January 2024 (Page 9)

New Yeovil Town signing Dylan Morgan will be a good fit for the Glovers’ attacking system, according to manager Mark Cooper.

The 21-year-old became the latest player to make the move across Somerset from Taunton Town in a deal announced on Thursday and is expected to be available for this weekend’s home match with fifth-placed Bath City.

Speaking on Thursday ahead of the match, Cooper said that the former Swansea City youngster had scored as high on the club’s data analytics as forward Jordan Young and Bath’s promising winger, Jordan Thomas.

He also said he expects midfielder Jordan Stevens to return to training later this month and confirmed Scott Pollock, who is yet to kick a ball for his employers this season, was involved in training and hinted he will be loaned out later this month.

Cooper told BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah: “When you are recruiting you are trying to make the group better long-term. Dylan scored really highly on the data metrics that we have devised which are specific to the way we play; we have a database of players that we look at which is constantly changing and he was up there with Jordan Young and Jordan Thomas on the data.

“So when we had the opportunity to act on it with the (financial) trouble Taunton have had, it was always something that we were going to do try and make happen.

“We have a real clear identity to the way we play and the three players behind the front player have a licence to go and create and enjoy themselves. The only caveat is that when we lose the ball they have to sprint ten yards back in alongside the midfield players, whoever is in the wide areas (when we lose the ball) has to sprint back in.

“But when we have possession they have real licence to go and drift about and get really good positions and that is what Dylan does. He gets in good positions and he can go past people and he can score.”

Pollock was signed by the club’s then-‘stewards’ SU Glovers, fronted by now-York City owner Matt Uggla, in March and played seven times as the club were relegated from the National League Premier last season. But, he has undergone surgery whilst on the Huish Park payroll this season meaning he has not featured.

Cooper said: “We have Scott Pollock who was signed by a previous regime on data, different data. Scott is doing some training and it will probably be another two weeks before he is match fit and then we will be looking for some opportunities for him to go and play some games.”

The boss said Stevens was “penciled in” to return to training on 27th January having been missing with a hamstring injury since the beginning of November, and confirmed long-term injury victim, defender Jamie Sendles-White, was back in training.

In other news this week, striker Malachi Linton returned from his loan spell at Taunton, only to be loaned out to W*ymouth on Wednesday. The former Wycombe Wanderers forward made nine appearances for the Peacocks, five of which came off the substitutes’ bench, scoring three times.

Cooper said: “We have a really competitive frontline and I am surprised Mal did not get more game time than he did at Taunton with their struggles, but I think he will get more game time (at W*ymouth) and that will do him good. Hopefully he does really well.” We’ll agree to disagree on that last point, Mark.

Having not played since the 4-1 home win over Taunton on Boxing Day due to the postponement of the reverse fixture at Wordsworth Drive due to a waterlogged pitch, Yeovil now face two games in three days with the visit of Bath and the rearranged fixture with the cash-strapped Peacocks.

Cooper said: “We would have loved to have played (at Taunton on New Year’s Eve), but we can’t help the state of Taunton’s pitch or the amount of rain we have had. The problem we have had is trying to get on grass, we have managed to do that today which has enabled us to have a bit of a freshen up and get some good work in to the players.

“We have two games in a short space of time and then we have an eleven-day break, so we want to really attack the two games which are coming up.

“When I go and watch teams play, it is like night and day when they play against us. There is naturally an added incentive when you come (to Huish Park) to play or when we play (away) and have big numbers behind the goal and the atmosphere is different, it raises the opposition players’ performance.

“That is part of being a big club, we have to deal with that first before we deal with the quality in the team we are playing. (Bath) will get a lift from the crowd on Saturday and play our stuff.

“I went to watch them play (in a goalless draw with Chippenham Town) on New Year’s Day. It was a tight game, not a lot happened, but they got seven points out of a possible nine over the festive period, so they are in a good position and I am sure it will be a good game. We know what they bring, they have good attacking wide players and forwards but if we play like we can we are a match for anyone.”

The Romans, who were long-standing rivals with the Glovers during the sides’ time together in the Conference and Southern League, are in good form having not lost since a Morgan Williams strike was the difference between the two sides just under a month ago.

Cooper expects former Glovers’ player and now Bath manager Jerry Gill to set his side up to cause problems at the weekend, but is confident in the ability of his side which sits seven points clear at the top of National League South.

He added: “Jerry is doing a great job, so there is a lot of rivalry in this game. At 3pm it is eleven-v-eleven. Everyone else is getting het up about the gap, we might get four games called off and someone might catch us but we can’t do anything about that. All we can do is play games that are in front of us, we play those games and worry about the rest after that.

“All we know is we are in a good moment, we are calm and we are looking forward to playing. If we play like we are, we will win some games of football there will be some we play really well in and get some bad luck or a bad decision, but we can’t do anything about that. We just have to try and get something out of the game – but in our last few games we have looked strong and powerful and we deserved to win those games.”