18th February 2022

Yeovil Town return to National League action as Dagenham & Redbridge visit Huish Park this Saturday (3pm).

The Glovers, off the back of a Somerset Premier Cup victory, will be hoping to improve league form having won just once in the last five games.

Dagenham, who currently sit in tenth, are five points ahead of Town and Sarll will be hoping his side can cut that deficit on Saturday.

Darren Sarll’s thoughts

The return of Charlie Lee as assistant manager was an overriding talking point in this week’s pre-match press conference. On Lee’s return, Sarll said, “I thought it was important that they ideal candidate fit one of two specific things. It was either someone who knew the role, or someone who knew me. I felt if they didn’t have either of those two things, I thought it might take too much of my time to work with them, especially with just three and a half months left of the season.

“Working back from that, it’s very difficult to get an experienced assistant manager, so that meant it was important to get someone that knew me and my tendencies and behaviours because I know I’m not the easiest person to work with.

“Nobody know me better than Charlie. Let’s make no bones about it, Charlie was one of the toughest players I’ve ever managed, in terms of his character and how spikey he can be. I wanted that impact in the dressing room, he doesn’t suffer fools.”

Team news

In his pre-match press conference, Sarll confirmed that Town will certainly be without Max Hunt who picked up a training injury last month.

Jack Robinson, who picked up a minor knock against Wealdstone is a doubt, whilst Dale Gorman serves the first match of his two game suspension.

Have we met before?

Earlier this season, Yeovil Town were the victors in a tight 1-0 victory at the Chigwell Construction Stadium. In fact, the Glovers have lost just once to Dagenham since relegation to the National League.

That loss came early in 19/20 where the Daggers were the victors in a topsy turvy 3-2 fixture on a boiling hot August day!

Last season, Yeovil claimed four points off Daryl McMahon’s side, drawing 0-0 away before a last minute Tom Knowles free-kick secured a victory at Huish Park.

A foot in the opposition camp

The star man for the visitors is Paul McCallum, a forward with a history of finding the back of the net in the National League, despite injury issues this season, he has struck 8 goals in 21 games in all competitions. When at Barnet, McCallum scored against Town to knock us out of the play-offs in 2019/20.

However, earlier this season it was McCallum’s own-goal that secured three points for Town.

The visitors are likely to be without familiar face Angelo Balanta, who made a handful of appearances in Yeovil Town’s League One play-off winning season.

What’s on at Huish Park

This Saturday, we’ll be hosting our first ‘Memory Lanes’ event in the Alec Stock Lounge. Former Glovers full-back Micky Engwell will be taking part in a supporters Q&A. For more information, click HERE.

Tickets

Tickets remain available online until midday on Saturday, and from the ticket office until kick-off although subject to a surcharge after midday.