Yeovil Town are back in Sky Bet League One action this Saturday at Huish Park as Barnsley visit for a 3pm kick off.
The South Yorkshire side, like Yeovil dropped out of the Championship last season and now meet in League One for the first time.
The Tykes started out the season in similar fashion to Yeovil, losing their opening two fixtures.
A league defeat to Crawley before being dumped out of the League Cup to Crewe could have had the Oakwell faithful panicking, however, a run of two wins and draw have seen them leap back up to the play off places in the League One standings.
The 14 places between Barnsley in 5th and Yeovil in 19th may seem like a lot, but a Glovers’ win will actually see Yeovil draw level on seven points.
Barnsley’s most recent victory came last Saturday, a convincing 4-1 win over Gillingham in which two of their new signings shone.
Former Scunthorpe front man Sam Winnall scored while loanee Devante Cole netted after coming on. Cole is on loan from Manchester City and is the son of former Manchester United and England striker, England.
As with most teams, Barnsley have seen a large amount of players come and go over the summer and they have strengthened their squad with players like Leroy Lita and former Plymouth man Conor Hourihane.
The visitors have a nearly full squad to choose from this weekend, with defender Joe Dudgeon expected to extend his loan from Hull beyond the initial one month spell.
Yeovil however are short on numbers; Joel Grant, James Berrett and Liam Davis are still injured and still a couple of weeks away from returning.
Elsewhere, Matt Lanzoni has left this week, signing a one year deal at Cambridge. That may leave the Glovers short of a full bench again after only naming six substitutes last weekend in the draw with Scunthorpe.
That draw with Scunny followed up an impressive away win against Walsall. Last Saturday the Huish Park faithful saw Kieffer Moore break his goal scoring duck for the season but returning hero Paddy Madden snatched an unlikely point for the Iron late on.
These two sides met twice last season in the second tier and Yeovil failed to win either. At Oakwell, a 1-1 draw was played out. Joel Grant opened the scoring before a very controversial penalty was awarded in Barnsley’s favour and Marcus Tudgay equalised.
Back at Huish Park in what was dubbed a vital relegation six pointer; Barnsley came through 4-1 winners. Only a Luke Ayling consolation gave the Glovers anything to cheer about.
In the end, it didn’t matter too much as both sides ended up dropping out of the division.
Previously, the clubs hadn’t crossed paths since 2008 when Yeovil win 2-0 in a pre-season friendly.
Before that, both sides won their home fixtures during the 2005/06 Coca Cola League One campaign.
Hopefully this meeting will be vital for the winning side at the right end of the table this season and you can make sure you are there this Saturday.
Gary Johnson has called for fans to come in their numbers bringing friends and family along for the ride too and Yeovil Town have added a couple incentives for this Saturday’s game.
Firstly, you can enjoy Saturday’s fixture in style with a bangers and mash meal thrown in with the Glovers’ combo offer. Check here for all the details and make sure you sign up nice and early to avoid disappointment.
Secondly, anyone attending Saturday’s fixture will have the opportunity to watch the Ladies team in action on Sunday, for FREE!
Our Women’s Super League side play Oxford United on Sunday and you can go along to their kids event day, watch the match and hopefully chalk up six points across two days for the green and whites in style. – See here for the full details.
Two great opportunities to get the support bouncing at Huish Park on Saturday, so buy your tickets online at YTFC.net, call the ticket office on 01935 847888 or pop down in person.
If you’re picking up your tickets on match day, please make sure you allow time to collect them as we hope to be busier with people taking up the offers.
As ever, we know there are some people who are exiled away in far flung corners of the country and those who can’t make the game, so tune into Glovers Player and check out all the social networks for all the build-up, action and reaction.
Famous Fans
Cricket Umpire Dickie Bird, Bowler Darren Gough and TV Interviewer extraordinaire Michael Parkinson.
A foot in both camp
Martin Cranie, Kevin Betsy, Arron Davies, Rory Fallon, Ritchie Jones, Michael McIndoe, Craig Rocastle, Korey Smith.
Did you know?
The city of Barnsley buys and uses up to eight times more chip pans than any other city. They love their chips.
