Ian Perkins (Page 29)

Yeovil’s final pre-season action at Huish Park saw them fall to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of League One Exeter City last night. An early gift for Sonny Cox allowed the former Glover loanee to put the Grecians 1-0 up after four minutes, giving Mark Cooper’s side an uphill struggle for the remainder of the evening.

Speaking to the club’s official YouTube channel, Cooper said: “[It was a] good workout for us. First 10-15 minutes we were really good with the ball [but we] gave a horrendous goal away which turned the game around.

“Exeter gave us a real test with the ball and the rotations were really good, so it was a tough evening for us, but that’s what we wanted. It’s no real benefit for us winning 5, 6 ,7-1 in the friendlies it’s about when we come up against real quality teams and League One players, that we have to make sure we’re organised. So, still lot still lots to ponder for us.”

Last season Sonny Cox scored a couple of important goals for the Glovers while on loan, before returning to make an impact for Exeter and it took him a few minutes to show what he’s capable of.  Cooper said: “It was just a rubbish goal to give away. We’re in control of the of the ball, a loose turnover and you know, Sonny Cox goes through and scores, does what he does really well and a great finish.

“That panicked us a little bit and we started turning the ball over far too much. That was the crux tonight, we turned the ball over far too much, and if you do that against teams that are two leagues higher than you, it’s going to be a long a long evening and it was. But for us, fitness is key at the moment, we’ve still got over three weeks so we’ve got a real good week next week to get stuck into the boys and get more stuff nailed down.”

The Glovers showed an improvement in the second half, with Frank Nouble grabbing a goal after a loose pass from an Exeter defender, and Dylan Morgan missing a penalty. The boss felt this was more down to Exeter making wholesale changes, though: “Yeah, but we have to be honest. Exeter put all their kids on the pitch, which gave us chance to get closer to them and you know, even then you saw their young boys were really good and scored a couple of goals. You know, I think they change and put nearly all kids on with half an hour to go, which gave us a chance to get closer to them which we did, obviously missed a penalty to make it even more interesting, but that’s just a good workout for us.”

There were spots on the bench for youth players Cody Koerner and Krystian Woods as well as a new left-sided defensive trialist that we believe is Brandon Haunstrup. There was no sign of Jacob Roddy who’s been involved in the first three pre-season matches. The boss admitted that he still feels the squad is a bit light: “We’re a couple of players short. We know that and we’re looking and seeing who’s available, who can we attract when we get to a position where we can move to bring somebody in.”

On the academy he added: “It’s important that we keep trying to push the young boys. We’re trying to get that sort of connection with the with the Academy that if they are good enough, there’s a realistic pathway for them and we put another couple on tonight.”

Yeovil travel to Farnborough next Saturday before visiting Buckland Athletic and Weston-super-Mare with the National League South opponents “the more useful test” of where the players are ahead of the National League kick off on the 10th August.