Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper has said that the 2-1 win over Brackley Town takes the pressure off the squad as the first win of the new season is on the board.
Goals from Josh Sims and Ben Wodskou secured the three points, despite a late consolation from Brackley.
Speaking to BBC Somerset reporter Josh Perkins after the game, he said that once the Glovers hit their stride, he was happy with the showing.
“When you haven’t won for two games, it’s a bit of pressure, and you could see, we started and we felt that pressure.
“We played some good football tonight, we did some work on trying to play through, I know at times the fans want us to kick it forward but all our good stuff came when we played through the middle of pitch and we got our two number 10s on the ball.
“Our first goal comes from Tahvon [Campbell] picking that up in a pocket, running, cross and we score. We had some good moments, and the most pleasing thing is that you’re 2-0 up trying to get your first win and the boys feel the pressure and basically defend for the last 20 minutes without seeing the game out with the ball.
“But what we did do was put bodies on the line, it’s a bit of a flukey goal Byron’s kicked his left foot up in the air and it’s a ricochet.
“But we defended really well, so all the players were fantastic, the boys that started and the boys that came on – the boys that didn’t come on, they were there jumping up and down when we scored and it was nice to get the three points, it just takes the pressure off the boys a little bit.”
It’s a busy week for the Glovers with a Wednesday game going into a Bank Holiday double header at Braintree Town on Saturday and at home to Frank Nouble’s Gateshead on Monday and the squad will need to play its part.
“The supporters really got behind them tonight which was fantastic.
“We’ve got one or two in there that were playing tonight that shouldn’t really be playing tonight, but we’re really good, some really good spells, I think you saw our intensity, we pressed, we ran and that’s what we went with tonight, some energy in the team, it was good.”
The opening goal went to Josh Sims, who claims a sack of potatoes for his efforts, who deserved his goal for a string of impressive performances.
“Josh Sims now has to make me a chip butty every day [after winning the sack of potatoes!] for the next month.
“I’m pleased for Josh, he had a slow start to his career at Yeovil, I had a chat with him in the week leading up to Hartlepool and I just said, ‘you’ve been our best player in pre-season and you deserve the pat on the back and the accolades’ and I’m glad that he’s come on and got a goal.”
Looking ahead to Braintree, the manager revealed that summer signing James Daly had a scan on Tuesday and that both captain Jake Wannell, who sat out through suspension against Brackley, and new loan signing James Plant will be involved with the squad for the trip to Essex.
“We’ll have a count up on Friday, we’ll have a bit of work and we’re expecting a really tough game at Braintree.”