Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper has challenged his Yeovil Town players to show their desire to win when they face Altrincham in front of a home crowd this weekend.
The Glovers suffered their third 1-0 home defeat in the National League Premier Division when they went down by that scoreline against Solihull Moors on Tuesday night, having grabbed a dramatic 4-3 victory at AFC Fylde just three days earlier.
Speaking on Thursday, the boss said: “I can put up with mistakes, but we have to have the commitment and desire to win a game of football and sometimes those things are enough to get you a point or three.
“It was too much ‘after the Lord Mayor’s Show’ on Tuesday after the euphoria of winning fantastically with a brilliant performance at Fylde. The message before the game was ‘whichever team turns up with the best attitude and commitment will win, it won’t be about tactics or ability, it comes down to desire and they had more than us.
“That’s the really frustrating thing and that is what has frustrated us the most, they just did not turn up – let’s hope it was a one-off.”
Following the midweek defeat, Cooper questioned his forward players saying they could have stayed out on the Huish Park until the following day and still not found the net.
Frontman Aaron Jarvis, who netted his second of the season in the win at Fylde last weekend, was joined by Frank Nouble and Sam Pearson against Solihull.
Cooper said: “We scored seven goals in two games before that, so I don’t think it is anything we are not doing in training. It comes down to personal pride. Our forward players were incredible on Saturday (at Fylde) but on Tuesday night they were just not at it. It is really hard as a side if your front players do not spark, it is really hard to get up the pitch.
Asked whether he was still looking to bolster his squad, he added: “That team was good enough to win at Fylde and Boston, but you cannot carry players. In any game of football you have to have seven or eight players who are at it and if you have just two or three you will get beaten.
“We have enough players to field a team, we are still looking, we have some money to still bring players in but we want to bring the right ones in. I have said before I can go and sign 100 players on loan, but I want to try and get the right type.”
Central defender Morgan Williams returned on the bench against Solihull having missed the away wins at Boston United and AFC Fylde with concussion. He replaced new signing Dom Bernard, whose slip led to Connor Wilkinson’s first-half goal, on Tuesday night.
Cooper said: “Morgs has had a couple of days training. Tuesday was probably a bit too early for him, and we are trying to look after him. But he is back and he looked really good today in training.”
On-loan Bristol City defender Raphael Araoye has had a second scan on a dead leg suffered at Boston, but the Glovers are still waiting to hear back from his parent club about the severity of the injury. However, Cooper confirmed that he expects Harvey Greenslade to be out for “another three to four weeks.”
Araoye we are still waiting to get a definitive answer on his second scan and how long he is going to be.
Harvey we think will be another three to four weeks. That is football, you are going to get injuries, we just have to deal with it.