New boy Delano McCoy-Splatt has hailed the impact of Yeovil Town boss after he impressed on his debut in a crucial 3-2 home win over Morecambe on Saturday.
The 21-year-old joined on loan from League One AFC Wimbledon, where he has been under the eye of Dons’ assistant manager and Glovers’ legend Terry Skiverton, and was introduced as a 53rd minute substitute and had a hand in his new side’s second and third goals.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Josh Perkins after the game, he said: “Billy just filled me with confidence. Since I got here, the gaffer’s been very good with me, speaking to me a lot, just telling me that I’ve got the ability and telling me that when I got on the pitch I needed to show it. When you’ve got a gaffer like that who believes in you, it’s easy to go play.
“I’ve been kind of linked (with a loan move) for a little while, but it’s just about the right time. In football sometimes timing’s key, so I think it’s just got over the line now. A lot of people that I know also know Billy, so that is going to make me want to go. I just feel comfortable.”
He replaced fellow loanee midfielder Troy Perrett with the game tied at 1-1 and worked well with Terrell Works to tee up James Daly for the second before Ryan Jones added a third to put Yeovil 3-1 up shortly after the hour mark. Jack Nolan added a penalty with 15 minutes left to play and set up a nervous finish at Huish Park.
The debutant said: “At 1-1, it’s easy to go 2-1 down, so the next goal is important. I just tried to come on and change the game for the team and then even when it went 3-2 from a controversial penalty, I feel like we did well to just stay at it.
“When I got on the pitch, I knew I just got to make sure that he’s working hard, I’m working hard. The link-up with Terrell (Works, who he played alongside in Fulham’s academy) I feel like it just came to life again.”
McCoy-Splatt has featured in a number of cup competitions for his parent club this season and just a couple of weeks ago Wimbledon boss Johnnie Jackson said the midfielder was “back in the reckoning“ for his first-team having returned from injury. The youngster admitted that he had not had long to get to know his new team-mates having linked up with them on Friday.
He said: “I think I had about 40 minutes of training with the team, so I was blowing! I feel like obviously I’ve still been training at Wimbledon, but the drive down was long. I think when I got in, I was just ready to train, I had a matchday minus-one session with the team, so we gelled very well, done a bit of shape. It didn’t really feel that different today, everyone’s just good people, so it was just easy to kind of fit in.“