Yeovil Town interim manager Richard Dryden hailed his side’s work ethic as they picked up their second victory in three days with a 1-0 home win over Altrincham today.
A first half header from defender Morgan Williams was enough to secure the three points, but the Glovers had to work hard to contain an impressive visiting side who came close to taking a point on a number of occasions in the second half.
It means Dryden has now picked up six points in his first two games since being given the top job until the end of the season following the shock departure of Danny Webb on Monday.
Asked by BBC Somerset reporter Jack Killah how he felt after the game, the manager said: “It’s still stressful, if I am honest. We did not start great, a bit like on Wednesday night, but we got in to the game and we looked like we could counter attack and create a lot of chances. I thought we controlled the game in the first half but it would have been nice if we could have got the second goal having had all those chances. It is hard when you have had all those chances, but Christ we worked hard in that second half.
“A second goal would have been nice, it is just the nature of the beast in football when you are winning 2-0 and someone scores against you, it can be a totally different game. We knew what they we were about, their rotation can kill teams, so to score and keep a clean sheet is great.”
After a slow start, Yeovil clicked in to gear with a front three of Andrew Oluwabori, Junior Morias and Tahvon Campbell causing Altrincham all kinds of problems. In particular, Oluwabori was in rampaging form in the first half and Dryden admitted the on loan Exeter City man brings something different to the side.
The boss said: “He has got a different skillset to anything else we have here, so he complements us very well. He played 80 minutes for us on Wednesday and 70-odd minutes today and he got tired, but need to keep players like that on the pitch. That is a lot of work in two games and it is the same as Junior, he hates coming off. I hate putting up his number because he looks at me as if he is going to kill me! I do not know how many kilometres (Luke) McCormick has put in today, but it’s important when you are camped in for the last 20 minutes like we were, it is fantastic.”
In the second half, the Glovers were indebted to goalkeeper Jed Ward on a number of occasions and had to work hard to keep Altrincham from taking a point.
Dryden added: “We have worked a lot of the season on defending balls in to the box which is what this league is all about, if you can do that you have a great chance of winning games. It is not just about the back three, you have wing backs coming in there and the midfielders sitting in to head balls clear. Finn (Cousin-Dawson) is a lad that does not get a lot of plaudits, but he is there and working hard but you need (those kind of players) in your team and squad.”
Oluwabori, Morias and Campbell were all withdrawn after the break after hard-working performances in Wednesday night’s 4-1 win at Aldershot Town and then again today. Dryden said that captain Jake Wannell, who was replaced by Alex Whittle after 67 minutes, after suffering a glute muscle strain in the warm up.
The interim manager said: “Jake struggled a little bit in the warm up with a glute, in half-time we got him on the bike to keep him moving. He did as much as he could and that is what need at the moment. If we need players to be honest. We have a good squad, we filled the bench and have one or two players coming back, but if you walk in to our changing room and the togetherness is good.”
Dryden fielded an unchanged starting XI from the win at Aldershot and admitted it had been tough on his players with another match coming up at Sutton United on Tuesday night.
The boss added: “When the game started I thought I had made a mistake because we looked a bit tired and did not start well, but we grew in to the game. Now on Tuesday we will have to assess tonight and Sunday what we are going to do because we have one training session before then. I will have to speak to the medical team about that, but we know our shape and what we want to do, so we will see.”
Asked if there could be new signings before the trip to Sutton, he said: “We will look, but I do not want to be jumping in for the sake of it. We have people who can play in different positions, people who want to work for each other.“
Enjoyed that – hard fought, strong effort, worked to the end…they looked knackered by 80 mins. How nice to see the beaming smiles from messrs Dryden and Gill as they walked round (as part of the team) at FT. Bringing the club back together – doing their bit and that’s what we need from now on! The whole club deserved it after the week of chaos, frustration and delight all rolled into one. That’s YTFC!!
At 10:01am on Monday, I don’t think anybody would’ve predicted the week we’ve had. Full credit to RD & JG, they’ve managed to bring this group of players together and pull 6 points out of the bag. Has to be carried onto Tuesday, and then onto Saturday. Up the fucking gloves.