Press Conferences (Page 6)

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Manager Mark Cooper has said he is willing to wait for “a couple of bits of real quality” to become available in the transfer market as he looks to strengthen his Yeovil Town squad.

The Glovers’ boss will definitely be without suspended central defender Jake Wannell and injured forward Harvey Greenslade for this weekend’s trip to AFC Fylde, seems likely to be without Wannell’s defensive partner Morgan Williams who missed the last game with concussion.

He expects left-back Alex Whittle to be available to face one of his former clubs in Lancashire, but is waiting for on-loan Bristol City defender Raphael Araoye to have a scan on a dead leg picked up in the 3-1 win at Boston United last weekend.

Speaking on Thursday ahead of the trip, Cooper said he had been looking at the transfer market this week but was said he did not want to bring in loan players for just one game.

He said: “If you had told me ten days ago we’d lose Morgan Williams, Jake Wannell, Alex Whittle, Raph Araoye, and Harvey Greenslade, I would have said ‘wow, we are in a bit of a pickle there.’ But I have faith in the boys we have got, and if we have to shuffle things about, we can, we have Michael Smith and Charlie Cooper who can play centre-half, Matt Worthington can play right-back, so there is plenty of flexibility in the squad.”

Jake Wannell will sit out the trip to AFC Fylde after his red card for two bookings at Boston United last weekend.

On his efforts in the transfer market, the boss added: “We are trying. I could probably have brought 100 players in on loan, but we will get Wannell back on Tuesday night (at home to Solihull Moors), we will probably get Raph (Araoye) back, so I do not want to go and bring the wrong person in for one game. If I do bring somebody in, they have to be the right type of person, the right character and the right fit for what we do.

“There are some players that are out of contract before the window shut, so they are still a free agent, and they are still exploring the Football League market because they can still sign for (League) clubs because they were out of contract before the window closed.

“So, we are waiting on a couple of those boys who we think we would get real value for money for and would really help and improve us, rather than going for quick loan fixes who have not played many games. We are prepared to wait in that market and hopefully in the next week there will be a couple of real bits of quality that come available.”

Whittle has missed the past two matches – the win at Boston and the 1-0 home defeat to Rochdale on August Bank Holiday Monday – but has trained this week. Cooper said: “We are confident Whitts will be there or thereabouts for Saturday. He’s had a good week’s training, I am sure knowing him he will put his hand up to play.”

Yeovil take on a Fylde side who did not play last weekend after Southend United were unable to fulfil the fixture after their train from the South East to the North West was cancelled last Saturday morning. Fylde have not won since the opening day of the season and suffered a 1-0 defeat at Wealdstone and a 0-0 draw at home to Maidenhead United in their Bank Holiday weekend schedule.

However, Cooper is expecting them to be a test, he said: “They will be really organised, they will be ultra fit, a real process to what they do and they will have something up their sleeve. They have some good players, (midfielder Nick) Haughton is an exceptional player for the level who should be playing League football and they have one or two others.

“So we will have to be really good at what we do. I have had a look at the weather forecast – the South is rain, the North is 23 degrees – so we are taking our buckets, spades and our money ready for the donkey rides, so we are looking forward to a Friday afternoon and a night in Blackpool and getting ready for the game on Saturday.”

The Glovers’ manager described his side’s opening six matches of the new season – which have yielded three wins and three defeats – as “solid, but frustrating“, adding that he was starting to see “a swagger” come back to the team’s play which served them well in National League South last season.

He said: “We could easily have conceded more (at Boston United) last weekend, but we managed to get blocks in at the right times. If we continue with our spirit and keep believing, I think we will be alright. We are happy with where we are, but we know we have an awful lot more to give.

“I am constantly trying to push the players in to a mentality that they deserve to be here. We are starting to get a bit of an arrogant swagger about us, which you have to have when you play the way we do on the pitch. I am starting to see that and the quicker we get that as a group, which we did last year, the better we will be.”

This week saw the departure of Jordan Maguire-Drew, who left the club after mutually agreeing to terminate his contract.

Asked about the departure, Cooper said: “Jordan made it clear towards the end of last season that he wanted to move back towards the South East. His wife had got a job towards Crawley way, he didn’t want to be travelling and be in Yeovil. So it was purely about location.”

The day after his departure, Maguire-Drew signed for National League South bottom club W*ymouth. Perhaps he needs to download Google Maps to figure out where they are located.

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Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper has praised his sides’ character after getting a 3-1 win over Boston United on Saturday.

Two goals from midfielder Brett McGavin and a second half strike from substitute Jordan Young secured the points for the Cooper’s side, in game with two red cards and plenty of talking points.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Josh Perkins the manager said how the game was more interesting than it needed to be.

“It was a dramatic, it shouldn’t have been like that, we should have controlled [it] once their man got sent off, we were comfortable, we should have just controlled the game, we just move the ball about the pitch, but we just made so many wrong decisions today and players making poor decisions with the ball and turning it over and giving the ball away cheaply, we don’t need to.

“Probably because we’ve lost a couple of games and the whole world is going to end, that anxiousness creeps in, they just want to try and bash the door down straight away and it’s not on and we play into their hands with ten men and make it interesting.”

On the goal-scoring exploits of McGavin, the boss said how the former Torquay man offers his side something different to what the Glovers previously had.

“His record is that he scores goals, that’s why we brought him in, he’s got that gift, you have to have a bit of everything, you can’t have all top, top technical players in the midfield, you have to have one who can dog about and upset things and keep things ticking along and you have to have one who can contribute like that and we’ve got that now with Brett – two great goals from him.”

Onto the red cards, Cooper has said Boston could – in his opinion should – have had more than just Jordan Richards’ dismissed on 16 minutes for a reckless tackle on Charlie Cooper after in an ill disciplined affair, which also saw visiting defender Jake Wannell sent off late in the second half.


“It’s a horrific tackle [on Cooper], there’s an even worse one straight after, for me it was even worse. I don’t think the referee protected the players today, I thought he let some dangerous tackles go and I was a little bit worried to be honest.

“Once we got to 2-1, we saw the first half out comfortably, but the second half, we made so many poor decisions with the ball and we made it interesting, when it should have been really comfortable.”

“Ridiculous decision [from Wannell], we’re winning 3-1, he can kick the ball up to Frank (Nouble), we’ve got four against four at the top of the pitch and he tries a Cruyff turn, when we’re 3-1 up and then brings him down. He’s just got a flea in his ear for that, because he’s better than that. 

“It’s just compounded our issues, because we’re struggling for centre backs and we lose him for next week.”

With Morgan Williams already missing with a concussion picked up in the Bank Holiday Monday defeat against Rochdale and left-back Alex Whittle out with a hamstring injury, a bruising encounter was not what Cooper needed – but he gave a round-up of his walking wounded following the game in Lincolnshire.

The boss said: “Harvey Greenslade has dislocated his shoulder, that’ll be him not available for a few weeks. Alex Whittle will be back for (the trip to AFC Fylde on) Saturday, Wannell is out, Morgan Williams is out because of the concussion protocols, (Raphael) Araoye got a dead leg in the first minute, he had to come off, so it was a bruising day but we managed to get through it.

“The most pleasing thing is we showed character to get it done and get the three points.”

Ahead of the trip to Boston, former Glovers’ defender Tom Bradbury, now with League Two Cheltenham Town, was linked with a return to Huish Park. The centre-half was not in the Robins’ squad for their 2-1 defeat at Walsall on Saturday.

Asked if he could comment on the speculation, Cooper said:“No”, but did follow up saying: “We are trying to sign a centre back, we’re trying, but we’ve got to get the right one in, now the [EFL} window is shut and things are settled down, we will see which players are available who can’t go into the league, but can come to the National League.”

Here’s hoping for defensive reinforcements at some point before next weekend’s trip to AFC Fylde.

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Manager Mark Cooper is looking to bring some experience in to his Yeovil Town side after they were beaten by an injury time goal from Rochdale on Bank Holiday Monday.

A strike from winger Connor McBride in the first minute of second half stoppage time meant the Glovers finished the long weekend with no points from their two National League Premier Division fixtures.

They travel to Boston United this weekend with the Lincolnshire outfit buoyed by an impressive win away at big-spending York City, a result which has left Cooper convinced that it will be “an open league” this season.

Speaking after the game, he said: “We need to do a bit of work in the transfer market. I have had a good luck at things now and we need to bring a couple in with a little bit of experience and we need to move a couple along, the lads who have not been playing much. We need to bring some real characters in.”

The Glovers, who were already without left-back Alex Whittle, saw defenders Morgan Williams and Michael Smith both go off in the second half on Monday.

Alex Whittle, who was missing with a hamstring injury. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Cooper said Williams had “a sore face after a whack off the ball“, but said Smith “just ran out of steam” when he was replaced after 69 minutes having played 72 minutes up at Gateshead just 48 hours earlier.

Asked whether the punishing schedule had contributed to the performance, the boss said: “The EFL and Premier League spend so much money on sports science and focus on recovery and the boys who do not have so much access to that get asked to play twice in 48 hours. It seems crazy to me, but that is the National League.”

Overall, Cooper said he felt his side made a contest of the match for the first hour and did not deserve to finish the match empty handed – but they were undone by an individual error.

He said: “For 60 minutes we played really well, controlled the opposition and we should have been comfortably ahead, but when you do not do that you have to be completely faultless in your defending.

“We did that except for one action when one of our lads has run out of a great position and their lad gets a free shot from 20 yards out and we get punished for it. No way did we deserve to lose.”

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Yeovil Town boss Mark Cooper said the four changes he has made to his side’s starting line-up will freshen them up as they take on Rochdale at Huish Park this afternoon.

The Glovers’ boss has brought in on loan Bristol City defender Raphael Araoye, midfielder Charlie Cooper and forwards Jordan Young and Frank Nouble from the side which started the 3-1 defeat at Gateshead on Saturday with full-back Jordan Thomas, captain Matt Worthington and Sam Pearson and Harvey Greenslade, making way.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman ahead of the game, the manager said: “We had a big game on Tuesday night and then  another one on Saturday, it seems ridiculous playing another 48 hours late, so we have had to monitor one or two players’ loads and there are one or two who are at risk of injury, so we have freshened things up.

“Matt Worthington will have a little bit of a breather today, but he will probably play the last half-an-hour, and Raph Araoye comes in as the left-sided defender, I felt we needed more of a natural defender there.

“We have been monitoring players throughout this first part of the season until we get this batch of games out of the way, we do not want to risk too many injuries so we have to manage the players’ workloads without weakening the team.”

Matt Worthington is on the bench. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

Full-back Alex Whittle is missing from the squad with a hamstring injury he picked up in the first half of last Tuesday night’s 3-2 home win over Ebbsfleet United, and Cooper is hoping he will be fit for the trip to newly-promoted Boston United on Saturday. He said: “He’s not quite made it today and with hamstring injuries you have to be careful.”

Rochdale, who have made a four-hour trip (probably more with Bank Holiday traffic) down from Greater Manchester, picked up a point from a goalless draw at home to big-spending Forest Green Rovers on Saturday.

Cooper said: “They are a good football team and they try and play football and pass the ball across the pitch, so they will be a dangerous opposition. They are a big club, a Football League club up until the last couple of years, so we are expecting a really tough game.“

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Yeovil Town boss Mark Cooper said three “soft goals” cost his side as they went down to a 3-1 defeat at Gateshead on Saturday.

The Glovers found themselves 2-0 down inside 20 minutes through an own goal from defender Jordan Thomas followed quickly by another from hosts’ full-back Brandon Haunstrup, who was on trial at Huish Park this summer.

Striker Aaron Jarvis pulled one back on the half-hour mark and the visitors’ almost levelled when Morgan Williams’ header came back off the post, but they got not find another breakthrough.

Speaking to our man Ben Barrett after the game, Cooper said: “I didn’t think we deserved to lose the game, I thought we were well in it and we deserved at least a point- but, to do that, you have to have more big moments than they do.

”I thought it was a good game of football, we conceded some really soft goals. The first one we didn’t stay with the runner, the ball is going wide and we put it in our own goal, then the second we gave the ball away in our own area and after that we are in the game. We score a goal, hit the post through Morgan Williams and we think the ball goes in and we have loads of play around their penalty area, but we did not produce enough quality to get that equaliser.”

He added: “I thought we started brilliantly, Sam Pearson got in the box and should score, and for those first five or ten minutes we were really good but their goal changes things. Then we go 2-0 down and you have to roll the dice and I thought we did that and we were well in the game right until the end.

“But, we gave them three goals today and they do not need any help because they are a very good team. I thought we matched them today and I think Rob (Elliot, the Gateshead manager) will say it was an even game of football.”

The boss said his players believed Williams’ header towards the end of the first half crossed the line, but in the absence of goal line technology in the National League, we will never know.
 
Cooper voiced his frustration at referee Martin Woods who gave the home side a late penalty for a pull on substitute Mark Beck, but waved away an appeal from the visitors’ Frank Nouble for a similar incident.
 
The Glovers’ boss said: “The referee was so inconsistent, it is not often you will see a referee get booed off by the home crowd after they have won 3-1. If he gives the penalty to them at the end, he has to give the one for a double on Frank Nouble, it is the same type of foul.
 
“It seemed to be whoever shouted the loudest won the fouls, I would rather they were really good or really crap, not inconsistent. I can live with them being crap because we all have a bad day, but he was just inconsistent.”
 
Following the loss, Yeovil make the six-hour return journey south and prepare to face Rochdale at Huish Park on Bank Holiday Monday. The Greater Manchester side were held to a goalless draw at home to Forest Green Rovers on Saturday, a match watched by Cooper on the return journey.
 
The boss said: “We will try and watch it on our way home, we have watched some of their games already, so we will look at how they set up. We have limited time to prepare, so we can’t waste any time.”

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Manager Mark Cooper does not want his side to travel to Gateshead fearing a side he describes as “the purest football team” in the National League Premier Division.

The Glovers’ boss likened the quality of their opponents this weekend to that his own side enjoyed in National League South last season when a number of teams changed their tactics to try and nullify them at Huish Park.

Speaking ahead of the long trip to Tyneside this weekend, he said: “They are the most pure footballing team in the league in terms of the way they play, it’s really easy on the eye, they really test you and ask you questions and if you switch off for a minute, you are in trouble.

“If you ask their staff and players, teams try and do something different against them, similar to what we had here last year where people were looking to get a result against us.

“The biggest respect that Gateshead get is that everybody changes how they play against them. I really respect the way they play, they have some fabulous technical players, but so have we and we have to believe we can go there and cause them problems and hopefully win a really good game of football.”

Gateshead have seven points from their opening three games having picked up a comprehensive 5-1 opening day win over Ebbsfleet United before getting a 2-0 win at Woking in their second match. However, that game saw them lose captain midfielder Greg Olley to a horrific injury which undoubtedly affected the players as they were held to a 1-1 draw at FC Halifax Town on Tuesday night.

Harvey Greenslade celebrates the winner in the 3-2 win over Ebbsfleet United. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

Yeovil have six points from their first three and make the 12-hour round journey off the back of consecutive victories over Braintree Town last weekend and then Ebbsfleet, who they beat 3-2 having been pegged back to 2-2 to after a kamikaze  spell in the second half at Huish Park.

Cooper said: “We had a seven-minute spell where we lost control of the game. When you are 2-0, you know if we concede a goal we are on the back foot, and we went from being in total control for 65 minutes and then to ‘let’s get the ball as far away from our goal as we can’ and did not control the game.

“That bit us on the backside because the ball kept coming back at us for 5-6 minutes and they scored two goals. After that we regained our composure and we went on to win the game, but for those few minutes it was crazy. We have identified why and we move on from it.”

He added: “There’s always going to be a spell when your opponents have the upper hand and it comes down to how you manage in that situation. We had players running out of good positions, and we need the player next to them needs to say ‘get back here with me’ and be nice and solid. We need to control the game with the ball, but we started panicking.”

The Glovers went in to half-time 2-0 after a first half performance which oozed class at times and, at the heart of much which was good in an attacking sense, was new signing winger Josh Sims. Speaking ahead of the game, Cooper said the former Ross County and Southampton player would only play the first 45 minutes.

The manager said: “We are building his fitness up, but we are not too bothered about 90 minutes if he can give us a brilliant 60 minutes. What we don’t want to do is take liberties with him and rule him our for six weeks.”

He suggested there will be further game time for Sims at Gateshead on Saturday lunchtime and is hoping full-back Alex Whittle, who went off at half-time with a hamstring injury in midweek, will be available.

The boss was full of praise for match-winner Harvey Greenslade who shrugged off injury to come off the bench and bag the winner against Ebbsfleet.

Cooper said: “Harvey was touch and go, he did not train on Monday and he could not move on Tuesday morning. He had a fitness test at 4pm and the plan was always to give him 20 minutes because (Aaron Jarvis) had put in a great shift. Ebbsfleet sensed blood and I felt there would be opportunity in behind them.”

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Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper was pleased to see his side stick to their “footballing identity” as they picked up a 3-2 home win over Ebbsfleet United at Huish Park.

The Glovers dominated the first half and were deservedly 2-0 up at half-time through goals from Brett McGavin and Michael Smith, but a change of personnel at the interval saw the visitors grab two goals in five minutes to draw level.

Cooper withdrew left-back Alex Whittle, who was carrying a hamstring injury, and winger Josh Sims, who he had always planned to only play the first half, at the break, replacing them with Raphael Araoye and Charlie Cooper.

Speaking to BBC Somerset reporter Mark Stillman after the game, the manager said: “I thought we were in complete control when they scored their first goal, we moved the ball nicely but it is about 90 minutes and you are not going to have every minute your own way.

“The pleasing thing for us was the character we showed and that is what I was screaming at them on the pitch at 2-2, I wanted us to stand up and be counted and go and get a third goal. I was so pleased with all the boys, including those who weren’t involved, the celebrations together and the commitment, effort and some of the football we played.”

He added: “We tried to stick to our identity pleased me the most. I know there are certain sections of our crowd that want us to boot the ball forward, but I will not do that and maybe my opinion is what makes us effective. We can have large parts of the game with the ball and we did that tonight. There is a place for (playing it long), when we are 3-2 up with a minute to go, we can kick it out of the ground, but the pleasing thing was we kept playing our football when we were under severe pressure at 2-2.”

Michael Smith is mobbed after making it 2-0. Picture courtesy of Gary Brown.

Whittle, who came off in the second half of last Saturday’s 1-0 win at Braintree Town, had looked typically assured in the first half, and his replacement, on-loan Bristol City teenager Araoye had a torrid time with much of Ebbsfleet’s threat coming down the Yeovil left.

Cooper admitted the change “destabilised” his side, but backed Araoye to learn from the experience. He said: “Raph went on and his first time on the pitch at Huish Park. He will be better for that experience, he will come through that and will show us what a good player he can be. We have a couple of young players on the pitch and it is a big deal for them playing here. That destabilised us a little bit, I thought both goals were avoidable but that is football – there were five goals in the game, we scored three and we have got three points, so it’s a good night for us.”

Yeovil made five substitutes in the second half, the maximum they are able to under new rules introduced in the National League this season, and the arrival of match-winner Harvey Greenslade, Jordan Young and Sonny Blu Lo-Everton helped get them over the line.

The boss said he was pleased to be able to make the changes with a busy Bank Holiday weekend coming up as his side make the 12-hour round trip to Gateshead for a lunchtime kick-off on Saturday, before hosting Rochdale at Huish Park on Bank Holiday Monday.

Cooper said: “The toughest thing for us we played tonight, Saturday at the other end of the country and then back here 48 hours later, so that is about managing the squad, managing the minutes players play and making sure we have enough fresh players on the pitch to deal with tough game against the best footballing team in the league in Gateshead and a big game here against another ex-League team here in Rochdale.”

He confirmed that midfielder Dylan Morgan and defender Finn Cousin-Dawson had trained this week despite both players not being in the squad at Braintree at the weekend or against Ebbsfleet.

The manager added: “We can only pick seven subs, but Finn and Dylan missed out but they are really important to us now, probably more so because we are going to need them over the next two games.“

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New boy Josh Sims will play 45 minutes of tonight’s National League match with Ebbsfleet United at Huish Park, according to Yeovil Town boss Mark Cooper.

The former Southampton youngster signed last week having left Scottish Premiership side Ross County at the end of last season and impressed having appeared as a 76th-minute substitute in the 1-0 win at Braintree Town last weekend.

He is one of two changes to the starting XI with Sam Pearson also coming in to the side with Harvey Greenslade, who Cooper revealed picked up a knee injury at Braintree, and Jordan Young dropping to the bench.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman, the manager said: “It is a natural progression for Josh, he played 20 minutes on Saturday and he will play 45 minutes tonight and then he will be ready to go (at Gateshead) this Saturday.

“He showed really good glimpses (at Braintree) so if we can get 45 minutes in to him, he will be ready for this Saturday.”

Josh Sims in the warm-up at Braintree Town.

Cooper is expecting a different test from tonight’s opponents to the one Yeovil faced at Braintree three days ago. Ebbsfleet lost 5-1 at Gateshead on the opening day of the season, before going down 2-1 at home to pre-season title favourites Barnet on Saturday.

The Glovers’ boss said: “It will be a tough game with Ebbsfleet desperate to get up and running because they have not got a point yet.

“We were resolute and tough to beat (at Braintree) in really difficult conditions, it was just about going there and getting our first win on the board. Braintree had John Akinde and Inih Effiong at the top of the pitch, so they are going to get everything in the box, I would expect Ebbsfleet to be more subtle.“

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Manager Mark Cooper has said his Yeovil Town side will stick to their footballing principles as they go in search of their first win of the season at Braintree Town on Saturday.

The Glovers’ boss said he did not see his side move the ball quickly enough in their opening day defeat at home to Hartlepool United last weekend.

Speaking before the announcement of the signing of winger Josh Sims on Thursday, the boss said: “We did not get our attacking play going against Hartlepool , our attacking players did not spark, we were too slow with the ball and getting the ball to them and there has been plenty of work this week (to improve that).

“I said before the (Hartlepool) game it is the first game, nothing is decided whether we win, lose or draw, there was plenty to work on this week and it was a disappointing result, but there were some positives.

“You are going to lose some games, but football dictates you are not going to win every week. We probably deserved a point last weekend and we would have been happy and off and running, but now we have to get on the front foot, attack the game and give Braintree some problems.”

The Glovers have a fully fit squad going to Essex at the weekend to face a Braintree side which has made wholesale changes since following Yeovil out of National League South last season. The Iron made it through the division’s play-offs beating Worthing in the final back in April.

Inih Effiong, in action for Dover Athletic at Huish Park in 2019, scored 16 in 28 appearances for Dagenham & Redbridge last season. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Their boss Angelo Harrop has brought in a glut of new signings over the summer with experienced strikers John Akinde and Inih Effiong, who have arrived from League Two Colchester United and Dagenham & Redbridge respectively, the pick of the bunch.

Cooper said: “When you talk about physicality, you are not going to get two bigger strikers than Akinde and Iffiong, so we will have a physical threat to deal with. So we can either fight fire with fire in which case we will probably get burnt or beat up, so I think we want to stick to our identity. We want to be a really good football team, we want to play with the ball as much as we can and create chances, we did that last season and we will not get too much away from that and the players we recruit will be really good with the ball.

“We cannot match Braintree if they make it a physical battle, but they have some really good footballers as well, so will not be about bashing it up to Akinde and Effiong, they will mix it up and try and play some football.”

Yeovil ran out 1-0 winners courtesy of a Frank Nouble first-half strike when they visited Cressing Road last season and Cooper expects a different test when his side make the almost 400-mile round trip this weekend.

He added: “I think it will be an even harder test because they have recruited really well with the signings of Inih Effiong and John Akinde who are immense forwards for this level. They did a remarkable job getting promoted last year, they were one of the best teams we played and the manager (Angelo Harrop) did a terrific job, so we know it is going to be a really tough job. It is a long trip and a tough ask but I am sure that Angelo will be expecting a tough game from us.”

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Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper said his side’s lack of potency in front of goal was the difference between the two sides as they went down to a 1-0 defeat against Hartlepool United on the opening day of the National League season.

A second half strike from visiting midfielder Jack Hunter after 65 minutes earned the visitors managed by former Glovers’ boss Darren Sarll the three points, as the hosts’ wealth of attacking talent could not find a way through a well-drilled visiting side.

They also missed a golden opportunity to take a point when substitute Harvey Greenslade blazed an effort over an open goal with the final chance of the game.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah, the manager – who had to deal with an advertising board collapsing on him during the interview – said: “I thought we had all of the ball but in the last third we didn’t produce today, we had chances in and around the box to produce a bit of quality.

“When you have (Jordan) Young, Frank (Nouble), Jarv (striker Aaron Jarvis), (Sam) Pearson, Sonny (Blu Lo-Everton), Brett (McGavin), (Harvey) Greenslade, Dylan Morgan, you expect them to produce the bit of quality they are in the team to produce like their guy did. He has got one sniff and he has put it in the corner.

“We didn’t do that and that was the difference between the two teams.”

He added: “I thought we looked solid and organised, their big fella (striker Emmanuel Dieseruvwe) is a handful but I thought we dealt with that pretty well. But I will say it again, we did not produce in the final third, that could have been a set piece, a forward, a midfield player who had a shot or bit of quality, that was the difference. There was nothing in the game.”

A physical encounter on the opening game of the season against Hartlepool United. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Cooper was also clearly infuriated by a crunching tackle from visiting defender Tom Parkes, who had a brief loan spell in Somerset earlier in his career, which dumped winger Jordan Young to the turf with seven minutes played.

Referee David Rock gave the former Bristol Rovers player a yellow card, but Cooper said the punishment would have been harsher in different circumstances.

He said: “That was a horrendous tackle, but I thought we dominated the ball for large parts without really offering too much in and around their goal.”

“If it had been 15 minutes later in the second game, it would have been a straight red.”

The boss said he “did not know” if a new signing he spoke about ahead of the match would be available for next weekend’s trip to Braintree Town, who went down to a 3-0 defeat at Oldham Athletic in their opening match having come up from National League South with Yeovil.

Asked what his side needed to change in the next seven days, he said: “We controlled large parts of the game but just did not spark in the final third. You could say ‘we need to whack the ball up quicker’, but they have eight centre-halves on the pitch by the end, so it is pointless us booting the ball up there.

“Our best moments came when we worked the ball through our little nippy players that we put on (forwards Harvey Greenslade and Sam Pearson both appeared in the second half) and we missed an open goal at the end and you are not going to get any better changes than that. It’s a tap in and we have to score.”

Aaron Jarvis. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The manager was pleased with the first half performance of striker Aaron Jarvis, signed from Torquay United in the summer, who seemed to enjoy a physical tussle with the ‘robust’ Luke Waterfall and Parkes.

Cooper said: “I thought he was a real handful. If you asked their centre halves, they know they have been in and game and that is what we have brought him in for.

“He gives us a chance to play off the front a little earlier and he will have bumps and bruises in the morning, and I was pleased with his performance.

“I thought we worked really hard, controlled large parts of the game but we just did not have that bit of quality in the final third. We have gone up a league and you are not going to have the kind of chances we had in National League South.”