Welcome back Shaun

Nice to see Shaun MacDonald back at Huish Park. It would have been even nicer if it was on a permanent basis, but 3 months are better than none. I hope that he's coming in as the direct replacement for Danny Schofield on the right of midfield, which should mean that Ryan Mason will revert back to the tip of the midfield diamond that Skivo seems to be favouring lately after we've fallen behind in games. Who knows, we may start with the diamond at home to Brentford on Saturday rather than waiting to be one down.

At the time of writing there's no news of any other signing, loan or otherwise. Skivo was talking about bringing in a striker as well as a midfielder, but presumably that's not going to happen now. Fair enough - Sam Williams and Gavin Tomlin now have the opportunity to show they can make the forward places their own.

Bringing in all these loan signings is all very well, but it does have cons as well as pros. On the plus side we get to see and appreciate good young players who wouldn't normally be seen dead at any L1 club, let alone ours. On the debit side it means that if they are any good there's the risk that they'll be picked up for international duty, leaving us short for crucial games - as is evidently going to happen when we play Brighton at home on October 10th. Ryan Mason and Steven Caulker are off with the England u-19 side on that date, Jon Obika will still be away with the England u-20 team, Alex McCarthy is on England u-21 duty and last but not least Shaun MacDonald will be away with Wales, picked for either the u-21 team or the full international squad. That's all 5 of our loan players unavailable and all 5 are (or will be in MacDonald's case) first choice starters in our first team. The club have already asked the football league to postpone the game against Brighton and been turned down. They are appealing but the chances are we will have to play the game as scheduled, which will make picking the team that day interesting. Who knows, we may get to see the likes of Danny Hutchins and Scott Murray after all...

The bookies surprisingly make the Glovers narrow favourites for tomorrow's game v Brentford. A home win is priced at 8/5, the draw at 23/10 and a Bees win at 13/8. Those odds mean one of my unwritten rules comes into play so my fiver's going on a Yeovil win. And I need it almost as much as Skivo. Running total: -£17.00p.

Away from the first team and it's good to see that youth team games are going to be played at the Westland Sports ground at Alvington Lane, Yeovil, from now on, even though tomorrow's scheduled game has since beeen postponed. The youth team have been playing most of their home matches at Somerton for the last couple of seasons on a pitch that can best be described as 'difficult', so it will be good for them and any interested spectators to be back on a reasonable surface at last. Good also for those of us missing watching the reserve team play, the Alvington Lane location is much more convenient for fans than Somerton and it'll be nice to be able to go along and watch a Yeovil side other than the first team and keep our eye on any potential stars of the future. We may even see a few wins. Remember them?