Yeovil Town boss Mark Cooper says his players want to go far in the FA Trophy this season as they take on local rivals W*ymouth at Huish Park tonight.
The rearranged third round tie, which fell foul to the conditions brought by Storm Darragh at the weekend, is the Glovers’ first in the competition which they exited in the second round last season at the hands of Torquay United.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman ahead of the game, the manager said: “It’s a chance to get to Wembley and play in a major final at the national stadium and every player wants to do that in their career, so it is a competition we want to go far in.
“We wanted to play on Saturday, but that is gone, so now we looking forward to tonight. We told the players to do their own bits and pieces of fitness work and be ready to go again on Monday.”
The Glovers have made one change to the starting XI from their last outing, a 2-0 National League Premier Division victory at Woking ten days ago, with Josh Sims replacing on loan Bristol Rovers’ man Kofi Shaw, who drops to the bench.
Of Sims, Cooper said: “His pedigree is far too good for our level, he is up to speed fitness-wise and he has looked good coming off the bench, but now he needs to go on and start showing it from the start.”
Before the win at Woking, Yeovil lost three consecutive league games whilst W*ymouth are without a win in their last three matches with their last victory coming in the second round of this competition when they won 3-2 at Weston-super-Mare.
Cooper said he is expecting a battle from a Terras’ side struggling in the National League South relegation zone. He said: “It was cracking atmosphere when we played here (in the National League South) last year. It chucked it down with rain, big crowd and we managed to win that night, so it should be a good atmosphere. It is a local derby and form goes out the window, it will be two teams that don’t like each other. We know we have got to run hard and win our duels and compete well.“