
Sorry to say but big zig did not put the big effort in today game simply just swanned around in his own world… Hey look at me………sorry maybe just for this match he got his just deserts off the fans…and imo hope its still ringing in his ears until the next match…….. he was garbage…..no effort no desire….he had 4ins on both the yeovil defenders, and he certainly didn’t make it count..will he ever give the constant moaning a rest at refs, and start scoring some bloody goals………………..
sorry my mistake he got 4 this season………….
It’s time we tried something different. It’s no good aiming crosses at someone who is scared to head the ball, or even get in the box. We need someone who is going to get in there where it hurts. Novak is a battler who works his nuts off every game, but he can’t do it on his own. We need a fox-in-the-box from somewhere, to take the numorous opportunities that are being squandered every game. IF, we had scored 4 or 5 today (from the chances we had) Yeovil couldn’t have complained.
Lee Clark needs to find another gem… and quickly.
I see all the Mullins lovers are very very quiet.
Fair play to Yeovil, they put two tall forwards in the middle and two quick players to feed off the high balls, we were lucky it was only 2-0, but for Randolph and some poor finishing it could easily been 4 or 5.
Ziggy should have been taken off at half time along with Mullins.
Will Packwood is a central defender and stands 6’3″, Mullins is a midfielder and stands 6;0″, he can’t jump, head or pass to a blue shirt, even fluffed several back passes to Randolph.
LC has made some strange decisions in his short term as manager but today he excelled himself.
Reece Brown, the best player on the pitch and worthy MOM is taken off, between him and Howard we looked dangerous and they did get the ball moving out to the flanks.
It is blatantly obvious we need a striker and, unless Packwood proves he is the next best thing to sliced bread, a defender.
Terminate Mullins and Lovenkrands contracts, they are both using and milking the club along with Ziggy, who should repay every penny of his £60k wage packet this week.
I said earlier Yeovil will exploit our defensive weaknesses and they did, we gifted them two golden goals, I also said we play better against teams above us so now look forward to Swans, leicester and Derby.
We can’t play that bad again surely….. OH! Yes we can…. and I thought the panto season was over… OH! no it isn’t at ST Andrews….
KRO+DNM
I’m afraid the signings of Mullins, Lovenkrands and Ambrose last summer on two year contracts have proved nothing short of a disaster. Apart from the fee we paid for the latter they will have creamed us for the best part of £2.5m in wages by the time they depart. We just couldn’t afford all three to be failures.
If Blues could take all three to court it would be for misleading and false advertising or impersonating a professional footballer, deception and taking money under false pretences.
All players should be in training tomorrow and the first thing they should be shown is a BCFC Blue and white shirt, told to look at it, remember it and pass to it.
They should also visit spec savers on Monday to see who is colour-blind, I suppose the only excuse could be the blinding luminous strip Yeovil wore.
KRO+DNM
One man to blame at the end of the day and thats the manager. Its a poor squad made up of poor signings and inexperienced kids but at end of the day LC makes the choices.
I think he’s done well considering he’s had bugger all to spend. Bringing in that many players each season, it’s unrealistic to expect every signing to come off. Even Alex Ferguson couldn’t manage that with all the millions he had at his disposal. We’re having to take what we can get… I’m sure Lee Clark isn’t that chuffed about it either.
Shocking display. For me any subs after half time are too late when you are 0-2 down to Yeovil! Would rather watch the kids play…. Koby Arthur behind reece hales as the two forwards next game please!
I’m glad that there are players out of contract at the end of the season. Clear the decks and use the money to bring in players who actually want to play for the club… and not the money.
Was sickened by so-called supporters jeering Zigic. Two big defenders roles all over him with no protection from the ref. Every professional foul went un-punished. Those who bothered to go mid-week would have seen how good Zigic can be.
Is Howard and better than Elliot?
The problem with Ziggy is his work rate, he doesn’t attack the ball, he bemoans every tackle and he falls down too easily.
He plays some good balls off but is inconsistent, personally, while we are lacking in defence, why not pair him with Packwood…. Don’t laugh, he can’t be any worse than Mullins and he does win headers when defending, the ball will come to him rather than him having to attack the ball.
As for Howard, on today’s performance I would say he will be, he showed an eye for goal, decent touches and some delightful passes, tired towards the end, but I think hew will be a useful signing. He might just get Ferguson playing more like he did last season or could mean he goes back and frees up some much needed funds for LC.
KRO+DNM
Are they they not the same person? The there is the 3rd one…Andy Elliot. 3 imobile, ineffective midfielders
I’ve never booed a blues player in my life, but I was close to it with Zigic when he came off.
The day this lump leaves our club can’t come soon enough for me.
I’ve had to listen to all the arguments defending him but anyone who was at the game yesterday would have to admit he has no effort or desire and is just picking up his pay packet.
I admit I was very close to, he is so frustrating.
Tuesday he played some neat touches and lay-offs, but he is so inconsistant and lazy.
Unfortunately LC doesn’t have many other options and to be honest there were a few on the park yesterday who didn’t put in half a shift.
KRO+DNM
Once again massive over-reaction from our fans. Horrible result but the worst game you’ve ever seen like some people are saying? Joke. Hayden Mullins who has played well in the last few games makes a mistake and straight away out come the mindless comments. Why didn’t Lee play Packwood? Answer – because he’s the manager who makes the decisions. Why did he bring Packwood back? Answer – because Bartley is injured and Burn is back at Fulham. No-one would make a comment about Packwood if Mullins hadn’t made a mistake and of course that mistake plays straight into the hands of the haters (most of which don’t go). Lee will have worked with the squad all week, maybe Mullins has been brilliant in training this week and Packwood not so good so he got the nod. Management is not as easy as all the experts in the crowd think especially working with the squad we’ve got so in Lee we trust and thanks for the recent unbeaten run. Always easy to pick selections and tactics apart when we lose especially from the comfort of your living room.
Our fans are rapidly turning into lowlife. I was glad Ziggy went off but did I break into huge applause? No. Why? Cos I support the players efforts and would never join in with that kind of bullshit behaviour. He was having a poor game, so what? Out came the moronic comments again like ‘the worst performance I’ve ever seen from a Blues player’, joke. He was poor, got took off, nothing to see here happens everywhere,every week. It’s not as if he’s getting fantastic service either. Likewise with the Brown substitution. The boos, the ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ chants. Brown was tiring, hadn’t done a lot, and needed to go off. Played midweek too so Lee did the right thing in my eyes but obviously the morons were all over it. I challenge any of them to tell me how many times Brown made a difference. He was OK, nothing more. A large section of our fanbase can’t wait to find something to moan about, booing, chanting, all I can say about them is at least they go unlike most of the living room experts we have.
Thought their 2nd goal was a well worked effort and good football on their part. Thought their keeper played well and also thought we could have had a penalty when their defender was pulling Ziggys shirt although Zic was leaning into him. Not much of a game, back to the toxic atmosphere but roll on the cup game and I don’t buy into the theory that we will lose the next 3. I’ll say it once again. Our players are not much cop so we will get inconsistent performances from them. That is the reason they are at Blues, consistently good and they’d be sold. Accept it.
13,000 attendance. God help us. KRO
how are you Lee? Fancy using someone else name why not tell us who you really are Mr Clark, thank god your boring one eyed words are regulated. Nothing you say makes any sense, why play a midfielder at right back and centre half? Mullins can’t pass the ball head the ball but he still gets in above a specialist defender… you have a lot to answer for Lee nee Paul….
Not sure if you watched the same game.
I will never boo a Blues player either Mullins has played 3 games, I have been to all the games this season bar Wigan, so think I qualify to comment and been attending matches since 1961, I think this has to be up there with the Burnley game and as home performances go Barnsley’s 5-0 drubbing.
Packwood IS a central defender, why he isn’t picked only LC knows that one.
Reece Brown and Brian Howard, I thought had really good games and either one could have been MOM, the sponsors went for Brown yet you say he did nothing.
LC got it wrong yesterday and “In LC we do trust”, he will get it right and as I said in an earlier post we up our game against better opposition, so I think we will get something from Leicester and derby, the Swans I a draw is the best we can hope for.
Fair play to Yeovil, they played to our defensive frailties and their keeper probably had the best game of his career to date.
Ziggy is frustrating and NEVER attacks a ball, you say he gets poor service he is the only one up front everybody aims for, he just isn’t a lone striker, that is where we needed McLean or Lingard.
We should play 3-5-1-1 because 4-4-2 just doesn’t work.
KRO+DNM
Awww Dan cmon mate take this brake off my posts. You’ve never seen anything libellious from me so why is it on?
Actually, Mr Carter – you were one person who caused the most problems for me with your antagonisation of other posters.
So, no, the brakes stay on. And the more you whinge, the less inclined I am to take them off.
hear hear….
Yeovil were well set up and we were cruelly exposed at the back.
Silly to demonise Mullins on the basis of that perfomance, as I mentioned in an earlier post, he needs ‘legs’ alongside him. Against a pacey team, Robbo and Mullins together will get found out when we are losing the midfield battle also.
WE have to accept that we are very thin on the ground as regards talent and we are in a relegation battle. Luckily, we have a manager who seems adept at getting players in who wiill make a difference. Easy to highlight players like Ambrose who haven’t worked out but are top players and frankly should have made the difference.
Keep the faith, yesterday was a ‘blip’, we’ll be OK.
Having seen Mullins in the last three games he is not and never will be a central defender.
Neither Robbo or Mullins won a single header and are both lost for pace.
KRO+DNM
How can you call this a blip, we HAVENT WON AT HOME IN THE LEAGUE SINCE OCTOBER, its shocking
We were unbeaten in 10 matches, but zero praise from you then. You’re one of the toxic supporters Paul alluded too.
Reece Browne was named MOM yesterday when Patrick Viera was in the directors box. I wonder who he was scouting?
Staffs, we WILL struggle at home and it is obvious we are short of the player ~(or two) who can unlock a game.
Otherwise, we are pretty competitive with most teams at this level.
I know some people will over react, think you know enough not to be one of them.