Joshua Owers

The 22-year-old central midfielder was part of the Yeovil Town squad that won the National League South title last season, having previously featured for The Glovers during the second half of the 2022/23 campaign while on loan from Bristol City.

Owers came through The Robins’ youth ranks in the early 2020s, gaining valuable experience of senior men’s football during two loan spells with Bath City and another at Gloucester City, prior to his first stint at Huish Park.

Budding young Panini sticker-collecting football geeks of the 1980s may remember Joshua’s father Gary Owers, who was a mainstay of the Sunderland midfield between 1986 and 1994, and went on to have two spells as manager of Bath City – the first as Player/Manager, when Joshua was only three years-old – in addition to stints in charge at Forest Green Rovers, Weston-super-Mare and Torquay United.

Described by his former Yeovil manager Mark Cooper as “a good size, athletic and left-footed”, the 6’1” Owers junior, who featured in the pre-season friendly between AFC Totton and Yeovil at the Snows Stadium last summer, took a while to ponder the question when prompted to liken himself to a famous player with whom Stags fans would already be familiar; he eventually plumped for the Scotland & Manchester United midfielder, Scott McTominay.

Despite an inauspicious beginning to life as a Stag, when he was sent-off shortly before half-time on his competitive debut at home to Walton & Hersham, Josh has already demonstrated during pre-season that he brings a wealth of creativity and hard work to the midfield engine room that bodes well for his future with the club.