Sunday 27 February 2011

TON UP FOR SKIVO

Yeovil Town boss Terry Skiverton celebrated his 100th game in charge of Yeovil Town with a 1-0 away win over Tranmere Rovers that edges the Glovers closer to League One safety.

A speculative second half lob from Oli Johnson was enough to clinch the three points for Yeovil, who are now on 36 points for the season.

Another five wins between now and the end of the campaign would see the Glovers secure their status in the third tier of English football for a seventh season.

Working on a limited budget, Skivo has made good use of the loan market and has made a number of shrewd temporary acqisitions since he was appointed as Russell Slade's successor in February 2009.

These have included Spurs trio Jon Obika, Ryan Mason and Steven Caulker and the latter impressed the Huish Park faithful enough to virtually sweep the board at the Glovers' Player of the Year awards last season.

Other impressive loans have included Shaun MacDonald, who returned to Huish park for a third loan spell this season, Reading goalkeeper Alex McCarthy and Skivo's ex-Glovers' team-mates Chris Weale and Gavin Williams have also returned to help the Yeovil cause before returning to their parent clubs.

This season's loan stars have included goalkeeper Stephen Henderson who joined from Bristol City, Max Ehmer, a young German defender who joined from QPR, and striker Oli Johnson who has chipped in with a few important goals since arriving from Norwich City.

Whilst Skivo's record in the loan market is well documented, his record in signing permanent players shouldn't be ignored either as, with the additions of players such as Paul Huntington, Paul Wotton, Dean Bowditch and Andrew Williams, the current Glovers' side is very much his own.

In an era where clubs change their manager on a regular basis, the fact that Skivo has been able to reach the 100 game mark is an achievement in itself.

If he can take what he has learnt from his first century of games as manager of Yeovil Town into the rest of his managerial career, then there is no reason why he cannot remain at Huish Park for a long time to come.