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Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper spoke of mistakes at both ends of the pitch costing his side at bottom club Ebbsfleet United.

The Glovers went in to the break 1-0 up courtesy of a stunning solo effort from Swindon Town loanee Sean McGurk before a defensive lapse saw Aaron Cosgrave equalise after 57 minutes.

They failed to muster a shot on target despite Ebbsfleet, who have now conceded 65 goals in their 27 league matches, having defender Mustapha Olagunju sent off on 66 minutes.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Josh Perkins after the game, Cooper said: “It is just one mistake that is really hurting us. There’s no really any danger and then we switch off defensively and they run through and score, but I thought we dominated large parts of the game. Second half, we had some brilliant chances, and we have to finish the game, but we didn’t.”

Against an Ebbsfleet side willing to sit in and grab anything they could to aid their relegation fight, Yeovil looked devoid of any attacking threat following the departure of Aaron Jarvis on the hour mark with a hamstring injury.

Cooper said: “We had some brilliant chances in the second half. People will say we didn’t cross the ball enough, but they’ve got ten men inside the box and it is about trying to pull them out of position, which we did a couple of times. That should  have led to more goals and a comfortable win. But you have to take the point sometimes and respect it. We are frustrated but we have to move on.”

He added: “The biggest (sign of our) frustration is to shoot from anywhere when you need to keep working the ball side to side and not try and go through the middle, because that’s where their bodies are. We did that brilliantly, I think it was Dom (Bernard) who pulled it back and (Sean) McGurk side-footed it over the bar, (Josh) Sims got in, we did it numerous times. You have to be patient and cut them open and get the pull backs, which is what we did, but we just didn’t have that final finish.”

The loss of Jarvis on the hour mark broke any rhythm Yeovil had in their attacking play and Cooper said the striker was suffering a hamstring injury, the same injury which kept him out of action for long periods at Torquay United last season.

Speaking immediately after the match, the manager said he expected to be without Jarvis for “a couple of weeks”. He also confirmed full-back Michael Smith missed out with a hamstring injury sustained in last weekend’s 1-1 draw at home to Woking. 

Next up for the Glovers is Gateshead who make the long journey down to Somerset on Friday night looking to bounce back from a 3-1 home defeat to fellow play-off chasers FC Halifax Town on Tuesday night.

Asked what his side needed to do to turn around their form of no wins in five matches, Cooper said: “Mentality. It’s not coaching thing, it’s a mentality thing. We are conceding individual mistakes that are costing goals. It’s about it’s having that personality and winning mentality to make sure that you’re not the man to make the mistake. If we get 11 players doing that, then you start to keep clean sheets again, which we’ve got away from recently.”

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Mark Cooper was left fuming, once again, with officiating following Yeovil’s 1-1 draw with Woking. Cooper, who was in the stands following his red card against Braintree, felt his side should have had two clear penalties in the final minute of the match.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman, he said: “I don’t know how many games on the trot now where the referee’s getting abused coming off the pitch. There’s two clear penalties in last minute. Clear penalties, one on Jacob Maddox and a rugby tackle on Josh Sims. Two in a minute, and then obviously, Ciaran’s clean through on goal and to not even get foul, let alone a red card, is I just don’t know. It’s pretty, pretty frustrating, really. The performance was okay, good enough to win. One mistake cost us a goal.”

“[In the] first half, we had some good bits and pieces around the box, Jarv got in a couple of times from balls over the top. Yeah, I thought it was going to be a 1-0.

“Like I say, we’ve not had a penalty yet. Plenty against us, but we’ve not had a penalty. Did the referee’s or the officials’ performance mean we didn’t win the game? No, because we should have made sure we didn’t concede the goal. We could have scored another goal to make it too much, but you saw the game, mate, it’s not for me to comment. You saw the game. I know the press’s job is to try and get me to slaughter the referee, but I’m trying to be diplomatic. I’m already sat in the stand today for telling the referee wasn’t having a jolly good game,” he added.

Cooper felt his side were comfortable in the game and that Aidan O’Brien’s equaliser came from poor defending.

“I thought we were pretty comfortable in the game. One poor defensive moment, ball over the top, let their guy inside and they equalise.

“I was pretty pleased in how we played and [I’m] struggling to get over what happened at the end, really with the last minute. It’s a game we should win, but it’s another point.”

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Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper has been chatting to the BBC ahead of the visit of Woking on Saturday and says that he hopes that any frustrations about having a bit of time off can be taken care of at the weekend, even if preparations have themselves, been tricky at times.

Chatting to reporter Jack Killah, the boss said: “You cant get on the grass, we’ll be lucky if we get on grass, we have to train on a icy 3G, but yeah, we’ll get some work done. 

“[Having a break] has it’s pros and cons, you can clear up a few niggles if you’ve got some, but generally, you just want to play, you don’t want to have too many big gaps in between games.”

Yeovil have added not one, but two new bodies to the group this week, firstly, the return of former loanee striker Ciaran McGuckin for another spell borrowed from Rotherham United.

“When somebody comes in and does as well as Ciaran did, he gave us that sort of impetus at the top of the pitch with Jarv, he wants to run in behind, he wants to run towards the goal and he can score so, that was something that we were always trying to do, we’d have loved to do it on a permanent but, not for now, but the next best thing we can get him until the end of the season.

“He really enjoyed his time here and I think he feels like he’s got unfinished business.”

Ciaran McGuckin drives home his equaliser in the 1-1 home draw with Aldershot Town at the end of September. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

The other is midfielder Jacob Maddox, on a permanent deal from Forest Green Rovers, Cooper says that he fits the bill of what he looks for in a Yeovil player. 

“He’s one that fits our – what we try and do – technically, really good. [He] can run, he’s a decent size, he’s got pedigree, he’s one that can definitely add to our group.

“He played at Chelsea, he played in Portugal, he played in League One, League Two. He’ll be frustrated that he’s not played, but sometimes when a manager goes into a club he wants to sign his own players and that’s fair enough.”

Jacob Maddox

The squad has been further boosted by the return from loan of striker Harvey Greenslade who spent a month with Weston-super-Mare in the National League South, but the gaffer did confirm that full-back Alex Whittle remains sidelined.

“[Harvey’s] move [to Weston] didn’t go as well as we hoped, he picked up a niggle with his ankle, and then he was ill, so, he didn’t play the amount of games we hoped, but you know that can happen, so Harvey wants to come back in and fight for a place.”

“Alex Whittle has still got a mysterious niggle in his knee, he’s done some training this week, but he’s not trained with the group because he can’t train on the 3G, so it’ll be too soon for him, this weekend. But the rest are in pretty good shape.”

Alex Whittle

The game on Saturday could mark a milestone appearance for club captain Matt Worthington in green-and-white. The midfielder one of the few players to have represented the Glovers in the EFL, National League and South and as captain could make his 250th club appearance after first signing on August 31st 2017. This Saturday marks 2679 days since his debut, an eight-minute cameo from the bench in a 2-2 vs Morecambe.

Cooper said: “It’s great that in this day and age, people stay at a club for five or six years, it’s rare. Obviously last year, I made him the captain and we had a really good year, it’s great that a player stays at a club for that long and plays that many games, so it’s a big achievement.

“He’s honest, his work rate – he runs – you know what you’re getting from him every week, I think that’s important.”

Matt Worthington. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Looking ahead to Woking, Cooper expects a changed outfit to the one that Yeovil beat 2-0 at the end of November, a change in manager amongst a whole host of differences. Neal Ardley took over at the Kingfield following the sacking of Michael Doyle in mid-December and has won all his four matches in all competitions since his arrival/.

Cooper said: “[Neal Ardley] has done well hasn’t he? He’s gone into Woking, he’s changed a little bit about the way that they play, he’s tried some rotations and from what I’ve seen, they’re trying to play a lot more football and they’ve had some good results, so it’s going to be a tough game, but we’re playing really well at the minute and our last few games we’ve performed really well and we’ve not got the points total that we’ve deserved, we’ve been on the end of a few sticky decisions shall we say? If we keep playing as we are, it might be our time to get a little bit of a rub of the green.”

 

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Mark Cooper bemoaned the officiating once again, as a red card for Kofi Shaw in the 75th minute changed the course of the Yeovil’s New Years Day match against Forest Green Rovers. The hosts went on to win 2-1 with a stoppage time winner from Ryan Inniss, but up until the sending off, the Glovers were well worth their 1-0 lead.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah in the aftermath of the match Cooper praised his side’s performance: “First half, we were outstanding. [We] dominated the game with the ball. [We] played through a really good team and caused them untold problems, and we deserved to be winning. The game turns on another contentious decision. I just think when you come to the big boys – deemed big boys in the league – I don’t know what it is, I think if you give a pen for that, you give 10 a game. You could say [Kofi Shaw] doesn’t need to do it, but he clearly kicks the ball. Is it in the box? Very, very debatable. So I’m not sure you can give a penalty for that.”

Cooper also said there was a handball in the passage of play which resulted in the corner than Forest Green Rovers scored their winner from: “Well there was a handball. But, what they’ll say, is ‘it was accidental’. But listen, they’re gonna make it up as they go along, and make sure that Forest Green get a decision.”

With two goalkeepers on the bench and only Finn Cousin-Dawson and Michael Smith used from it, Cooper said he was working on ‘freshening’ up the squad in the next ten days and that the club had agreed a ‘really good one’.

“We played brilliantly well today. The first half, we were amazing,  that’s how we want to play. But when we look at the bench, we didn’t have too much where we could change it and freshen it up. And that’s what we’re going to be working on in the next 10 days. We’ve agreed one –  a really good one, and, [we are] still after a left-sided wing back.”

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Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper has said he is hoping to add a couple of new players to his squad ahead of the Boxing Day match at home to Eastleigh.

The boss was speaking after his side’s 2-1 defeat at Hartlepool United where he was only able to name five of the seven substitutes he is allowed which included goalkeeper Matt Gould and teenager Ollie Hughes. 

The Glovers had sold winger Dylan Morgan to National League South leaders Torquay United the day before the game, loanee James Plant has returned to his parent club Port Vale with an injury, and were without injured duo Alex Whittle and Sonny Blu Lo-Everton.

Speaking to BBC Somerset reporter Chris Sykes after the match, Cooper said: “We have got a bit of work to do, we need to sign a couple of players. Myself and the chairman (Martin Hellier) are working very hard to get value for money and I am sure there will be a couple of additions before Boxing Day.

“It has been a brilliant year for the club, stable ownership and we have restored a bit of pride and we just want to keep going. We cannot compete with the top clubs (financially) but we have a bit of spirit as a club, the fans and players and we want to carry on rebuilding.”

Referee Aaron Jackson was the target of the manager’s ire after seeing striker Aaron Jarvis have a ‘goal’ ruled out for offside after 53 minutes  before Hartlepool were awarded a penalty ten minutes later. The highlights (watch 4:17:00 here) shows the home side’s 6’2″ central defender Tom Parkes go down very easily inside the box under the slightest of contact from Yeovil’s Frank Nouble.

Anyone got a ladder? The deadly piece of plastic which delayed the game in the first half.

Played in high winds which whipped the North of England all Saturday, the game was even delayed for 17 minutes in the first half after Mr Jackson adjudged a bit of loose advertising hoarding on the away end posed too much of a safety risk – resulting in a couple of blokes lying on the roof to rip it free. A difference in interpretation of Health & Safety rules in the two decisions, it would appear.

Speaking about the match official, Cooper said: “There was only one person today who wanted to be the star of the show and it was not any of the players. It was a battle, both teams scrapped and for me it was a 0-0 and the referee decided to give a penalty and when you see it back, if that is a penalty there are 50 penalties in every game of football up and down the country.

“We scored a good goal through Aaron Jarvis, his goal is clearly onside and would have been 1-0 up, then they score (the penalty) and we react and the second goal was just a toss of the coin. We have not had one penalty this season, full credit to our players and supporters, it is a game we should not lose. I have not had a chance to speak to him yet, I have another ten minutes. What you want is for them to put their hand up and say ‘I have cocked up’ because that is what decent people do.

“When the game is like it was and the weather is like it was, just let the game go, stop blowing your whistle. We could have been playing for 300 minutes today, there was that many fouls! The supporters are freezing, the last Saturday before Christmas, let them enjoy the game, it is not about you. Then he had to intervene and make two horrendous decisions.”

The decision to delay the game just before the half-hour mark left everyone inside Victoria Park baffled, but saw the referee take both sides off the pitch. Even Glovers’ assistant Chris Todd and former defender Carl Dickinson, now on the coaching staff at Hartlepool, came over to talk with the 85 supporters who made the 700-mile round journey from Somerset and were fearful they had wasted their time.

Cooper said: “There was a bit of paper blowing in the wind, that is the first time I have ever seen the game stopped because of the ball hitting a tea cup and then giving them the ball to put in our box! It has been a really ‘fun’ day, but I think the big winner in this is our fans – it was a tremendous turnout this close to Christmas and with the weather as it was.”

 

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James Plant has returned to Port Vale after picking up an injury which is expected to keep him out until his loan spell with Yeovil Town expires, according to Glovers’ boss Mark Cooper.

The 20-year-old, who has impressed since joining from the League Two high-fliers, was not in the squad for last weekend’s 3-1 home win over Braintree Town and, following a scan, is expected to be out for up to six weeks.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah ahead of this weekend’s trip to Hartlepool United, Cooper said: “Planty has had a scan, his injury will take him past his loan, so he is back at Port Vale. He is going to be up to six weeks, so we will have to reassess when he is fit whether they will let him come back to us on loan or permanently, which we would love.”

The boss also confirmed that defender Alex Whittle, who missed last weekend’s fixture through injury, had been cleared to return to playing after a scan, but midfielder Sonny Blu Lo-Everton was still unavailable with a knee injury.

He also said that on loan Exeter City defender Ed James, who started and scored against Braintree, would be a doubt for the long trip to the North East with a hamstring injury. The teenager did play a full 90 minutes for his parent club in the Premier League Under-21s Cup on Wednesday night.

James Plant. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown

Cooper was also asked about rumours on social media that a number of players had been made available for transfer. He did not confirm or deny the rumours, but said he had to “rattle a few cages” amongst his players after the disappointing 2-1 defeat at home to local rivals W*ymouth which ended their FA Trophy campaign.

He said: “I’m really loyal to these players and give them lots of chances to play, we look after them and make sure they are well prepared. They know every detail and I love them all to bits, but I live and die by results.

“When you lose to W*ymouth in the manner we did, I have to rattle a few cages. I am not saying we did or did not put anyone on the transfer list, but I had to dig a few people in the ribs to make sure we came out fighting. Did that work? We won the game, got three points and showed a real tenacity.

“Whether people are on the transfer list or not, that is the club’s business, but I have said to the players that they have to keep doing whatever their job is in the team.

“If I was going to move players on it would be for the right reasons, like someone not getting enough game time, like we did with Dylan (Morgan) earlier in the season. There will be other players that need games and, if we did do it, that would be the reason.”

The manager said he was still looking to bring a striker to the club to take the pressure off top scorer Aaron Jarvis and Nouble, and revealed the club had tried to bring former loanee Ciaran McGuckin back to Huish Park on a permanent deal.

The Northern Ireland international scored twice in six appearances on loan from League One side Rotherham United before being recalled last month and EFL rules stipulate that he cannot return to Somerset following his recall.

Cooper added: “We would love to take Ciaran back, but he’s not available. We tried to make that a permanent deal, but he is at a really good football club and he has had some opportunities to play minutes in League One. I know the owner (Martin Hellier) would move heaven and Earth to get him back. We would love to have Ciaran back to give Jarv, Frank and all the boys who play at the top a bit of help.”

Ciaran McGuckin. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

Yeovil make the almost 700-mile round trip to Hartlepool this weekend looking to extend their winning run in the National League Premier Division to three matches, but face a home side which is unbeaten in their last five matches

Pools sacked ex-Glovers’ boss Darren Sarll in October after just six months at the club and appointed former Cardiff City boss Lennie Lawrence in temporary charge before giving him the job until the end of the season. The 77-year-old has an impressive managerial CV, but his last frontline job was as caretaker boss at Crystal Palace in 2012.

Speaking about Lawrence, Cooper said: “Lennie Lawrence, what a career as a manager. He’s a lovely guy, he’s managed massive clubs and been a mentor for some really good managers.

“He is experienced and he will have people running about for him doing coaching bits. They have some real warriors and they have every right to get results at this level, but we have won our last two league games and we want to make it three.”

There is some doubt about whether Cooper will be in the dug-out at Victoria Park having been sent off as the second half was about to get underway in the 3-1 win over Braintree last weekend. The boss said he was confident the dismissal would be overturned, so he may be allowed to feature on Saturday if an appeal is pending.

He said: “I’m still reading through the report as to what I was meant to have done. I will respond to the FA because I think they have a couple of things wrong, but I am confident it will be overturned. If it takes me to be animated to get the players going to get three points, I will take the odd slap on the knuckles.”

Yeovil Town’s Under-18s take on Weston-super-Mare in the Somerset Premier Cup. Picture courtesy of Rob Manley.

One other topic of discussion in the manager’s Thursday press conference was the club’s exit from the Somerset Men’s Premier Cup on Wednesday night. Yeovil fielded a side made up entirely of members of their Under-18s’ side which went down 1-0 to an early first half penalty from Brandon Bak, a young striker on loan from Bristol City.

Cooper, who watched the game from the Huish Park stands, said: “It was virtually impossible to play any senior players because we have game in the North in 72 hours and, if they played last night, they would not be able to train today (Thursday) and prepare for Saturday.

“So we gave that game to Matt (Percival, Under-18s manager) and the youth set-up, Weston told us it would be their youth team and they went and played four or five players that are main first-team players, but (our youngsters) acquitted themselves well and a slight mistake for a penalty was the difference between the teams.“

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Manager Mark Cooper has said it is “time to be ruthless” with his Yeovil Town squad after they crashed out of the FA Trophy at the hands of local rivals W*ymouth.

The final whistle of the 2-1 defeat was met by a chorus of boos from the home supporters in the Huish Park crowd after a brace from former Glovers’ striker Brandon Goodship secured a famous win for the visitors.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman after the match, the boss said: “We have to change some players. There are some now who have had lots of chances and are not producing, so the attacking players have to produce. They have had lots of chances and they have not taken them, so I have to try and solve that.

“This year I have been really loyal to the boys, I love them to bits, but I have a job to do for the football club. That is to try and make us more efficient in front goal, from tee to green our play is really good, we get in the opposition box a lot really calmly and then the last little bit we need a bit of quality and it is not there.”

He added: “It is a really tough one to take, I am really angry with that and I have to be ruthless because that (performance) is a slight on me. We let the fans down tonight, they were brilliant and got behind the players. I always look at myself first, I tried every combination at the top of the pitch but it is time to be ruthless.”

Goodship gave W*ymouth the lead with a sumptuous curling strike after just 12 minutes and despite pulling one back when Aaron Jarvis put his head in where it hurts to get an equaliser ten minutes before half-time, Goodship restored the advantage early in the second half.

Cooper brought on a number of attacking players in the form of Kofi Shaw and Dylan Morgan as Yeovil looked for an equaliser, but they never troubled visiting goalkeeper Joey Casa-Grande.

The manager said: “We should score eight goals, but that has been the story of our season, we are not ruthless enough in the final third of the pitch. We gave away two goals, but we still did enough in and around their penalty area to win three or four games but we are not ruthless enough. If we keep going like that we will win one, lose one, draw one because cannot to put teams to bed.

“We are hitting people up the backside with the ball when we should be putting it on someone’s head, we are trying to have a touch inside the six-yard box when we just need to side foot it in to the goal and we are not brave enough. Jarv was brave to get his goal tonight but he should have two or three, but we should win the game tonight on territory and chances created.

“Both goals we conceded were individual errors and a lack of professionalism, but that is why we are at this level because we make mistakes, me included. Fair play to W*ymouth, they set their stall out and they dug in and defended their box, but I think me, Toddy (assistant manager, Chris Todd), Weso (Head of Football Operations, Ian Weston) and the goalie coach (Matt Gould) could have played in the W*ymouth defence and kept a clean sheet tonight.”

The goal tonight was Jarvis’ sixth of the season which makes him the club’s top-scorer ahead of midfielder Brett McGavin who has five. The club’s only other recognised frontman, Harvey Greenslade, joined National League South side Weston-super-Mare on loan ahead of the match.

Asked whether Jarvis needed more support up front, Cooper said: “I don’t know much more help we can give him, we had five up front for the second half with lots of balls going in to the box. He scored a great goal, he was very brave, but I will say there were opportunities (for him to score more) there.“

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Yeovil Town boss Mark Cooper says his players want to go far in the FA Trophy this season as they take on local rivals W*ymouth at Huish Park tonight.

The rearranged third round tie, which fell foul to the conditions brought by Storm Darragh at the weekend, is the Glovers’ first in the competition which they exited in the second round last season at the hands of Torquay United.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman ahead of the game, the manager said: “It’s a chance to get to Wembley and play in a major final at the national stadium and every player wants to do that in their career, so it is a competition we want to go far in.

“We wanted to play on Saturday, but that is gone, so now we looking forward to tonight. We told the players to do their own bits and pieces of fitness work and be ready to go again on Monday.”

Josh Sims in action. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

The Glovers have made one change to the starting XI from their last outing, a 2-0 National League Premier Division victory at Woking ten days ago, with Josh Sims replacing on loan Bristol Rovers’ man Kofi Shaw, who drops to the bench.

Of Sims, Cooper said: “His pedigree is far too good for our level, he is up to speed fitness-wise and he has looked good coming off the bench, but now he needs to go on and start showing it from the start.”

Before the win at Woking, Yeovil lost three consecutive league games whilst W*ymouth are without a win in their last three matches with their last victory coming in the second round of this competition when they won 3-2 at Weston-super-Mare.

Cooper said he is expecting a battle from a Terras’ side struggling in the National League South relegation zone. He said: “It was cracking atmosphere when we played here (in the National League South) last year. It chucked it down with rain, big crowd and we managed to win that night, so it should be a good atmosphere. It is a local derby and form goes out the window, it will be two teams that don’t like each other. We know we have got to run hard and win our duels and compete well.“

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Yeovil returned to winning ways this afternoon with a 2-0 win on the road at Woking. A thronker from Brett McGavin and a tap in from Finn Cousin-Dawson was enough against the ten-man Cardinals.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman after the match, Mark Cooper said his side needed the win.

“[I’m] Delighted with the result, not so much the performance, but I understand, because we’re a bit edgy. We lost three games in a week and put ourselves under a bit of pressure. And it was just about getting a win to get us off and running again, to restore a bit of confidence.

“We were competent today. We weren’t overly effective in the last third, but we had good chances as well to win the game. But, today was just about three points. There’s loads of things we did wrong, but we had a right go. We were really organised and never really looked in danger of losing the game.

“I thought we could have been quicker with the ball, but listen, it’s tough to play against 10 men. It’s just about winning the game and we managed to do that.”

Brett McGavin’s volley got the Glovers off the mark after Jack Stretton received a red card for an elbow on Cousin-Dawson and Cooper felt his team needed some magic: “We needed a bit of magic. Once they went to 10 men, they get bodies back and we needed just a bit of magic to get us going. Brett supplied us with that. He’s scored some cracking goals this year, and that was another.”

Matt Worthington returned off the bench after picking up an injury at Tamworth and Cooper was happy to see some squad depth return.

“Because of last week, it’s been a little bit frustrating for everyone with the sendings off, and it’s really rocked to us in terms of not being able to get balanced team out. So hopefully that gives us a bit of a G up now. We’re close to getting Wannell back, Dom back, Worthy, back on the pitch today. So we’re close to getting a bit of depth back to the squad.” 

Ed James was left out of the side after his debut on Wednesday, but the manager confirmed he’d be in contention for the FA Trophy clash with W*ymouth.

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Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper has taken aim at the disciplinary system describing it as “not fit for purpose” as suspensions continue to ravage the Glovers’ defence.

The boss will have defender Finn Cousin-Dawson available for Saturday’s trip to Woking after serving a one-man ban for his red card in last weekend’s 4-0 defeat at York City, but will still be without defenders Jake Wannell and Dom Bernard.

Speaking on Friday ahead of the trip to Surrey, Cooper revealed that the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the body representing referees, had told the club Bernard’s red in the York defeat should only have been a yellow card, as an FA disciplinary panel upheld the decision to send the player off.

He told BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah: “Every manager will tell you they raised concerns about the system for a long period of time with the games being front loaded. We saw again (in the 1-0 home defeat to Barnet on) Wednesday night that the amount of times we have had players booked and the opposition haven’t is a lot! We had two players booked against Barnet and I still trying to work out what they were for. I can see that the players are a little bit hesitant to go in for any contact because they think they will get booked.

“Dom Bernard got sent off at York which we appealed, but the FA upheld the red card. That appeal is heard by three ex-players, no referees. On that panel were two centre halves from the 1980s that would have spent the majority of time kicking lumps out of centre forwards, but they chose to uphold the red card. At the end of every game I have to fill in a report on the referee, his performance, key incidents, and we get feedback from the PGMOL.

“The feedback came back from them to say Dom Bernard’s sending off should have been a yellow card, but the FA has upheld the red card! The whole system is not fit for purpose. We can’t change it, referees have a tough job but I just think they are struggling for the quality of referees. I think it is disrespectful that it is a full-time professional league and we have part-time referees, and until that changes I think you will get performances like we have recently. It is something the PGMOL needs to look at, it is not fair to the referees.”

Finn Cousin-Dawson will be available for the trip to Woking on Saturday. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

The defeat at home to Barnet on Wednesday saw the Glovers go 1-0 down to a goal from Yeovil-born Ryan Glover after just ten minutes of a first half performance the manager described as “passive.” A much improved second half display saw them pull level through Port Vale loanee James Plant before a Danny Collinge goal with seven minutes remaining saw the visitors take the three points.

Even after falling behind a second time, there was still time for refereeing drama as referee Andrew Humphries denied on loan defender Ed James a penalty after his leg was swept from underneath him inside the box with the final action of the match. That means Yeovil have picked up just two points for their nine games against the National League Premier’s top ten teams, with second-placed Forest Green Rovers the only team in the top ten they are yet to face.

Cooper said: “We have lost three games. If you take the Halifax game, one moment of unprofessionalism costs us the goal, but after that we should murder Halifax with a really good performance. The York game is a bit of an anomaly, we commit hara-kiri in the first ten minutes and we had two players sent off. Then the other night (against Barnet) it is another really tight game against the team which is top of the league, which we should get something out of.

“If we start talking about ripping everything up and doing something different because we have lost a game, the players will ask where the consistency is. The issue we have is the suspensions because on Wednesday night three of our front line defenders are suspended which is going to impact us for another couple of games because our left-sided defender (Jake Wannell) that starts so many attacks is going to miss the next two games.”

Matt Worthington. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

However, the manager is hoping to have captain Matt Worthington back to face Woking, having missed the last five matches with an ankle injury sustained in the goalless draw at Tamworth at the end of October.

He said: “We are hopeful Matt could be involved in the squad tomorrow, so that would be a good boost for us. We have to take in to account we played on Wednesday night, so there are one or two who may struggle to play Wednesday-Saturday. We will have a look this (Friday) morning and see who is fresh and see who we can put out there. We have some players who we have to look after if they play twice in that period of time that are injury risks, so we do not want to set them back six weeks or so.“