Yeovil Town manager Billy Rowley admitted his side were “beaten fair and square” by bottom club Truro City as they went down to a 1-0 defeat on Boxing Day.
The Glovers managed just three shots of target despite dominating large periods of possession as they were unable to break down their dogged hosts on their first visit to the Truro Sports Hub.
An 18th minute goal from Tinners’ striker Tyler Harvey was the difference between the two sides with captain Jake Wannell coming closest to finding an equaliser when his 89th-minute header was tipped on to the bar by former Yeovil goalkeeper Aidan Stone.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Chris Spittles after the mattch, Rowley said: “Credit to Truro, they set up the way they do and got an early set-piece goal which is what they are famous for and then we are on the back foot away from home against a team which is going to fight for everything and drain the clock when they need to and fair play to them for that.
“We had some decent moments in the game but not enough. Our job as a management team is to iron out what we want to see more of and what we want to see less of and that is going to be our job for the next 48 hours. It is hard to digest all of that right now, but my gut feeling was that we were maybe slightly the better team but did not test the opposition goalie enough which is something we need to work on.”
Yeovil started with Tahvon Campbell up front supported by James Daly and brought on attackers Aaron Jarvis, Harvey Greenslade and Andrew Oluwabori in the second half, but Wannell’s header was as close as they came to testing Stone in the Truro goal.
For the second match in a row, Rowley said it would be the job of him and his assistant Darren Simpson to help the forward players to create more opportunities.
He said: “We felt (Truro) were tiring and with the athleticism of Harvey and Andrew we could run them in to the box or get some carries from deeper positions. I thought Andrew did well when he came on, he had three men on him and get us closer to the box, so credit to him, Harv found it difficult to receive it in the pocket and Jarv was good when he came on, he occupies defenders and got us higher up the pitch. But I think we need to come up with some clearer ideas for these boys about how we are going to score some goals.”
He added: “Our job is to help the forward players with more ideas of how we are going to work shots and I felt we did that today to a certain extent, I felt we entered the final third a fair amount of times, but the final pass or cross (was not there). We had one or two people shooting from outside the box with their weak foot and those go in once a season, but we need to work better opportunities, get closer to the goal and make runs from certain people which we did not do enough of today. We will own that performance, we lost fair and square and we will just move on.”
On Wannell’s chance, the manager said: “I thought Jake defended well today, he got beaten up today like a lot of the lads did, it was a very physical game and they dealt with it well. It is a shame it did not drop in as that would have made the night a little bit sweeter for our fans who I thought were incredible today, they were our best player for sure. We started well with good results against Boston and Hartlepool, then we have had two poor defeats in these last two games and it is obvious we are going to have to go back to the drawing board and keep working hard before the next game.”
The Glovers have three days to recover before they take on Eastleigh at Huish Park on Tuesday night and then Braintree Town travel to Somerset on January 3rd. Rowley admitted he was pleased to have a busy schedule coming up to right the wrongs he witnessed in Cornwall.
He said: “It is a cliche, but you just want to erase this result and get back out there and I am sure the boys do as well. There were a few heated discussions but that is part of football and it shows a lot of passion and care for the badge and we just have to channel that and use it with the right energy.“
If any of those players care for the badge they’ve got a funny way of showing it. They looked totally disinterested in the first half.
The manager told it like it was after Sunday’s defeat, so it’s disappointing listening to him revert to managerial clichés so early in his reign.
We were garbage against Forest Green Rovers, but we could all pretend they were a really good team. With no disrespect to Truro City we can’t pretend the same with them.
They came into the game tailing off in the league & could’ve won three or four nil.
What’s with the Mark Cooper passing the ball back & forward in defence. I couldn’t see any point in it then & I don’t see any point in it now. I’m assuming they do it in the Premier League so managers feel they have to copy it. Our team has about as much movement & awareness in it as the average tree stump, so it’s not as if they’re going to create anything ahead of the ball, so then it becomes a time wasting exercise, even when we’re losing!
We’re also continuing with the Mark Cooper free kicks. Every time we get a free kick we pass it four yards sideways & then usually, backwards. In the first half we had a free kick ten yards inside Truro’s half. We passed it sideways & a few seconds later it was back with our keeper!
The way we attack (no laughing), is so slow & predictable it’s no wonder we don’t create chances & score goals. I thought it would change & change quickly under Rowley, but in the last two games, it’s like Cooper & Dryden are still here.
As far as forwards go, let’s not kid ourselves. For the last eighteen months we’ve struggled along with just the one striker in the entire squad.
We’ve then got lots of wingers (who never play as wingers) & what you might call attacking midfielders.
Anyone with a brain knew at the start of the season that none of our lot were going to score goals, just like we knew it last season.
I thought we would at least pull away from the relegation zone, but a couple more performances like this & we’re going to be right back in it.
There surely can’t be four teams worse than us in the league!
When Billy Rowley makes his first permanent signing can he please try & sign a leader. It would be nice to have one in the squad. He might be able to motivate the rest of them.
Mark, I totally agree with everything you have stated, we knew right from the start of the season that we needed a holding midfield and a striker who can hit 20 goals.. Were not getting anywhere playing like this.. Let’s get some better players in the transfer window, if Prabhu spends.. 👍