Cooper: You would not know we had ten men

Manager Mark Cooper  was full of praise for his Yeovil Town side who played the entire second half with ten men in the 1-0 defeat at Eastleigh on Easter Monday.

On loan winger Otis Khan was shown a straight red card after he threw an elbow at the home side’s Chris Maguire on 36 minutes with his side already trailing 1-0 following Maguire’s goal after half-an-hour.

Following results across the National League Premier Division, Yeovil can now mathematically not make the play-off places or get relegated out this season.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Josh Perkins after the game, Cooper said: “I thought the players were fantastic. We dominated the first 30 minutes, we should have been 2-0 up through two really good chances and then we had a five minute spell where they scored.

“We didn’t deal with a bit of pressure down the left-hand side, we didn’t get across as a defence and block the goal but apart from that we I think we dominated the game with ten men in the second half and we should have got something.

“You have to say the red card changed the game. We are a man fewer and so we cannot get as many bodies forward, but you would not have known we had ten men in the second half. It looked to me like the referee did not like us very much, so that was a bit frustrating.

“But I thought the players were tremendous. They ran, they were brave with the ball and we created chances and the only criticism I have today is that we were not ruthless in front of goal. We had two great chances in the first half and could have been out of sight, then in the second half we had bits and pieces around the edge of the box where we have to hit the target. I think Josh Sims hits a great shot, the keeper saves it and the referee remarkably gives a goal kick.”

You can probably tell from some of Cooper’s carefully judged words that he was not impressed with the standard of the officials. Asked what he felt needed to be done to improve the standard of refereeing, he said: “If you watch every manager’s post-match interview today up and down the country, I would say four in five managers will mention a referee. The only way you make it better is if you make them full-time because then there is no excuse for them. They get fitter and when they are fitter they make better decisions.”

There was praise as well for a strong travelling support from Somerset with 642 fans filling the away section at the Silverlake Stadium for what could easily have been viewed as an end-of-season ‘dead rubber’, with neither side challenging/threatening at either end of the table.

Cooper said: “I am delighted with the players and the fans, what a turn out. They got behind the team, cheered us on and kept the boys going and they got a performance where we never stopped, even with ten men we never stopped running and kept pushing ahead the whole game. We have got an amazing fan base and we are a big club and we want to start thinking about next year, start planning and have a right good go at the league next year.”

In his final question, Cooper was asked whether he sees defender Jake Wannell or striker Aaron Jarvis being available for the remaining two games of the season, he replied: “No.” 

In his pre-match interview, the manager had put a strong emphasis on the word apparently when discussing Wannell’s absence from the matchday squad, saying: “Jake Wannell is apparently not fit again, so Morgan (Williams) will start.”