In's, out's and maybe's part 6

We're getting down to the business end of the pre-season now. Only two more friendlies to go and then the real thing begins at home to Tranmere in twelve days time. Bloody hell, that's less than a fortnight!

The friendly match at Dorchester on Saturday seemed to clarify a few things in Skivo's mind and evidently helped him to make final decisions on some of the trialists (happy, Mr Gleave?) we had left as well as the odd new face to turn up. A poor first half performance evidently confirmed the fate of several players, the Glovers going into the break 2-0 down to the Conference South outfit with the best player on the pitch being the Magpies ex-Glover, Nick Crittenden. Many substitutions later saw Yeovil turning things around, winning 3-2 eventually. In the aftermath winger Dean Morgan, utility player Ross Stearn and former Glover Kevin Gall were all shown the door marked 'exit'. It later emerged that Paul Terry will remain at the club to get fit but won't be offered a contract or take any further part in the friendlies left. I'm not going to say I'm glad Gall and Terry are out, I have too much respect for what both players achieved in their previous spells at the club, but at the same time I am sure that Skivo's made the right decision at this time. Good luck to them anyway.

In for a while, probably, is attacking midfielder George O'Callaghan. I say probably because although the club's official site has announced his imminent signing, there's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip, as the saying goes. Veteran official site watchers will recall the Les Afful saga with particular fondness in this regard. And I say 'for a while' because O'Callaghan is only due to sign a 'short-term contract' according to the club, presumably when his international clearance comes through. Edit - it's being claimed on the green room that the Irishman has now signed up, but there's been no official confirmation at the time of writing.

Also in, probably, are two I thought were out, but am happy to be wrong about. Danny Schofield and Terrell Forbes are the pair in question. Schofield has evidently withdrawn his transfer request after failing to attract any interest from Brighton settling down at last in the Yeovil area; and Forbes's contract extension I have on good authority is substantially longer than the very short time frame I originally guessed at, though not quite as long as the year extension as touted on the green room and he's also failed to attract any interest from Brighton. Obviously there's still a risk that offers for both players will come in before the end of the transfer window in August, but on the face of it we will have the services of two players that most L1 clubs would be pleased to include in their squads for the season, and that's got to be a good thing.

This leaves three trialists about whom there is still some uncertainty. Striker Dean Bowditch has attracted generally good notices from supporters who've watched him in the friendlies so far, but Skivo's public courting of last season's loan star Jon Obika may mean Bowditch's efforts are eventually fruitless. Unless the board allows Skivo to go for both players? No, let's not be silly.

The other two trialists are a mystery centre half, Konrad Schmidt, though Schmidt is an alias and nothing is known about him apart from that; and keeper Richard Martin, whose status (or lack of it) is well-documented but still not finalised. Tomorrow evening's home friendly against Bristol City will doubtless provide more grist for our collective mill.

Out for a while is the unfortunate Aidan Downes. The former Everton midfielder/striker has not enjoyed the best of luck since he signed a permanent contract at Huish Park, missing a large chunk of last season with various injuries, and he's out again for a while now, going into hospital for a shoulder operation as well as a knee scan. He's not really lived up to his billing as one for the future since he signed, mainly because he's never managed to put a consistent run of games together and once again he's now sidelined for a while. Let's hope he enjoys better luck when he does return.