Darren Sarll was pleased with his side’s performance this afternoon against Kings Lynn Town. He reserved praise for star-man Tom Knowles, Emmanuel Sonupe and the players who returned to the lineup after injury.

Yeovil Town manager Darren Sarll.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Speaking to BBC Somerset following the 3-1 victory, Sarll said: “I thought we were really going to put on a show at one point after Tom (Knowles) scored that second goal and I thought this could be a good day for us. We got a bit careless when players started coming out of shape a little too often and it left us a bit open. Adam (Smith) made some good saves in the second half from the header and when (Luke Wilkinson) cleared one off the line. Other than those two moments I thought we were pretty comfortable defensively and everyone can see the different the players we had coming back makes.”

The effect of the returning Lawson D’Ath, Carl Dickinson and Luke Wilkinson was clear for all to see, although the manager did say he felt Wilkinson shouldn’t have been playing, especially after a first half injury.

“Wilkinson should never have been playing, he is putting himself in harm’s way. He took a bang on his knee and he could be done for (the home game with Maidenhead United on) Tuesday. We wanted to take it one game at a time and we thought that after not scoring in three games, we had a positive response today and we will worry about Tuesday on Tuesday.”

Wilko did tweet the following after the game:

The manager was full of praise for D’Ath, who completed 85 minutes after three months out through injury.

“I had forgotten that Lawson had been out for three months and then I saw him stretching in the 80-something minute and I thought I better get Lawson off rather than (Tom) Knowles who I was thinking about bringing off. What Lawson does is bring calm to the chaos and we have missed that a lot this year. He puts his foot on the ball and if he can’t turn out naturally, he creates a way of turning out anyway.
“That can turn the game in your favour because you know if the ball lands with Lawson, you know he is going to retain the first ball and allow the team to change shape. His set plays were (excellent), how much have we missed that kind of delivery (this season)? I thought he was our best player today for his performance and what he has done for the club coming back after such a long period out with injury.”

Knowles has been in superb form of late for the Glovers and the second of his first-half strikes were of real quality. Sarll reiterated a point he made during Thursday’s pre match press conference: “I did say on Thursday that he would be one of the most exciting players outside the EFL. When I first started working with Tom, I thought as he got older he would become a centre forward like (Chris) Dagnall. He’s got those little, quick legs, he’s got good technique and he gets wonderful power in his strikes, which you can really see when you see it live. He is always capable of working the goalie and I like that about him. He struck the ball beautifully (for his second goal) at the end of a decent move for us, but it did open our shape up a bit and that is when we got a bit careless.”

Emmanuel Sonupe enjoyed a cameo from the bench and scored Yeovil’s third after being put through on goal by Joe Quigley. Speaking about Sonupe, the Yeovil boss said how excited he was about the ex-Tottenham academy player.

“It was pleasing for Emmanuel because he has been injured a lot since he signed. We know (his quality) is there and sometimes the hardest thing is to pull that (quality) regularly out of him. We saw it even after he scored his goal, the run where we went down the far side was really bright and exciting. Those really positive wide players are the players I really love watching. I thought he had a good influence going forward when he came on and he was good defensively as well. I am critical of his defensive willingness sometimes, but I thought he was good at that today. He is a clever footballer, he has a wonderful background (having started at Tottenham Hotspur academy) and if he can continue to play in that vain, he can finish the season very strongly. When he opens up he is quick, but sometimes he has so many touches he actually brings his speed down and I like it when he has less touches and covers more ground quicker. When you bring subs on, you want them to have a big influence and he had a big influence today.”


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