Hamdon Mart

Was going to type out a gert long post of my thoughts but most of them covered already. But briefly... 1. JD is not half the player he used to be, whether he has checked out of the club already, I'm not sure. Lost count today of the number of times he looks forward but then passes back, stifling any momentum City try to build on the left, and that's happened countless matches this season. Genuinely think it affects Mehmeti too; not sure how but he looks a far better player with Pring behind him. 2. Cornick and Mehmeti just need a goal and then others will follow. Watch them both score in the final game of the campaign before we break up for 3 months. 3. Conway looked good after several weeks out. 4. Max's distribution much better today - he had a purple patch of ten minutes where a couple of throws and kicks were nailed perfectly. 5. Er, that's it.

Close. He lived in "Battlefields", a big mansion type house on the road that takes you from Wick up to Bath Racecourse. As you go past Tracy Park Golf Course and climb the hill, halfway up is a sharp right hand bend; the house is set back from the road just there.

With a rare Saturday afternoon off and no intention to do any household chores that I'd left for the weekend, I ventured to Winterfield Road for Paulton Rovers v Wimborne Town. Was my first visit for a competitive game although I did once go there for a testimonial game for Rob Cousins IIRC. Bumped into a couple of mates before the start, one of whom like me had originally planned to go to Longwell Green v Bishop's Lydeard but had a last minute change of mind! Decent set up there and nice bar. First half wasn't too bad with Wimborne scoring on 44 and Paulton levelling on 45+2. The second half ignited quite early on when homester Dan McBeam was shown a straight red for retaliation however the Wimborne player escaped scot free. Paulton actually played better a man down and could have snatched victory with a little more composure around the box. Aaron Sainsbury was near faultless in goal and deservedly took the MOM award. Will go back again sometime as Paulton's joint manager John Durbin was our old manager at Hengrove till 2019.

Not quite, it was 25th April 2014, the day we got relegated from the Championship with a 2-0 defeat at Brighton (thanks to a goal from Jesse Lingard of all people). The fan, a good mate of mine, held it up although looking back, Rovers weren't actually relegated at that point, they went down a week later after losing to Mansfield. I heard the Rovers relegation as we were driving through High Littleton on the way home after being trounced 4-1 at home by Middlesbrough.

Spot on, Eddie. GJ had a rule that everyone lived as close to the club as possible. And, with no disrespect, there isn't much that goes on in Yeovil so the lads would be in each other's pockets and a great team spirit was quickly formed.

I've posted elsewhere on here about the demise of my club so won't repeat myself..... much! Started following them in 1972 and even when I moved up to Bristol in 1999, still went back every other week to watch them. Worked for the club for three years, wrote for the programme for 12 seasons, produced two books (one partly, one my own work) and commentated for the visually impaired for four seasons. Last straw for me was when we got thumped by Stockport in the FA Cup in 2018/19 season (having struggled in the League) and instead of doing what most well run clubs would do & fire the manager, we gave him a 2 year extension to his contract as a very misplaced sign of loyalty. I decided then that nearly two decades of traipsing down the A37 every fortnight was enough and I stopped going at the end of the season. Since then, I've been back for three games, all of which I've covered for OPTA. Won't be going again - had a free Saturday last weekend and ended up going to Paulton instead, met some mates for a pint and thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon. Back home in just over 25 minutes too, even in my jalopy! Where did it all go wrong? The Championship season was a dream, right enough. Think we were only relegated by 7 or 8 points in the end but we couldn't ever hold on to a lead, reckon we lost 30+ points after being ahead in games. The first 30 years I followed Yeovil, they got 2 promotions and 2 relegations, the promotions taking them back to their original levels. I disagree slightly with @Robin101regarding our natural level being where we are heading now (NL South); I'd say that for the vast majority of our history, we've been in the highest non-league division with two drops from there + of course a 15 year period in the Football League. We were coping in League One when Terry Skiverton and Russell Slade were managers, eight years there without too many problems. The loan signings were a massive help but we can't do that any more, we are fishing in a different pool these days. @2015 - agree, it would have been nice to keep that team together but it was almost impossible. Two players from the playoff winning team are smashing it in the Premier League now (Ayling & Burn) and others like Joe Edwards, Marek Stech and Paddy Madden were always likely to leave once we started skidding downhill. For me, we can manage in League Two but the amount of stupid decisions taken by one board after another has cost us more than anything. Darren Way was kept on against all the common sense advice in the world and by the time he left, we were on a one way ticket to the National League which we tried to stop by appointing someone that no one had ever heard of to try to arrest the slide. Which he didn't.

Fantastic result for the girls, well done!! Nex Sunday then, London City have got Charlton at home while City host Sheffield United at the Robins HPC. Charlton will be tough opposition for the Lionesses; they are fourth at the moment but would be third if they beat Lewes on Wednesday night. As if to add more drama, City's game on Sunday kicks off an hour later than the Lionesses too! Sounds like it could be an exciting one!

Yes. Yes we would.

Huge game this afternoon, fingers crossed for a great result. This would be one massive step towards promotion if they could do it....

Don't I know it! I wrote a book in 2013 based on the club's first decade in the Football League; sold out ten days before it was printed. Timing was perfect having just clinched promotion to the Championship at Wembley. I'd struggle to sell ten copies based on the last decade. Three relegations, five other dogfights, two protracted takeovers... not to mention their failure to honour Crowdfunder promises made to fans, players forced to sleep in the hospitality boxes during the failed playoff campaign during COVID, sudden death of our captain. Been a dreadful last ten years.

The women were in at the RHPC today, great to see many of them watching the under-21's cup quarter final.

Not sure what happened in the first half with Abi Harrison & Georgia Robert. Very strange incident where the referee stopped play for two or three minutes, no foul had happened or anything. Assume something must have been said. On the pitch, another win after initially finding the opposition a difficult nut to crack. Like Oxford in the Cup, took till first half stoppage time to score then ended up winning by a few. Improved the GD again over London City today; next week looks massive in respect of the whole season.

Think I first noticed it when the team graphic was tweeted on matchday a couple weeks back. They've taken the numbers off that graphic too now.

Think he was always going to struggle to get into the YTFC side as their keeper, Grant Smith, is decent.

If she's won 29 games out of 49, surely that's a win % of 59.18%. She's also won 94 points out of 147 which would be 63.94%.

Hi @Port Said Red, yes me too, thoroughly enjoyed my evening at the Gate! Too early to say at the moment, I guess, until they do a press conference and answer the trillion and one questions the fans have got. A lot of those questions revolve around the land split and whether the new owners actually own the club, the stadium, the land, the surrounds or what combination of the four. Who is responsible for the rent etc etc, you get the picture? The original statement last night, released 45 minutes before a match at home, generated more questions than answers.

Now on her own leading the race for the Championship's Golden Boot with nine goals.

@Super Here's your thread!!

I have no idea of words or tune as I wore headphones all night but I did hear it and made me chuckle.

Is that the one that ended in a high pitch "ooh ooh" each time? (Appreciate that this doesn't come across on a screen very well!)

I was told four or five years ago that there was a plan to move it down further, maybe to where the press box area is now, but nothing came of it.

"Troubles behind the scenes" are that bad, it threatens the existence of the club. Be under no illusion, Seb and Josh have gone to a club on the brink, genuinely feel sorry for them. Owner (Scott Priestnall, failed businessman) took over in 2019 and hasn't put a penny of his own money into the club, borrowing against the club and running up debt. COVID came, we borrowed a million quid off Sport England who said it was only a loan but Priestnall says it was a grant, ie not to be repaid. During COVID, Priestnall set up a Crowdfunder with things like pictures with players, free tickets etc for those that donated but hardly anyone has got their rewards. So by now, without a pot to p*** in, just before Christmas, signed a deal with the council who then paid £2.8 million for the ground. Council still say now that (a) they bought club from holding company and not Priestnall (but its the same thing!) and (b) anyone can buy the club back at asking price (but has to go through Priestnall). So now, with an unscrupulous owner that's in bed with Jed McCrory (read all about him, makes you weep!) and has set up a development company with him, we don't own our ground and planning has gone in for 250 houses on the immediate environs of the club. When I say "immediate", literally 50 feet from the front door. There will be barely any parking and the smart money is on Priestnall eventually getting permission to build on the pitch. Well, that will end up well. Oh and in May, we'll have to pay rent to the council for our ground. Just the £196,000 a year then. And first three months rent payments will be due when no games are being played and taking away most of our season ticket funds. Back on topic, I wish them both well and Tins will have done his homework with the lads best interests at heart, I'm sure.

The referee for Tuesday night's tie is Andre Marriner with his assistants being Adam Nunn and Sam Lewis. Fourthie is James Linington.

"Hey, Ken, when's the question about Pickles finding the World Cup?"....

It really wasn't. It's been said twice in the thread already; refs will issue a yellow for a shove from chest down whereas neck, throat & head area will be a red card. ETA: Casemiro's red last week was for grabbing Will Hughes around the throat, another correct decision! I'd say that Kavanagh had a good first half, poor second half but let's not criticise the decisions he was spot on with.