Yeovil Town boss Mark Cooper appealed to disgruntled sections of the club’s support to “come together” and back his players as they look to finish the job at the top of National League South.
The Glovers went down to their second successive defeat with a 3-1 loss at home to Chippenham Town on Tuesday night and the final whistle was met by boos by some sections of Huish Park.
The boss kept his players in the dressing room long after the end of the game and said they would be back in training on Wednesday morning, but said he and his coaching staff would “not slaughter” them for a below par performance.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the game, the boss said: “When times are tough you need the fans. It is easy after a couple of defeats for the fans to nail the players, nail me, and I really don’t get it. It doesn’t matter if you want the ball booted forward or played short or long, if you are the supporter of a team, the word ‘support’ means you support your team in good and bad. If you are going to blast players telling them how crap they are, they are going to play crap.
“I said weeks ago that the supporters are just as important as the players on this run-in. I would appeal to all of them, as much as it hurts some of them to be positive – get behind the boys! They have done great this season and we are still nine points clear with a game in hand.
“If you think where we were last year and where we are now. It is really hard to win a promotion and a title, so we need the fans as much as possible. Please just back the players home and away. Just get behind them.”
Having taken the lead at the end of the first half through a superb Alex Fisher header, Yeovil were pegged back by Aaron Amadi-Holloway before a quickfire double by Matt McClure and then substitute Craig Fasanmade completed the win for the visitors.
Cooper called on the experienced players in his squad to pull together after admitting the side’s “flair players” were “not taking enough care in the final third.”
He added: “We still have Joe Day, Jake Wannell, Morgan Williams, Alex Whittle, Matt Worthington, Frank Nouble, Alex Fisher, we have lots of experience on the pitch. They are the ones that will get us through and they are the ones that have got to get together now. The only pressure comes from the players themselves and there is only two players in the changing rooms which have won a promotion and to change that and be a winner you need to get over the line. So we need those experienced boys to step up and drive the team home.”
Midfielder Charlie Cooper came off after 37 minutes after twisting his ankle and he had to be replaced by Josh Owers. The boss added: “He’s experienced, he has a promotion on his CV and he knows where to be on the pitch and he left a bit of a hole in there. He just tweaked his ankle ligament and hopefully we can get him back as quick as possible.”
The Glovers travel to Slough Town, who are unbeaten in their last six National League South game as they prepare to travel to Havant & Waterlooville on Wednesday night.
So now Mr Cooper is blaming the fans!!! Try looking inwards Mr Cooper and just change your “system” and maybe look forward instead of sideways, back sideways again.
Second highest goalscorers in the league. Just sayin’
Let’s win this league, eh? If you don’t like the system Cooper plays (and I myself obviously don’t love the patient side-to-side slowness) – let’s just bottle that frustration up for now and support the team – get them over the line. Up the Glovers!
I get that we need to support the team but I just can’t watch 90 minutes of this football every week. We will go up (and should given the standard of the NLS). My concern is next season. COYG but I won’t be there if the system stays the same.