Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper has said the fight which his players showed in the midweek win over Tamworth has set the benchmark for how they have to attack the rest of the season.
The Glovers travel to Maidenhead United on Saturday looking to build on their first win in more than two months and will do so without loanees James Plant, who has been ruled out for the season with a hamstring injury, and Kofi Shaw, who returned to Bristol Rovers in midweek.
The boss also said he expects defender Morgan Williams to be missing for another six weeks with his hamstring injury, whilst midfielder Jacob Maddox is not expected to be available for the weekend with a foot injury.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah about the 2-1 win at Huish Park on Tuesday night, Cooper said: “When you have gone a while without a win, it is a relief to get one. When you work so hard as a group, the frustration builds and once you get over the line and get those three points, it is a relief and it was a good changing rooms after the game and rightly so because we worked hard against a tough team. Society is about everything having to be now, you are not allowed to make mistakes and you have to win every game, but the message is clear – you have to start with giving everything and, if you do that, the ability comes through in the end.
“The other night, we were front foot for the whole game, we had to stand up and be counted and in adversity and dark times, you learn a lot about people. You certainly learn about yourself, as a manager, you learn about which of your players are going to stand up, pick the flag up and march forward and which are going to not do that. The other night we had some warriors who picked the flag up and march straight down the middle and we have to keep doing that.”
The boss picked out forward Frank Nouble‘s performance against Tamworth. The 33-year-old netted the winner just before the hour mark, his first goal in almost a year. His manager said: “Frank is a good pro, he never misses a training session, he always puts himself out there and when you are a forward and you do not get the goals that your play deserves, however, you dress it up, it plays on your mind. It is not a lack of confidence, it is a moment in time, but we all knew it would end. He led the line superbly well the other night and that is what we need from him. He made the opposition defend the other night, but there was another 12 of them out there.”
Shaw was not available for the midweek win having been recalled by Bristol Rovers the day before and came off the substitute’s bench for his parent club’s 2-0 defeat at Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday night.
On Shaw, Cooper said: “It is a big loss because he can play in a number of positions, he can play as a high midfielder, as a number ten. He has just turned 18 years old and we had to be careful about the environment we put him in. He got an awful lot of minutes with us and Bristol Rovers were delighted with his progression. It is good for him because he went and played League One football the other night and I do not think he would be doing that if he had not had such a good time with us.”
Plant limped off after 64 minutes on Tuesday night after becoming the latest Glovers’ player to fall foul to the hamstring curse which has already taken out striker Aaron Jarvis, defender Williams and Plant who suffered the injury in his first loan spell at the club.
The boss said: “It is not the same hamstring he did before. Morgan Williams we have lost with a hamstring. I have my own theories why that is…… It is really frustrating because he was a top player for us, he has an unbelievable work ethic, he goes past people, crosses the ball, he can play in different positions. We have not been able to train on grass for three months, we just train on a quagmire and I am sure that has an impact on the injuries we are picking up. It is not an excuse, but it is something we are trying to solve.”
Yeovil travel to Maidenhead United in the National League Premier Division this weekend with their hosts riding high following a 1-0 midweek win at promotion-chasing Oldham Athletic. In their last three games, the Berkshire club beat Southend United at home and earned a point on the road at Hartlepool United.
Cooper does expect to have on loan Swindon Town midfielder Sean McGurk, who missed the win over Tamworth with an injury, available for that match, but is expecting another tough encounter.
He said: “It is a tough game because they have some physically big players, they play five at the back who are tough and have two lads up front who are a threat in (Shawn) McClousky and Tristan Abrahams. The other night (against Tamworth) we had to deal with untold numbers of balls in our box which we had to head, cleared and blocked and we will have to do that against (at Maidenhead) on Saturday. The work-rate and the endeavour has to be the same, that has to be the starting point. You have to match whatever they bring and we have to do that on Saturday. They are a team which fight and stay in the league every year, so it will be a tough game.”