Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper thought his side were great this afternoon as the Glovers picked up a 2-0 win against Tonbridge Angels. Despite the 2-0 score line, it wasn’t plain sailing for Yeovil, with spurned chances aplenty – including a penalty – and Cooper said his side ‘have to be ruthless’.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Ian Randall following the match, Cooper said: “I thought we were great today, but if you don’t kill the opposition off it can become scrappy because of the pressure. If we’d have gone two, three nil up, game done, then we can really start to express ourselves. The result is the most important thing but in patches I thought we were really good.”
“That should be a three or four nil game in my opinion, against a good team.”
Rhys Murphy missed a penalty in the 63rd minute and Cooper felt the game should have been a lot more comfortable for his side.
“We have to be ruthless. [Alex] Whittle is clean through, hits the goalkeeper when he should score. We had numerous set pieces that are great deliveries from both sides that are tap ins. We miss a penalty. That should be a three or four nil game in my opinion, against a good team.”
Cooper said his side are ‘growing’ with a lot more fluency that in previous matches, although Tonbridge gave Yeovil a tough second half.
“They changed their system to try and match us up and when you don’t get that second goal you give the opposition energy and they think, ‘ok we’re not out of it’ and they should be.”
Jordan Young finally scored his first goal to lift Huish Park and the gaffer said he hopes that would boost the forward’s confidence. On the goal he said: “He’ll be better for that. He’s got great talent, he’s had to bide his time. He’s a confidence player so hopefully that gives him a little bounce in his step and he starts to grow because he’s got great ability.”
Clean sheet. Two clear goals and three more points on the board. On to Bank Holiday Monday and Havant…
Mark Cooper was chatting exclusively to the BBC’s Ian Randall, the club’s chat with the gaffer is below, in which he confirms that Jake Hyde is not going to play on the artificial surface at Havant, despite not ruling him out in midweek.