Yeovil Town defender Ben Radcliffe has been ruled out of the club’s fixture at Southend United after suffering a recurrence of a hamstring injury.
The 22-year-old, who joined the Glovers on loan from Crawley Town until January, felt the problem again shortly before the match. He had been taken off early in the second half of Monday’s 3-2 home victory over Tamworth.
Radcliffe had made a strong impression since arriving in Yeovil, but his previous experience of hamstring problems helped inform the decision not to risk him at Southend. Yeovil manager Billy Rowley said the defender had “pulled up with an injury a couple of days ago” and had ruled himself out on the morning of the match.
Yeovil make changes at the back
With Radcliffe unavailable, Archie Davies and Jordan Norville-Williams return to the starting line-up after beginning Monday’s match on the bench. Defender Jack Kingdon, who had not been included in the squad for the previous two games, is named among the substitutes at Southend.
The change comes as Yeovil continue an unbeaten start to the new campaign. The Glovers have won three and drawn two of their opening five fixtures, setting up the lunchtime meeting with a Southend side that has also begun the season strongly.
Rowley expects tactical contest
Southend have lost only one of their first five matches. Rowley said supporters could expect a meeting featuring plenty of technical quality, with both teams able to use different passing styles to find their forwards.
The Yeovil manager suggested the game might be more tactical than open, describing it as potentially “a little bit more chess than cat and mouse”. He also highlighted the challenge of facing a side that reached the play-offs last season and would be backed by its home support.
Despite the difficulty of the away fixture, Rowley said Yeovil would not travel simply to defend or try to survive. His stated intention was for the Glovers to take the game to Southend, play their own way and attempt to disrupt the home side’s plans.
The match therefore gives Yeovil an early test of its squad depth in defence, with Radcliffe’s injury absence balanced by the return of Davies and Norville-Williams to the starting XI and Kingdon’s presence on the bench.