Manager Mark Cooper has said his Yeovil Town side will stick to their footballing principles as they go in search of their first win of the season at Braintree Town on Saturday.
The Glovers’ boss said he did not see his side move the ball quickly enough in their opening day defeat at home to Hartlepool United last weekend.
Speaking before the announcement of the signing of winger Josh Sims on Thursday, the boss said: “We did not get our attacking play going against Hartlepool , our attacking players did not spark, we were too slow with the ball and getting the ball to them and there has been plenty of work this week (to improve that).
“I said before the (Hartlepool) game it is the first game, nothing is decided whether we win, lose or draw, there was plenty to work on this week and it was a disappointing result, but there were some positives.
“You are going to lose some games, but football dictates you are not going to win every week. We probably deserved a point last weekend and we would have been happy and off and running, but now we have to get on the front foot, attack the game and give Braintree some problems.”
The Glovers have a fully fit squad going to Essex at the weekend to face a Braintree side which has made wholesale changes since following Yeovil out of National League South last season. The Iron made it through the division’s play-offs beating Worthing in the final back in April.
Their boss Angelo Harrop has brought in a glut of new signings over the summer with experienced strikers John Akinde and Inih Effiong, who have arrived from League Two Colchester United and Dagenham & Redbridge respectively, the pick of the bunch.
Cooper said: “When you talk about physicality, you are not going to get two bigger strikers than Akinde and Iffiong, so we will have a physical threat to deal with. So we can either fight fire with fire in which case we will probably get burnt or beat up, so I think we want to stick to our identity. We want to be a really good football team, we want to play with the ball as much as we can and create chances, we did that last season and we will not get too much away from that and the players we recruit will be really good with the ball.
“We cannot match Braintree if they make it a physical battle, but they have some really good footballers as well, so will not be about bashing it up to Akinde and Effiong, they will mix it up and try and play some football.”
Yeovil ran out 1-0 winners courtesy of a Frank Nouble first-half strike when they visited Cressing Road last season and Cooper expects a different test when his side make the almost 400-mile round trip this weekend.
He added: “I think it will be an even harder test because they have recruited really well with the signings of Inih Effiong and John Akinde who are immense forwards for this level. They did a remarkable job getting promoted last year, they were one of the best teams we played and the manager (Angelo Harrop) did a terrific job, so we know it is going to be a really tough job. It is a long trip and a tough ask but I am sure that Angelo will be expecting a tough game from us.”