Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper said his side’s lack of potency in front of goal was the difference between the two sides as they went down to a 1-0 defeat against Hartlepool United on the opening day of the National League season.
A second half strike from visiting midfielder Jack Hunter after 65 minutes earned the visitors managed by former Glovers’ boss Darren Sarll the three points, as the hosts’ wealth of attacking talent could not find a way through a well-drilled visiting side.
They also missed a golden opportunity to take a point when substitute Harvey Greenslade blazed an effort over an open goal with the final chance of the game.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah, the manager – who had to deal with an advertising board collapsing on him during the interview – said: “I thought we had all of the ball but in the last third we didn’t produce today, we had chances in and around the box to produce a bit of quality.
“When you have (Jordan) Young, Frank (Nouble), Jarv (striker Aaron Jarvis), (Sam) Pearson, Sonny (Blu Lo-Everton), Brett (McGavin), (Harvey) Greenslade, Dylan Morgan, you expect them to produce the bit of quality they are in the team to produce like their guy did. He has got one sniff and he has put it in the corner.
“We didn’t do that and that was the difference between the two teams.”
He added: “I thought we looked solid and organised, their big fella (striker Emmanuel Dieseruvwe) is a handful but I thought we dealt with that pretty well. But I will say it again, we did not produce in the final third, that could have been a set piece, a forward, a midfield player who had a shot or bit of quality, that was the difference. There was nothing in the game.”
Cooper was also clearly infuriated by a crunching tackle from visiting defender Tom Parkes, who had a brief loan spell in Somerset earlier in his career, which dumped winger Jordan Young to the turf with seven minutes played.
Referee David Rock gave the former Bristol Rovers player a yellow card, but Cooper said the punishment would have been harsher in different circumstances.
He said: “That was a horrendous tackle, but I thought we dominated the ball for large parts without really offering too much in and around their goal.”
“If it had been 15 minutes later in the second game, it would have been a straight red.”
The boss said he “did not know” if a new signing he spoke about ahead of the match would be available for next weekend’s trip to Braintree Town, who went down to a 3-0 defeat at Oldham Athletic in their opening match having come up from National League South with Yeovil.
Asked what his side needed to change in the next seven days, he said: “We controlled large parts of the game but just did not spark in the final third. You could say ‘we need to whack the ball up quicker’, but they have eight centre-halves on the pitch by the end, so it is pointless us booting the ball up there.
“Our best moments came when we worked the ball through our little nippy players that we put on (forwards Harvey Greenslade and Sam Pearson both appeared in the second half) and we missed an open goal at the end and you are not going to get any better changes than that. It’s a tap in and we have to score.”
The manager was pleased with the first half performance of striker Aaron Jarvis, signed from Torquay United in the summer, who seemed to enjoy a physical tussle with the ‘robust’ Luke Waterfall and Parkes.
Cooper said: “I thought he was a real handful. If you asked their centre halves, they know they have been in and game and that is what we have brought him in for.
“He gives us a chance to play off the front a little earlier and he will have bumps and bruises in the morning, and I was pleased with his performance.
“I thought we worked really hard, controlled large parts of the game but we just did not have that bit of quality in the final third. We have gone up a league and you are not going to have the kind of chances we had in National League South.”
If Mark Cooper thinks there was nothing in that game, it’s going to be a long hard season.
When did we ever control the game, certainly not while it was 0-0.
It was obvious at half-time what the outcome would be.
Hartlepool won’t have an easier game in the next 9 months.