MATCH PREVIEW: Yeovil Town vs Chippenham Town | National League South | Tuesday 12th March 2024

Simon Lawrence previews our trip to Yeovil Town.

The games continue to come thick and fast in the Vanarama National League South for the Bluebirds as Chippenham seek to bounce back from the late heartbreak suffered at the weekend on Tuesday night when they visit the ‘Champions Elect’, Yeovil Town FC.

For those in attendance and the listeners on Mixlr back home, Saturday was a tough one to take at Hampton & Richmond Borough. With the Bluebirds thoroughly dominant in the first half of the game, they took the lead when a deep Tyreke Johnson cross was headed back across goal by Craig Fasanmade for Tom Owen-Evans to volley past Adam Desbois. Further chances came for the Bluebirds with spells of pressure creating multiple attempts but the away side just couldn’t add that second goal that would have given them a buffer. A quick start to the second half was what would be needed for both sides and sadly for Bluebirds fans, it was Hampton that got the message and were on level terms when Mason Bloomfield nodded in at the far post to equalise.

The Bluebirds would be left devastated when a second half ended with a cross into Bloomfield who’s header was saved by Henry only to be tapped in by substitute Alex Gibson-Hammond to break Chippenham hearts in injury time. After the game, Chippenham manager Gary Horgan was a man of few words ultimately disappointed with the manner of the defeat but found solace in the fact there were plenty of positives to take from a game where they ran a side almost certainly destined for the playoffs the whole way and on another day, could comfortably have found themselves scoring 3 or 4 goals and winning the game at a canter.

Chippenham will once again need to draw upon their excellent away form if they are to get anything this Tuesday in what should realistically prove to be their toughest fixture of the season. Yeovil Town away.

You can also catch up on all the action from Hampton & Richmond Borough 2-1 Chippenham Town, visit our match centre below.

Yeovil Town, the Glovers are a professional football side that play out of the 9,565 capacity Huish Park and are managed by former Swindon and FGR boss, Mark Cooper. Yeovil Town find themselves in the National League South by way of quite a spectacular story which has seen the Somerset side fall from as far as playing in the Championship only 10 YEARS AGO! However, for Yeovil and their supporters, it would seem that the days of losing are over and under new ownership this season, the Glovers are beginning their march back to where they believe they should be. They have laid waste to most that have come before them this season with a phenomenal 24 wins from 37 games only being beaten 6 times and picking up 7 draws of course one of those draws being a 1-1 against the Bluebirds (but we will come on to that shortly). For Yeovil, they only need 3 more wins from their remaining fixtures to be crowned Champions of the National League South. They won’t have it all their own way though as made evident by the result at the weekend where Welling who have spent most of their season fighting at the wrong end of the table shocked the Glovers by claiming a 1-0 win and becoming the first team to complete a surprising double over Yeovil this season coupling that with a 4-1 win earlier in the season at Park View Road. Is this the beginning of the late Yeovil wobble? Or is it simply fuel to carry into Tuesday’s game with Chippenham the unfortunate souls to face the Glovers backlash? There is only one way to find out! But before we do, let’s break down the tale of the tape and our opponents in a little more depth.

The Head to Head is a nice easy one for me this week with Chippenham and Yeovil meeting only ONCE in recent history. The one time we refer to of course is the meeting at the Thornbury Surfacing Stadium earlier in the season when over 1300 watched as Yeovil took a 1-0 lead through Jake Hyde only to be pegged back late on when a devilish cross was turned home by the Yeovil defender Morgan Williams to give the Bluebirds a share of the spoils and if not for a late display by visiting keeper Joe Day, Chippenham might well have taken all three in a stunning performance by Gary Horgan’s men against a side many have called the ‘best to do it’ at this level.

Of course this gives a Win Percentage of 0% to both sides with 100% of our meetings ending in a draw with a very easy 1 GPG for both sides. Tuesday presents a great opportunity for both sides with the Glovers looking to move ever closer to the title and Chippenham famously relishing games like this and with their away record and determination to set right the wrongs of the weekend, this promises to be one heck of a clash between the Wiltshire and Somerset counterparts.

It still hurts to write this one. Being not too far away from each other in terms of the talent pool, most of the squads of both sides will know someone or have played with someone on the opposition side however, for Yeovil, they boast a few former Bluebirds in their ranks that had an amazing time with the club and gave fans such brilliant memories in their time with Chippenham.

We will start with Jay Foulston. The Taunton Town defender now on loan at Yeovil spent the 2019/2020 season with Chippenham Town and what a season it was. Scoring one incredible free kick in the FA Cup in a home game against Slough Town where the ball was literally so perfectly into the top corner you couldn’t fit air between the ball and the stanchion, Jay would become one of the squad to make it to the FA Cup First Round Proper against Northampton where sadly the Bluebirds would come unstuck against a brilliant Northampton side but nonetheless, a great day for all involved and without Super Jay Foulston’s wand of a left foot, we might not have made it past the 3rd Qualifying Round. Of course since then Jay has left Newport (where he was on loan from) and joined Taunton Town making 82 appearances before signing for the rest of this season on loan at Yeovil Town.

Another who walked the same path was centre back Jake Wannell who, like Jay, spent some time with the Bluebirds before signing for Taunton and eventually Yeovil Town. Jake has really broken onto the scene this season as a commanding centre back who is dangerous in both boxes often coming up with a headed goal or two from corners and always giving you a tough day when on the front foot.

But, I don’t think these two will mind me saying when it comes to Familiar Faces in the Yeovil camp, there is going to be one man that stands out above all others. A man that took the TS Stadium by storm with some spectacular goals, dribbling that would make Messi take his ball home and of course, scorer of those 2 vital goals down in Hampshire that gave Chippenham their FIRST EVER National League South Play-Off season that man of course. Jordan Young. Signing initially for the Bluebirds on loan from Gloucester, the deal for Jordan was made permanent following an explosive start to life as a Bluebird with two debut goals against Slough in a 6-1 demolition of the rebels. Young would continue to amaze and astound with the nature of his goals including one GOAL OF THE SEASON winning effort against Concord in the dying stages of the game seeing Myles Roberts a little way off his line before dropping it over the top of him to send the TS Stadium into rapture.

Of course Jordan was never going to be ours for long with the kind of performances he was putting in and the National League came knocking when Yeovil signed Young and he has become an instant favourite at Huish Park with countless assists as well as 13 goals this season giving him the honour of being Yeovil Town’s top goalscorer so far. We are looking forward to seeing all of these lads again on Tuesday.

As with a club as big as Yeovil you are expecting to see a few here and it doesn’t disappoint with a few household names such as former Premier League players Andros Townsend and Leroy Lita both spending time with the Glovers. Two fellas that have played and managed in the Premier League, Ryan Mason (Spurs) and Alan Pardew both spending time at the club. Dan Burn, Luke Ayling the list really does go on but as many of you will know, we already did one of these on Yeovil earlier in the season and I swear, no one will convince me that their most Famous Face isn’t Ian ‘Beefy’ Botham OBE.

The legendary England Cricketer and Television star was a promising footballer in his early years and played for Yeovil signing for the club in 1985. If you can find a more Famous Face then please e-mail we with a robust argument in 500 words or more at commercial@chippenhamtown.com.

Pick from any of them here to be honest. With striking options like Jordan Young, Frank Nouble, Jake Hyde, Rhys Murphy all able to start and score goals for fun and the likes of Dylan Morgan, Sonny Blu Lo-Everton pulling strings in the midfield it would be almost foolish to try and pick one that stands out above them all here.

Many people argue that Matthew Worthington is the best midfielder in the league and there won’t be many that disagree Matthew Smith with his copious years of experience isn’t the best right back in the league either so with so many ways Yeovil can hurt you, winning by committee really seems the only choice. The earlier game against the Glovers was one of the best all around team performances of the season and we will need that again should we win the day here.

Luckily for the Bluebirds, pride seemed to be the only thing that was damaged at the weekend and it would seem most of the lads have come through unscathed although several bookings were handed out so we will need to have a proper look and see if any one them have taken a player over the threshold at this moment, I don’t think it does. Alex Bray and Eddie Jones are still absentees as they head back from injury although the former has made the bench the last two games and will no doubt be in contention again.

For this game it would be easy to focus on how far Yeovil have fallen in 10 years but I choose to see it as a chance to highlight how far we have come. 10 years ago, playing away at the likes of Yeovil in a stadium such as Huish Park would only have been the kind of thing the FA Cup could bring and the chance to take on one of the biggest names in local football is now something that happens annually for the Bluebirds as they continue to push on in the National League South.

We cannot do this without your continued and valued support and we will once again be asking you to fill the away end as best as possible Tuesday night and get behind the lads in this vital game in our season. With only 9 games left between now and the end of the season, every point is vital in our endeavours and with the Blue Army roaring us on, it is certainly noticed and we will need you again when we step into the Lion’s den on Tuesday night.

So hopefully, we will see many of you Bluebirds on Tuesday night and then again on Saturday when we play Worthing at the TS Stadium in what promises to be two very difficult games for the lads.

COME ON YOU BLUEBIRDS!