Ben Barrett (Page 57)

Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper has said that whilst he is disappointed to not have defender Jake Wannell’s red card overturned he has said that the team have enough to cover his absence for this weekend’s trip to high-flying York City.

Wannell was given his second red card of the season late in the 1-0 defeat at home to FC Halifax Town last weekend for an alleged stamp on visiting defender Will Smith. The Glovers provided video evidence which Cooper said after the incident he felt would vindicate his player, but the dismissal has been upheld.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah on Thursday ahead of the trip to York, Cooper confirmed centre-half Morgan Williams will be available after serving his own  ban. The boss also has  Dom Bernard following suspension, the former Forest Green Rovers player was on the bench last weekend.

“It doesn’t surprise me that [the appeal] was rejected, apparently the footage we supplied wasn’t clear enough, the linesman can see from 70 yards away that it was a stamp, but the panel can’t see clearly on the footage that there is no stamp, I mean, I can see there isn’t a stamp. 

“Jake just tries to release his leg, the lad has got hold of his leg, Jake tries to release it, not one of the Halifax players appeals, not one, and they’re five yards away and that’s always the biggest clue, if they appeal and not one person appealed. 

“So, yeah, they have gone on a linesman 70 yards away, I can see on the footage there’s no stamp, but the FA can’t. It’s four games, we can’t do anything about it, the FA Trophy counts as one but we’ve got Morgan Williams coming back in, we’ve got Dom Bernard as well, so we’re covered.”

Midfielder  Charlie Cooper is back in the fold after a one-match ban of his own. Combined with Matt Worthington’s return to full training means that only young midfielder Caleb Hughes, who is yet to appear since his arrival at Huish Park, remains on the physio’s table.

“You want as many good players, who are experienced at the level, you want as many of those available as you can. Losing Jake, it’s good that we’ve got Morgs coming in now and Charlie coming in gives us some competition in the middle.”

“[Worthington] is back in today with the group and we’ll see how he goes, Caleb Hughes picked up a hamstring injury last week and won’t be available for a while.”

With the defence chopping and changing recently, one of the stand-out performers has been former Bradford City defender, Finn Cousin-Dawson. Cooper spoke of how he’s taken his time to get going, but is now in the swing of things at Huish Park.

“I’m not one for talking about individuals, because you’re setting someone up for a fall, all the players are playing really well. Finn had a difficult start, he’s come to a different part of the country, a different way of doing things, the way football is, you’re expected to hit the ground running and play in a new environment and be a ten out of ten [ed. we assume he means seven out of seven]. Sometimes it takes time, 

“Finn has started to find his feet and the way that we train, the way that we play, he knows exactly what he has to do in that back line and full credit to him.”

Looking ahead to the weekend, Mark Cooper said Saturday’s clash with York has the potential to be two similar styles and two entertaining sides going head to head. 

“[They’re a] Good team, very well coached. Adam (Hinshelwood, the York City manager) and his team, you can tell have been left to get on with just coaching the team and they’ve put their own stamp on it and brought their own players in, how they work – they want the ball all of the time, they’re good. Exactly like we do, we want the ball, so hopefully it’s a really good game of football.

“We don’t want it to be end-to-end, we want it all at one end, but there’s two parts to football, you have to be really good when you don’t have the ball and have to be really good when you do have the ball.  It’s got the makings of a good game.”