Yeovil Town are back in SkyBet League One action on Boxing Day as the Glovers travel to table topping Bristol City.
It’s probably fair to say that Yeovil fans everywhere were on the look out for this fixture when the season’s dates were announce during the off season, with local bragging rights as well as those ever valuable three points up for grabs.
With the Christmas period packing games in thick and fast, Yeovil will be hoping the quick turnaround works to their advantage to put the disappointment of Saturday behind them.
The Glovers lost out 1-0 to lowly Colchester United who leapfrogged Yeovil to within touching distance of safety.
As for City they currently sit top of the pile a full 22 points ahead of Yeovil, they too however lost on Saturday.
They fell to a late Jamie Ness goal in a 1-0 defeat to Crewe.
In that game, defender Derrick Williams was sent off for two bookable offenses and will have to sit out the festive fixture.
Games involving the Robins this season have normally been quite tight affairs; five of the last seven games have finished 1-0 to one of the sides involved, while just seven games all season have been settled by more than one goal.
Prior to the Crewe defeat, City have beaten Crawley, Coventry and Telford (FA Cup) this month and are looking forward to a third round tie with Doncaster Rovers.
As for Yeovil, they booked their glamour tie with Manchester United in the cup following a two-legged win over League Two Accrington Stanley.
Before that, a 4-0 away win at Oldham ranks as probably the most impressive win of the campaign so far. The Glovers have failed to win back to back league games since the combination of Watford and Blackpool back in November/December 20133, and Yeovil will be hoping to address that consistency over the festive period.
The injury news from Huish Park makes worrying reading once more. FA Cup hero Kieffer Moore arrived at Huish Park on crutches for Saturday’s fixture after taking a knock in training while Jordan Clarke limped out of the warm up last Tuesday night and will miss out a few games more.
Kevin Dawson, Joel Grant and Nathan Ralph are all being monitored ahead of a busy schedule and will be hoping to make their returns sooner rather than later.
Bristol City haven’t got quite the same level of concerns in the physio room, in fact they’ve been adding to their squad with Fulham striker Matt Smith joining on loan.
The tall forward scored for Oldham against Yeovil a couple of season ago.
We can rule out appearances from Adam El Abd, Wes Burns and Bobby Reid all three have left Ashton Gate on loan deals over the past couple weeks.
As you would expect, the two sides have shared many players over the years and this meeting will be no exception.
Forwards Kieran “the Twansfer” Agard and Luke Freeman spent time at Huish Park as did defender Luke Ayling.
One of the Glovers’ longest serving football league players joined the Bristol side this summer for an undisclosed fee from Yeovil.
Ayling has already scored as many league goals in a Bristol City shirt as he did in a Yeovil shirt despite playing little over half a season at Ashton Gate.
Obviously, the history between the sides go back decades, but more recently, the two sides have been kept apart thanks to the promotion/relegation of the sides.
Apart from countless pre-season friendlies, the sides haven’t met competitively since the 2006/07 season.
The sides exchanged wins that campaign with the Robins winning 2-0 at Ashton Gate and the Glovers notching a 2-1 win back at Huish Park.
Arron Davies and Wayne Gray doing the damage that day.
Another Arron Davies goal the season before wasn’t enough for the win at Ashton Gate the year before, a 2-1 home win claiming the points.
However, David Poole did secure a point in the first Football League meeting between the sides in 2005.
So, this Boxing Day will actually only be the fifth competitive Football League meeting between the two sides (I know, I had to check, just to make sure) and with the head to head reading 2-1 to City and one draw, Friday’s visitors will be hoping to get back level with their geographical rivals.
Bristol City have revealed that the home ends are a complete sell out and Glovers have now sold their allocation of just over 1000 tickets.
If you’re buying tickets for future home fixtures as a bit of a last minute gift or if you’re just being ultra-organised you can use the online ticketing facility HERE
If you’re not making the short journey up the road to Bristol, never fear Glovers Player has the full match and as ever the post-match reaction will be available as soon as possible – we don’t give the media team any Christmas time off!!
We look forward to seeing as many Glovers fans as possible out in force for Leyton Orient at home on the 29th, but we’d like to wish all readers of YTFC.net a very Merry Christmas.
FAMOUS FANS.
Bristol City seems to be the team of choice for comedians.
Mark Watson, John Cleese, Tony Robinson, Justin Lee Collins and we’ll add Russell Crowe to the list… if you believe Wikipedia.
A FOOT IN BOTH CAMPS (This could take a while)
Kieran Agard, Kevin Amankwaah, Luke Ayling, Kevin Betsy, Len Bond, Mitch Brundle, Steven Caulker, Steve Collis, Terry Connor, Luke Freeman, Gerry Gow, Lee Johnson, Lee Matthews, Jamie McAllister, Michael McIndoe, Alex Russell, Ivan Sproule, Gavin Williams and more than likely, countless others I’ve missed. Plus of course… Joe Edwards, Simon Gillett, Brendan Moloney, Chris Weale and the Gaffer himself, Gary Johnson from this year’s team!
DID YOU KNOW?
Bristol University was the first in Britain to admit women on an equal level to men.