Mark Cooper spoke to Sheridan Robins after the Glovers wrapped up a Championship winning season with a 3-1 win over Dover and the gaffer was pleased with the way his side went about the ‘dead rubber’ fixture.
“To say there was nothing on the game, I thought we gave it total respect, I thought we played some brilliant football and dominated the game, but when it’s 3-0 it difficult to keep it going, isn’t it?
I was really pleased with the ruthlessness of the team”
Cooper was being serenaded by Glovers’ fans as the chat went on and he had a special word for the Yeovil Town following.
“It’s been an amazing following today, to say that we’ve already won the league and it’s so far, they’ve followed us throughout the league, they’ve followed us through thick and thin this year – well, there hasn’t been much thin – it’s been quite a lot of thick, but we’ve given them lots to shout about and they’ve got right behind us.”
Yeovil Town’s two-goal hero Dylan Morgan came in for praise, not just for his goals, but also for making the transition from Part Time, back to Full Time football.
“Dylan has come from Taunton, part time, it took him a while to get accustomed, I still think he’ll be better after a pre-season, the one thing about Dylan is that he’s desperate to be a footballer, he trains his socks off every day and that so valuable for us.”
Cooper spoke of the mentality of his team, who were visibly disappointed to concede late on, despite the match (and season) being wrapped up long before and how the team and the club as a whole can benefit from what he calls a ‘winning mentality’.
“You have to, you can’t turn it on and off, you have to have that ruthlessness, that needs to run throughout the club and we showed that today.
It’s been really enjoyable, we’ve given everybody a lift, we’ve given them some good times, there was no need for us to be in this league, we said that at the time, but lessons need to be learned from that”
“…we have the momentum and we have to not waste that”
With a big summer on the way, Cooper suggests he now gets down to work on moulding a team to take on the National League.
“I think [this summer] is really important, we have to make a decision, are we going to kick on? Are we going to attack a wide open National League Premier next year? are we going to consolidate, or something we don’t want to think about?
But, that will depend on what kind of budget we set, which will determine which way we go.
I think momentum is massive and we have the momentum and we have to not waste that, I think the best time for us to compete is next year, to really push and have a crack it.”