Having picked up their first home win of the National League South season with a 2-1 win over St Albans City at the weekend, Yeovil Town host newly-promoted Truro City at Huish Park on Tuesday night (7.45pm kick-off)
The Cornish side, who play their home games in Bolitho Park in Plymouth, picked up a 5-2 opening day win at home to Welling United, but suffered late heartbreak at the weekend going down 3-2 at Braintree Town having battled back from 2-0 down to level the game.
Yeovil boss Mark Cooper has said he is expecting an “aggressive” opponent from tonight’s opponents – somewhat different to the free-flowing passing football played by St Albans three days ago.
Yeovil Town News
Speaking about Truro following the win over St Albans, Cooper said he knew the opposition, managed by ex-Glovers’ midfielder Paul Wootton, having watched their Southern League Premier South play-off final win over Bracknell Town which earned them promotion in May.
The boss told BBC Somerset reporter Ian Randall: “I watched their play-off games last season and they are aggressive with some decent players so it is going to be a test.
“We had to win today, no-one wanted to mention it but I knew we had to win today and that is pressure. At times, the players feel that and they are just pleased to be off and running and looking forward to Tuesday.
“I have been a manager for 19 years and I have never had an easy game, nobody gives you anything. You have to respect your opponent and find a way to win and that is what we have done today.
“We witnessed their home ground (in pre-season), the pitch at Plymouth Parkway was really poor, they have a nomadic existence at the moment which I know they are going to change shortly.”
Glovers’ goal-scorer Jake Hyde said that the team’s focus would be on their own performance as they go in search of back-to-back wins for the first time since March 2022.
He said: “We want to concentrate on ourselves, but we do our homework as well. The stronger we get and the more efficient we get, it will be more about us but in these early stages it is important to know enough about the opposition so we can give them respect, but not too much.
“It is a new league for a lot of us and we are all coming up against teams we have not played against before, but it is mostly going to be about us especially at home.”
Truro City News
Truro battled back from going 2-0 down in the first half of their (600-mile round) visit to Braintree Town last weekend. Having trailed at the break, on loan Bristol Rovers striker Harvey Greenslade pounced on a goalkeeping mistake to get his first since arriving at the club to pull one back before the experienced Rocky Neal levelled with six minutes of second half injury time played.
2 games, 2 goals. @RockyNeal ? #WhiteTigers pic.twitter.com/FSaUcJP6nY
— Truro City FC (@TCFC_Official) August 13, 2023
Straight down to business ?@HarvGreenslade marked his return to the club with a goal ✊?#WhiteTigers pic.twitter.com/f99hB5Jmmp
— Truro City FC (@TCFC_Official) August 13, 2023
However, a goal one additional minute on from that (it’s going to happen a lot this season, isn’t it?) Braintree full-back Kyran Clements struck the winner.
Wootton said: “The first half we were poor and we gave them two goals and we were off it. There were a few home truths in the dressing room at half-time and I don’t know how we haven’t won the game, let alone drawn it.
“If the game finished 2-2, it would have been a good point, but we battered them in the second half. But we can’t give a team two goals, we aren’t good enough for that. We have to get over our disappointment quickly because we have another game on Tuesday night.”
? Paul Wotton reflects on today’s narrow defeat in Essex. #WhiteTigers pic.twitter.com/mJLvyDiSlt
— Truro City FC (@TCFC_Official) August 12, 2023
As well as Greenslade, Truro have brought in defender Sam Sanders on loan from York City and young striker Obed Yeboah following his release by League One AFC Wimbledon.
Sanders played the full 90 minutes when York won 1-0 at Huish Park last September while Yeboah, the nephew of ex-Leeds United frontman, Tony, joined permanently after impressing on trial.
Sanders started the defeat at Braintree at the weekend whilst Yeboah was on the substitutes’ bench.