Darren Sarll believes that his Yeovil Town side are “where they should be” in the National League table after nine games of the season.
The Glovers sit in 14th following a 1-1 home draw against Altrincham on Tuesday night, but have lost three and drawn two of their last five having picked up three wins in a row prior to that run.
The manager said that his side’s failure to score more than one goal despite mustering 28 shots at Altrincham, who had left-back Connor Hampson in goal for 74 minutes due to an injury to their keeper, was an indication why they are in mid-table.
But, he said that without greater resources at his disposal he is having to “re-invent” his side with injuries to key players including defender Luke Wilkinson and midfielder Mitchell Rose.
Sarll said: “We have to reinvent ourselves every time something changes, because if you take Luke Wilkinson out of the team, it doesn’t just take Luke out, it take Josh Staunton out of midfield.
“Who then goes in midfield? Are the ingredients the same? Mitch Rose would have been perfect (against Altrincham) but he’s injured, so we are trying to re-invent all the time.
“We are where we probably should be because our expected goals goals for that game was six which for 32 crosses that is not surprising.
“We want to build on that, we want another 30-odd crosses and get those chances for Adi and Joe (against W*ymouth at the weekend).”
There were murmurings of discontent from the Huish Park stands at the final whistle on Tuesday night and the uncertainty on the future of the club driven by the absence of Chairman Scott Priestnall, it seems likely a poor start in the weekend’s derby could spark more anger.
Ahead of the tie, Sarll called for “positivity” from supporters and re-iterated his call for patience with his squad which is the second youngest in the National League.
He added: “Everyone know the (team we had in the 2019-20 season) was built for immediate productivity – this is not that team and it is going to take time.
“We just have to make sure we keep moving forward, it is going to be very up and down, this is not a group which is going to take hours.
“If player availability and squad depth is not good enough, it is going to take time.”