Midfielder Charlie Cooper will be “touch and go” for the visit of Braintree Town to Huish Park this weekend, according to manager (and father), Mark Cooper.
The 26-year-old has missed the last four matches and his place in the centre of the park has been admirably accommodated by Josh Owers alongside Matt Worthington as Yeovil Town stretched their unbeaten run to nine (ten including the Somerset Men’s Premier Cup, of course!) wins in a row.
Speaking ahead of the weekend, the Glovers’ boss said he expected the player to be “not ready” to start the match along with defender Jamie Sendles-White, who has been missing since the start of September when he picked up an Achilles injury at the start of September.
The summer signing put out his own statement in the week saying he planned to “really focus on getting myself back fit over the coming weeks” following an “incredibly testing and frustrating period”. He accompanied the statement by posting a picture of a protective boot (presumably on the injured tendon) on his Instagram account.
Cooper said: “Sendles-White is out for a minimum of six to eight weeks, so we will be without him for a while.”
Braintree, who made the National League South’s play-offs last season after a seventh place finish, arrive off the back of two wins, but will face a Yeovil side in a rich vein of form and unbeaten at Huish Park.
In typical managerial style, Cooper is not looking any further than that match despite his side being four points clear at the top of the division.
He said: “The next game always has to be the most important and we don’t look too far ahead, we have to focus on Braintree and put all our effort in to that.
“If you look too far ahead you are asking for trouble, so Braintree is key, we are enjoying being top of the league but we are not getting too carried away by it.”
Asked what three points would mean to his ambitions, he added: “If we win it doesn’t (impact our goals) one bit, all it means is we have won another game. That is really boring but it is just three points.
“It is three points closer to where we want to do but it’s just three points. We are really looking forward to the game but we are expecting a really tough game, it’s one we can win if we play properly but we look forward to every game at the moment.”
Having set a new National League South record with an attendance of 6,289 for the 2-0 home win over W*ymouth in midweek, Cooper said he believes the home crowd were “the difference.”
And, with the club backing Yeovil Hospital Charity’s campaign to raise money for a new Breast Cancer Unit for the match which takes place during Cancer Awareness Week, the boss is hoping for another good crowd and pleased to be helping raise awareness of the fund-raising efforts.
He said: “It is so important we use these occasions to highlight and influence whatever we can and raise money for these issues, it is so important we try help. So the more money we can raise, the more we can raise awareness, it can only benefit the cause we are supporting.”
The club’s players will play in a special pink-and-black kit for the fixture as the club launches its ‘Paint the Park Pink’ campaign.
To donate to the Paint the Park Pink campaign in support of the Yeovil Hospital Charity, visit the JustGiving page HERE.