Assistant Manager Terry Skiverton has a feeling our players will be spot on tonight - if required to take a penalty to decide our Carabao Cup tie against visitors Gillingham.
“We had a little practice,” said Terry with a smile, after lessons were hopefully learned from Monday’s training session. “I put a bit of pressure on them and said that anyone who misses has to give me five pounds. A couple of them melted, so I’m waiting for Alfie Bendle to bring me a fiver and we’ll wait and see if they pay up!”
Following our best run in the competition since returning to the league, going out in the third round at the Emirates against Arsenal last season, Terry is also well aware of possibly facing Premier League opposition later on – if we can overcome the Gills this evening.
“When I was with Yeovil we went to Goodison Park and played Everton in 2016,” said Terry, pictured below with Jack Currie. “It’s really nice when the big boys come in and you get a chance to play against them and pit your wits, but right now we’ve got Gillingham."
“It’ll be a tough game," said Terry. "Gillingham had a great result on Saturday, beating Rochdale 1-0 with Scott Cashket scoring early on. The good thing is that we’ve played them recently on the opening day of the league season, so we know all about them, but they’ll know all about us. Hopefully we get a really good turn out to get behind the players and make sure we get through.
“it’s just the next game and like anything – we want to win it, otherwise it’s not worth turning up. If you’ve got your mind elsewhere, such as on the league and stuff like that, but we can’t think like that, and we’ve got to concentrate on this. We’re going to pick a team that we think can win and get through in the competition.”
Although still missing Alex Woodyard due to his calf, Johnnie Jackson (pictured above) will have plenty to choose from for the match, and those numbers will be boosted hopefully in the not-too-distant future by another midfielder Elliott Bolton. The Academy graduate, who performed well on loan at Corinthian-Casuals last season, is on the road to recovery from his MCL (knee) injury he suffered towards the end of the campaign.
“We have no new injuries from the weekend,” said Terry. “We’re looking forward to the game and we’ll be able to pick a full-strength team. We’ve got a full squad and we’ll make sure we’ll be as competitive as we can be, as we want to win.
“Elliott was out on the grass with physio Tim Maynard. It’s always an exciting time for a player when you’ve been out for a long time. I’ve not had chance to see him play yet, but from all the accounts and the footage that we have seen of him – he’s another bright prospect. It was good to see him out there.”
You can see the full interview with Assistant Manager Terry Skiverton below, via the link to our official YouTube channel.