Cooper: Absentees offer an opportunity
Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper believes the absence of a number of his regular first teamers offers an opportunity to other members of the squad this weekend.
The Glovers travel to Southend United on Saturday without suspended defender Morgan Williams and Dom Bernard and striker Aaron Jarvis, along with injured captain Matt Worthington and full-back Michael Smith.
The boss also told BBC Somerset reporter Jack Killah that other members of the squad were struggling with illness ahead of the trip to Essex.
He said: “We have got (Morgan) Williams out suspended, (Aaron) Jarvis out suspended, Dom Bernard out suspended, we have got (Matt) Worthington and Michael Smith injured and on top of that we have got one or two struggling with this cold or flu. I’m sure the boys that are ill will put their hand up and want to play, but it gives some of the other boys chance to get some game time.
“It is very rare we have a full bench (of seven substitutes this season). I’m not massive on we have to have a full bench, because you can only use five. I’ll be happy if we can get to five on the bench on Saturday for sure.”
He added: “Suspensions have killed us this week, Dom Bernard and Jarvis both got a stupid bookings (in the 3-1 home win over Maidenhead United) and that hurts us. They are both in such good form and going into this game in a real good vein of form, it just puts the pressure on the other lads, which we could do without. But, we’re not going to cry about it, we’re going to go and try and get a result.”
Jarvis, who has three goals in his last two matches, and Bernard both sit out one-man bans for collecting five bookings whilst Williams serves the second match of a three-match ban for his sending off in the goalless draw at Tamworth. Cooper has said he hopes to have Smith back for the following weekend’s home match with FC Halifax Town.
Former Glovers’ academy player Pedro Borges will be available having joined on loan until January during the week, and Cooper expects him to be an asset to the squad alongside fellow loanees wingers Kofi Shaw and James Plant.
He said: “Pedro is a young player like Kofi (Shaw), like (James) Plant, that wants to come and play some minutes. He is desperate to get some first-team football, he’s 6’1″ and athletic, he certainly adds to the forward areas of the pitch.
“We have had our eye on him because of his connection with the Yeovil area, being at Yeovil initially. I spoke to Gary Caldwell, the Exeter manager when we played them pre-season and just said ‘keep an eye on him, he’s going to be available at some point’, we got that opportunity at the start of the week to bring him in, with him being local as well, it’s a no-brainer.”
Having had no fixture last weekend due to the early exit from the FA Cup, the Glovers travel to Southend with the second-best record in the National League Premier over the last four games, with three wins and one draw, the same as leaders York City and second-placed Forest Green Rovers.
Southend went out of the Cup last weekend after a late extra-time winner from League One Charlton Athletic, but won last time out in the league at Roots’ Hall, defeating Tamworth. However, home soil has not been the happiest of hunting grounds having won just three of their eight matches there this season.
On his side’s form, Cooper said: “When you win games it breeds confidence but as the coach it has been more about our performances. We have been playing well, we have spoken about the conversion rate (of chances to goals) as not being high enough, but we’ve been playing well and we try and talk about performances. If we keep doing that, the results will come.
“We’ve started to score goals and that’s been the only thing missing. The players have been great we have played some brilliant football and as I’ve mentioned, if you look at all the teams that we have played recently, they have all gone in the FA Cup last week, played against Football League teams and nearly all of them have won.”
It will be exactly two weeks since the 3-1 home win over Maidenhead United when Yeovil run out in Essex at the weekend, but Cooper believes the break will leave his available players refreshed.
He said: “It is always good to have a freshen up, but only if you hit the ground running again. We knew after the last game that we were going to be missing players with suspension (against Southend), then on top of that you’ve got a horrendous bug going round the country, isn’t there? I’m sure most clubs will be missing players at the weekend with that, but we have to deal with it.
“We take the game in isolation and it’s one that I’m sure Southend are expecting a tough game and one that we are really looking forward to. The players that do come into the team are good players and they have an opportunity to show that.”
He added: “At the minute, I know that we’re in the play-offs and we want to try and win as many games and try and stay up there and we think we’re a reasonably-sized club for the level. The way we are playing we believe that can upset one or two of the big boys along the way and we want to try and stay around the top for as long as we can. We can only do that by taking it game-by-game.“
