Yeovil Town manager Gary Johnson has said that he is confident that rookie pair Nathan Ralph and Lewis Young can turn out to be 'very good players'. The duo are two of the Glovers' lower key signings this summer, with both coming from his former clubs, Peterborough United and Northampton Town respectively.
Of the pair, 19 year old left-back Ralph is the most inexperienced, having not made a first team appearance for the Posh, and with his main experience coming in non-league football through a loan spell with Kettering Town. Johnson told BBC Somerset that it would be a case of taking a batch of younger players and turning them into the finished article. However, he warned that Ralph's inexperience meant there would need to be patience:
"He hasn't played a League game yet, and I want three or four, or maybe five or six young lads that we can work with. Myself, Terry (Skiverton) and Darren (Way) work hard with our young players, and we think that we get them to their full potential, and these two are just exciting to us."
Young has somewhat more experience in the game, with the right-back having played 34 times for the Cobblers last season. He's also got a higher profile, due to him being the younger brother of England winger Ashley Young, and Johnson added that he had Ralph were settling in well:
"We thought that with a bit of work and a bit of knowledge that we could give them that they could turn out as very very good players. They've come in and they've looked the part straight away. I know them both very well. Obviously if Lewis gets anywhere near his brother Ashley, then obviously we'd be very happy!"
In the world of pre-season trialists, players come and go at a rapid pace, and we gather that former Dundee, Kilmarnock and Clyde goalkeeper Lucas Birnstingl has already been told after two training sessions that he will not be getting a contract with the Glovers, although may stick around to keep himself fit.
The apparent decision on Birnstingl, would suggest that Johnson is looking elsewhere for his goalkeeper needs, and there are rumours that a keeper will be one of the two players announced by the club later this week, with one described as 'significant'.
Whilst Johnson has made it clear that he would happily return for Chelsea stopper Sam Walker, last month's news that Marek Stech had been released by West Ham United has put his name on the rumourmill, particularly as the player has put a couple of Yeovil Town-related pictures onto his Twitter account during that time. Stech has yet to turn up at any club since his release, and also has not elaborated upon the reasons for his Glovers-themed tweets.
Meanwhile, it would appear that a couple of ther other planned trialists are from South Wales. Former Swansea City striker Casey Thomas is in Yeovil this week, and we can't think of too many other reasons for him to be visiting, other than him being down at the club on trial. Meanwhile former Cardiff City player Luke Jones has indicated on his Twitter account that he is having trials with Merthyr Tydfil and Port Talbot but is hoping to come down to Yeovil later in the month.
Finally, in addition to Bondz N'Gala, it appears that there is no sign of either Anthony Edgar or Michael Woods at this week's training sessions. In the case of Edgar, he's halfway through a two year contract, but Woods is a free agent, and his Twitter feed shows no sign of him having returned to Somerset this week.
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4 July 2012 : 
