Cooper pleased with ‘great point’
After picking up an important result in the battle against relegation, Mark Cooper described the 1-1 at Chesterfield as a ‘great point’.
Ryan Law’s header cancelled out Paul McCallum’s 33rd minute penalty and saw the Glovers return to Somerset four points clear of the drop zone.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins, Cooper said: “I’m really really pleased.I thought we controlled large spells of the game with the ball in the first half.
“There was some little chances where we broke their play on the halfway line and one real quality pass leads to a chance. We just panicked, but that’s pressure because of where we are. I thought we saw the game out really well.
“The game plan was to attack from deep in the middle of the pitch with the pace of Stevens and Young (both Jordans) and we had some really good opportunities and the final pass was just not right.
“But, I have to say, Chesterfield have some fantastic players, you only have to look at the subs they are bringing on and the people they have in the stand, so it is a great place to take from here.”
Cooper described the penalty decision against Jamie Reckord – made by the assistant referee – as “horrendous“.
“It’s a horrendous penalty decision against us. We had a blatant penalty on Tuesday, we didn’t get it and then we had a horrendous decision – the handball. It’s never a penalty, I’ve seen it back.
“It’s bounced up and hit Recks’ hand, but he’s about half-a-foot away from it. I don’t know what he’s supposed to do, the referee didn’t give it, the linesman did.”
It was an afternoon where Jordan Maguire-Drew continued to show glimpses of quality that had faded after a promising start in the green and white, but the manager said that JM-D has been dealing with an injury.
He said: “He’s had a niggly hip injury that’s really affected him and hindered him. We’ve had to try and play through it, which is probably not helped him. Once we get a preseason into him we’ll be able to see what a real top player he is.”
The Glovers travel to Barnet on Tuesday, hoping to avoid another Dale Gorman-ing, and the boss said there were players who needed resting.
“We’ve got four or five that are really out on their feet in there that we could do with resting. We are short of players and being able to rotate because of the amount of loans we’ve got. It would be nice to give one or two a breather.”
Cooper was asked whether striker Malachi Linton, who has not featured in the last two matchday squads, would be involved in North London.
He said: “I don’t know, we’ll see. We’ll count up what we have got on Monday and take it from there.”
