Darren Sarll faced the media following Yeovil’s 3-0 loss against Wrexham and talked of the side’s fragility both mentally and physically.
All three goals came in the first half in Wales with Shaun Pearson, Luke Young and a wonderful free kick from Jordan Davies giving the home side an unassailable lead before the break.
When asked to sum up his side’s performance, Sarll said:“There’s a fragility to us, that’s probably the best way how we explain… and it’s all coming up at once, at a tough time for us all.”
Prior to the game, assistant Terry Skiverton said that Yeovil were down the bare bones in terms of fit and available players, a situation which has been made worse, with issues reported for Matt Worthington and Albi Skendi, who both had to come off before half time, with Max Hunt and Carl Dickinson playing through an injury as well as concerns for Alex Bradley and Rhys Murphy prior to kick off.
On his injury crisis, Sarll added: “If I told you the stories of injured players or ill players … I couldn’t write it.”
BBC Somerset’s Tom Seymour confirmed the full extent of the Glovers’ injury problems after the game.
Injury list at Yeovil is mounting. D’Ath, Staunton, Wilkinson all out. Jimmy Smith (groin) and Bradley (flu) out ahead of today. Worthington, Skendi (possible fractured rib), Hunt (cheek) all injured today. Murphy aggravated his groin injury in the warm-up #YTFC
— Tom Seymour (@tomseyms) May 8, 2021
Despite the negative result, Sarll did make sure to recognise the positives from a more resilient second half display. “I thought second half, we did better, we contained, we didn’t ever look like scoring a goal, and we were just patching up and plastering over our wounds from the first half.”
The second half also saw the introduction of Toby Stephens, an academy graduate and at just 17 years old, someone Yeovil fans would have been excited to see.
Sarll joked, he was the only fit central midfielder at the club at the moment, before taking time to praise the youngsters cameo appearance.
“Toby deserved to play today, the way he trained yesterday, he deserved to come onto the pitch today… he deserves the opportunity He’s with us for next season, under contract, I really like Toby, I have to remind of his midfield duties, but he took the ball, tried to win it back. For someone at 17 years-old, I think he’s got a really great opportunity, but we are going to have to create a better environment for him to progress.”