Goals from Alex Fisher and Malachi Linton saw Mark Cooper pick up his first win as Yeovil manager against basement club Gateshead yesterday. Here are Ian’s Five Conclusions.
Alex Fisher is rejuvenated under Mark Cooper. Everything feels a bit fresher, but no one has had a bigger turnaround than Yeovil’s number 9 under the new boss. With another two goals yesterday (it should have been a hat trick), Fisher’s form might make it difficult for Louis Britton to make an early impact. Two fox-in-the-box type goals exemplify the simplicity with which Mark Cooper has asked his striker to play. Hold it up, move it wide, get in the box. Both of his goals came from crosses when he was inside the six yard box. It’s amazing what can happen when you play a number 9 as a number 9.
Oluwabori built on his Tuesday night cameo. The right winger shone against Maidenhead and yesterday was no different. He’s the type of player to create something from nothing and has added so much to this squad. His confidence his high and you see it rubbing off on his new teammates. He doubled up nicely with Chiori Johnson, linked up with Matt Worthington and he and Fisher look to building a good connection. Oluwabori was constant thorne in the side for Gateshead, who surrounded him at every opportunity. We’ve got a talent here who can make a genuine creative difference for the Glovers.
Matt Worthington was my man of the match. I thought Worthy was fantastic yesterday. He’s gone from being the senior midfielder in a pair under Chris Hargreaves to playing in the number 10 role for Mark Cooper and given the licence to get forward by having Josh Staunton and Jamie Andrews behind him. He was relentless and making a difference in spaces where we’ve probably not seen him before, forcing the Gateshead defence into mistakes by triggering the press. Can he add goals and assists? That’s the next challenge.
The power of Huish Park was evident. Mark Cooper gave a bit of a call to arms on Tuesday after the volume picked up in the stands and a bright start got Huish Park up for it yesterday too. There was a lull in the middle of the first half but Yeovil were roared home in the second half. It feels like it’s been a while since a managers name was sung in the crowd, but it’s not taken long for “Mark Cooper’s Green and White Army” and “Heeey Mark Cooper” to make it to the terraces.
It feels like we’ve got the right man in charge. Mark Cooper has added his own personnel, simplified everyone’s jobs and it’s making a difference. We can’t get ahead of ourselves, this was a bottom of the league team that looked lower on confidence than we did. But, it was a game that we needed to win and we did so. Next we travel to top of the league Notts County where the pressure will be entirely on them in front of a big crowd. It feels like we’ve got a decent foundation to build on now though, and you can see what that first win meant to everyone yesterday. You can’t help but wonder where we would be if we’d be able to opt for him in the summer, but sure I’m glad we’ve got him now.