Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper hailed the effort of his threadbare squad after they suffered late heartbreak at the hands of Southend United today.
The Glovers were forced to settle for a point when visiting defender James Golding fired home an equaliser in the fourth minute of second half stoppage time.
They had fallen behind after just 30 seconds when Charley Kendall took advantage of poor defending to open the scoring, but the home side scored twice in four first half minutes through Kyrell Wilson and Frank Nouble before Golding broke their hearts late on.
Speaking to BBC Somerset reporter Jack Killah after the game, the boss said: “I am devastated for the players, I thought they put an amazing shift in. You can see we are low on numbers, we lost another one (in striker Ciaran McGuckin) after (43) minutes with a sore calf, I don’t know what that is about, and we are asking players to play defensively that have not played there before. We gave an incredible rearguard action. We got two goals games and then we defended for our lives and we had a minute to see out and we had a chance to put the ball in the corner, kill the game, and we kick it right to their centre back. Then the ball bounces in midfield, one of our lads dives in and the lad gets a free shot, but we had four players going to charge the ball down and it rolls through three of their legs. But it was a brilliant performance, the players are giving everything.”
Defender Jake Wannell, who has been playing with the captain’s armband since the departure of Matt Worthington, ruled himself out with a calf injury on Friday meaning Dom Bernard and paired alongside Finn Cousin-Dawson in the middle of defence from the start. But, with Southend piling on the pressure in the early stages, Cooper dropped midfielder (and son) Charlie Cooper in to a back three.
In the second half, they turned in a stout rearguard action to keep an impressive Southend side, who were unbeaten in their previous three matches coming in to this game, only to be sucker punched by Golding’s late strike.
The manager added: “We felt we were getting a bit overrun in the first 20 minutes, so we put Charlie back in as a middle centre back and even though (Southend) had possession, our goalie (Aidan Stone) didn’t have anything to do. They kept pushing and we kept defending, but we switched off for one minute and it cost us. But the boys at the back, Charlie, Dom (Bernard), who is a full-back really, and Finn (Cousin-Dawson) are not accustomed with playing with each other.”
On his goalscorers, he added: “(Kyrell) has huffed and puffed and tried his socks off. He has pace and there were two good goals for us. Frank was great again, he is a handful when he is in that mood. I am just disappointed for the players because they gave so much today for one point, it would have been our best three points of the season when you look at the players we had available. Losing Jake Wannell on Friday morning when we had no inclination he would not be fit, so we did not have a chance to get another centre back in.”
With two minutes of the first half remaining, on loan Rotherham United striker Ciaran McGuckin limped off with an injury that his manager did not have too much time for. He said: “He says he has a sore calf. I’m not sure, I think the game has changed a bit, he should get on with that for me. Let’s see what it is, I might be doing him a disservice, but if it is a tight calf, you have just got to get through it.”
Yeovil travel to leaders Barnet, who picked up a 3-0 win away at Oldham Athletic this weekend, with a threadbare squad. Cooper said he was hoping to be able to strengthen the squad with new recruits before the trip to North London which is followed by a visit to sixth-placed FC Halifax Town next weekend.
He said: “We need a couple of players. We cannot fill the bench. We need cover in midfield and we need cover at the back, so there will be no rest (for the coaching staff). We will be scouring all the (scouting) tools, looking at substitutes’ benches (at other clubs) to see what is available.
“We are just giving everything now. Sometimes as a player you think you are (giving everything) but it is clear when you watch the game back that you are not. We have stripped it right back and every player out there today has given everything for the cause, and we have to keep doing that for the rest of the season. We have two tough games now, going to Barnet who are champions elect and then Halifax who are play-off contenders next Saturday.
“It will be tough (against Barnet), but the boys that put their hand up today to march forward were incredible and they will have to do it again on Tuesday.”