New Yeovil Town interim manager Richard Dryden has said the club’s players have rallied around him following the shock exit of manager Danny Webb earlier this week.
The coach was put in charge until the end of the season on Monday and oversaw a 4-1 win at Aldershot Town on Wednesday night, and now he is looking to repeat that performance with Altrincham the visitors to Huish Park today.
Talking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah ahead of kick-off, he was asked about the past five days and whether he still felt he needed to strengthen his squad with new signings.
Dryden said: “I’m only 56, I feel about 86 after the last ten days, but the last three days has been pretty positive. From Sunday onwards it has been strange, we came in on Monday and Tuesday training with the very little staff we have left at the moment, but the players have rallied around me. I am not going to lie, it was bloody tough with the lack of staff, the lack of knowing what was going on, and on Wednesday they went out and showed they want to play at the club.
“We hit the ground running on Wednesday night and we want to do the same again today, there is a great atmosphere in the changing room. Do we have to bring anyone in? Not necessarily, I am quite happy how the players are performing and they are improving as the season has gone on. There is not great rush to get anyone in, but there might be one or two knocking on the door, so we will see.”
The Glovers have named an unchanged starting XI from the Wednesday night win in Hampshire to face an Altrincham side missing a number of first-choice players through injury and suspension. Dryden admitted it would be hard to drop any players after an impressive display at Aldershot, but does have striker Aaron Jarvis and midfielder Brett McGavin back on the bench after injury.
The manager said: “We can’t change the side after that performance, the only thing we would have changed is if any of the players were tired. This is why playing on a Wednesday is tough sometimes, because yesterday was our second day of recovery and you want a good training session before every game. We did what we needed to do and had a lot of analysis on what we did well and what we could have done better on Wednesday and about Altrincham.
“I watched their game against Forest Green, they dominated vast parts of that game with the ball, so they are a good side. They are a bit like us and Aldershot how they set up and want to play, but they have a couple missing today so they might change their shape. We will have to work that out quickly when the game starts.”
Dryden said he was desperate to get youngster Ollie Hughes on at Aldershot but fell foul of rules allowing on three groups of substitutions. We believe the midfielder is playing for e Plymouth Parkway for their Southern League fixture at Yate Town today.