Manager Mark Cooper has challenged his Yeovil Town players to fight back after the disappointment of their early exit from the FA Cup.
Speaking on Thursday ahead of the trip to Wealdstone in the National League Premier, the Glovers’ boss said he “needed an angry reaction” after admitting it had been a “sombre” week of training since the fourth qualifying round defeat to Chesham United last weekend.
He told BBC Somerset’s Toby Crabb: “It’s been a tough week in terms of analysis, leg work, tactics, you know, but we just want a reaction. I need an angry reaction, I need a group of players that want to show and we aren’t too far away from the team which played really well against Dagenham & Redbridge a week before. We got a standing ovation after that game, everybody got clapped off and we were the best team in the world.
“The performance from our goalkeeper to the edge of the opposition box (against Chesham) was not bad. I could give you loads of stats and how many times we got safely to the edge of their box, but when we got an attacking positions we did not produce and that’s the hardest part of the game, so we need to solve that. We are not doing anything drastically wrong.
“If we scored every chance we created we’d be top of the league, but defensively we are really sound. The toughest part of the game is putting the ball in the net, because there are 11 men trying to stop you doing it. We know we need to be better, the players are not daft, we have got some experienced players and they know it is about getting that right.”
The boss expects to have striker Aaron Jarvis, who has missed the matches against Dagenham and Chesham with concussion, and full-back Alex Whittle available for the trip to north London on Saturday. However, he confirmed right-back Michael Smith was still “a few weeks away” from recovering from a hamstring injury.
He also confirmed that Port Vale loanee James Plant is available having not been given permission to play in the FA Cup tie and Dylan Morgan, who was Cup-tied having featured for Weston-super-Mare in the earlier rounds. Forward Harvey Greenslade, who appeared off the bench late in the defeat at Chesham, is also fit to feature having been missing with a shoulder injury since the end of August.
However, he will be without winger Sam Pearson whose contract was terminated by mutual agreement due to “personal reasons” and defender Raphael Araoye who was recalled from a five-month loan from Bristol City on Friday. Cooper confirmed the Robins had recalled the 6’3″ teenager due to injuries in their first team and said he could be in the squad for their Championship match to Middlesbrough at the weekend.
On Pearson, the Glovers’ boss said: “Sam was a valued member of the squad. He had not done as well this season, but the reason behind that was that he was travelling five hours every day from Cardiff and that had started to affect his welfare, his performances, he was just down, and he just wanted to go and play closer to home. I am sure there will be drama out there that me and him have had a fall out, but we got on great. We had to help him and his wishes were to be closer to home. When the player is adamant that he wants to go, we have a duty of care to the player. Sam’s had that issue before where he’s he’s been homesick and he’s wanted to to go back and we have to appreciate that.”
On Araoye, he added: “It was not a mutual decision. Bristol City called him back, (Academy Director) Brian Tinnion called me yesterday and was really apologetic but said they have got some injuries and and Raph could be involved in the first-team at the weekend. That is fantastic for the boy and it shows you what a loan does for the younger lads, they come out and play some senior football and and do pretty well, and they’re ready to go back and compete for first-team place.”
Cooper said that he was confident he would be backed in the transfer market to bring in a forward player if he could find the right candidate, but hailed the form of on-loan Rotherham United striker Ciaran McGuckin, who has scored twice in his last three appearances.
Cooper said: “If there is a player there that can improve us we will look at it. I know if I went to the chairman (Martin Hellier) and said ‘I have found this player who is going to get us 20 goals before the end of the season’, he’d say ‘let’s do it’ – but I haven’t found that player and it’s a difficult part of the season to be able to do it. Of course we are looking but I want really one of the other boys that are here to catch fire. McGuckin is on fire, not just with his goals, but it’s performances as well, and we need one of the others to come to the party now. They have got real quality, they are great lads who work their socks off. I don’t think any anybody could label our team for not trying, we give everything we’ve got and that’s a must, but we need one of those boys to catch fire (in front of goal).”
This weekend Yeovil travel to a Wealdstone side which sit second from bottom of the National League Premier Division table having won just once all season. However, the Stones did progress to the First Round Proper of the FA Cup with a 4-1 home win over Gosport Borough, who play two divisions below them in the Southern League Premier Division South.
The Glovers go in to the match in tenth in the table and with the seventh-highest away record in the division having picked up three wins and a draw in their opening six games on the road.
Cooper said: “The last time we played in the league (the 1-0 home win over Dagenham & Redbridge) we were exceptional and I am sure Wealdstone will have looked at that performance and they will know it is going to be a tough game for them. If we play like we did there, we have a chance.
“But bear in mind three players came out of the team (which played Chesham) from the team which beat Dagenham. James Plant could not play because Port Vale would not let him play in the Cup, Michael Smith was injured and Dylan Morgan could not play. That is three big misses and we get them all back this weekend, so let’s see.”
On the weekend’s opponents, he added: “They have a real culture of being heavily possession based and trying to dominate the opposition with the ball, so if you get your out-of-possession stuff wrong against them they can really hurt you. We like to get at teams when we do not have the ball, but we will have to get whatever we do spot on against Wealdstone because they are technically very good. They cannot afford to go and get the best striker, they have to have a real way of working and they have done it for a number of years now. They are very easy on the eye, so it will be a tough game but we want to react and put in a good performance.”