Get the lowdown on our next opponents: Yeovil Town.

The Opposition

Yeovil Town narrowly missed out on a mid-table finish last term, but nonetheless enjoyed a successful return to life in the National League.

After achieving promotion from the National League South in their first season in the sixth tier since the late 1990s, the Somerset-based side ended the 2024/25 campaign with an 18th place finish, and key to their success was their away form, with eight wins and four draws on the road.

Former long-serving manager Mark Cooper led the Glovers to survival on the final day of the season after Dagenham & Redbridge could only secure a point against Solihull Moors, leading to Yeovil’s safety in spite of a narrow defeat against York City.

Brett McGavin and Aaron Jarvis both scored seven goals along the way, helping to plug the gaps left by the mid-season departures of Ciaran McGuckin and Frank Nouble, while the performances of Sonny Blu Lo-Everton received many plaudits in the centre of the park, playing a key role in midfield alongside McGavin and Charlie Cooper, and will be a miss with the former Watford midfielder departing Huish Park this summer.

The Glovers will largely be looking up after Chairman Martin Hellier stepped down from his role, and they will now look ahead as their pursue a return to the EFL, a place they had spent 16 years in until relegation in 2019.

They have added quality to their ranks in the summer in the form of Bristol Rovers duo Luke McCormick and Jed Ward, along with Birmingham City duo Byron Pendleton and Ben Wodsoku on loan as well as a host of other players from the EFL and the National League, including James Daly (Harrogate Town), Tahvon Campbell (Solihull Moors), Kyle Ferguson (Rochdale AFC), Junior Morias (Notts County), James Plant (Port Vale) and Andrew Oluwabori (Exeter City).

Morias and McCormick are perhaps the most successful recruits so far, topping the Yeovil goalscoring charts with four and three goals respectively, while Wodsoku has also got on the scoresheet once this season alongside Harvey Greenslade, Josh Sims, Campbell and Morgan Williams.

And despite a respectable start to the campaign with five wins from their opening 12 games, the Glovers have endured a somewhat turbulent opening couple of months, with Cooper being dismissed after picking up just four points from the first five games, and despite an exciting prospect in the form of former Chesterfield assistant Danny Webb taking the reins, Yeovil will now be led by Richard Dryden until the end of the season after Webb opted to resign from his position after just ten days and one game in charge, citing ‘personal and family reasons’.

The Manager

Richard Dryden

Richard Dryden has taken on his first permanent managerial role in over a decade when he was named as Danny Webb’s successor last week, having spent the bulk of his career in Assistant Manager roles.

Born in Stroud, Dryden enjoyed a successful 20-year playing career which started at Bristol Rovers, and ended with him turning out for the likes of Exeter City, Notts County, Birmingham City, Bristol City, Southampton and Luton Town, as well as winning the Football League Trophy during a loan spell at Stoke City.

Stints at Scarborough, Worksop Town, Tamworth and Shepshed Dynamo saw him finish off his career in non-league, before hanging up his boots and making the move into coaching in 2007.

He first linked up with Mark Cooper when he was appointed assistant manager at Tamworth, and later became manager at Worcester City after his stint at Shepshed. He spent three years at the Sixway Stadium, His relationship with Cooper continued to blossom though, and was appointed assistant at Darlington before being sacked together in October 2011.

A two-year spell away from senior management saw him become Head of Youth Team Coaching at York City, and continued his position in youth football when he was appointed as Under-21’s Manager at Notts in 2015. He later took on the role of caretaker manager following the departure of Ricardo Moniz, and once again linked up with Cooper following his appointment in March 2016.

Dryden left England three months later to join Indian club East Bengal, spending a few months in South Asia, before following Cooper again to become assistant at Barrow. This preceded a two-season spell as Assistant at Aldershot Town, where he notably won the Isuzu FA Trophy last term after a 3-1 victory over Spennymoor Town at Wembley Stadium.

The opportunity to reunite with Cooper saw him depart the EBB Stadium though, and led to him joining Yeovil in the summer. Their time together at Huish Park proved to be short-lived though, with Cooper being dismissed last month, and after one game in caretaker charge – a 3-2 defeat to FC Halifax Town – he was named in permanent charge until the end of the season after Cooper’s replacement Webb opted to resign from his post after just ten days.

He has since enjoyed a winning start to life in charge in Somerset, picking up maximum points from his opening two games after a 4-1 victory over former club Aldershot and a 1-0 win over Altrincham last time out.

One to Watch

Josh Sims

Yeovil-born winger Josh Sims returned to his hometown in 2024, and has gone on to make almost 50 appearances for the Glovers.

Having departed Somerset in 2011, Sims joined Southampton’s youth setup and rose through the ranks, impressing with Under-23’s to make his professional debut for the Saints in 2016, notching an assist just moments after coming off the bench to set up Charlie Austin’s winner against Everton.

His early time in Southampton’s First Team continued to bring milestones for the winger, making his Europa League debut in a 1-1 draw against Israeli side Hapoel Be’er Sheva, before providing a game-winning assist that sent the Saints to the 2017 EFL Cup Final, setting up Shane Long’s winner away at Liverpool.

Sims later moved on loan to Reading in 2018/19 and was followed by further stints at New York Red Bulls and Doncaster Rovers, scoring his first professional goal during his time in America to give the New York side the lead against Philadelphia Union, though they would eventually lose 4-3 in overtime.

However, he saw his loan extended until the end of the season following an impressive start to life across the ocean, before returning to England in October 2020, where he scored his first professional goal in English football in a 2-1 defeat to Crewe Alexandra, having joined Doncaster on a three-month loan which was eventually extended until the end of the season.

Upon his return to St. Mary’s at the expiry of his loan in 2021, the England youth international exited Southampton to join Scottish Premiership side Ross County, spending more than two years across the border, before returning to his hometown with a move to Yeovil Town in August 2024, where he has gone on to appear 49 times in the National League for the Glovers.

Photo Credit: Yeovil Town Football Club

Recent Form

Yeovil Town 1-0 Altrincham

Aldershot Town 1-4 Yeovil Town

Tamworth 1-0 Yeovil Town

Yeovil Town 1-0 Woking

Yeovil Town 1-3 York City

Solihull Moors 0-1 Yeovil Town

Last Time Out

Yeovil Town won back-to-back games for the first time this season, beating Altrincham 1-0 through a Morgan Williams header after 32 minutes.

That quest looked to be a difficult one early on as Altrincham were the better team out of the starting blocks, and caused problems with their high press to start the game, winning the ball in favourable positions and creating a number of chances in the opening ten minutes from set pieces.

Despite this, the Glovers grew into the game and finished the half strongly, securing the lead after Williams headed in a fast-paced Andrew Oluwabori cross after half-an-hour.

As a result, Town took momentum into the second half and saw Junior Morias and Oluwabori trouble Altrincham’s defence, with chances falling to Morias, Josh Sims and Williams throughout the half in their search for a second goal, but were denied by a number of saves and clearances from a stubborn Altrincham defence.

The Robins continued to threaten and forced Jed Ward to produce key stops in their attempt to find a leveller, and despite late pressure, the hosts’ defence held firm to seal a hard-fought victory and all three points.

Photo Credit: Yeovil Town Football Club