Former Yeovil Town manager Darren Sarll has said he expects Huish Park to be a “tough opponent” when he returns for the first time in charge of Woking tomorrow.
The ex-Glovers’ boss, who quit for the Surrey side last March, has led his side to third place in the National League and his squad enjoyed week without a midweek fixture this week.
Speaking to the club’s YouTube channel, he said he expects the takeover by SU Glovers to provide “an extra energy” to the crowd tomorrow.
He said: “I have always found Huish Park as an opponent to be a tough place, I’m sure they will be buoyed by the takeover and there will be supporters that come back out that were not supporting. I am sure there will be an extra energy in the ground, that would be natural.
“It’s been a long time for those supporters, I experienced that for 18 months of my three years there, so I am sure there will be more there, but we don’t play against supporters, we play against the team.
“In terms of their roster, they have some really good individuals, some really good men that I respect highly and 11 men v 11 men on any given day is a battle. It will come down to those small moments and we will see which way they go.”
Sarll said his squad is “the worst we have been in terms of availability this season” with a number of players missing, including ex-Yeovil striker Rhys Browne, who is suspended following a red card against Bromley last month.
Last weekend, the Cardinals drew 1-1 at home to Wealdstone and have won just twice in their last eight games – although the won four on the bounce in the run before that.
Sarll is hoping a midweek off will be a boost for his side who saw ex-Glovers’ captain Luke Wilkinson go off at half-time against Wealdstone. The centre half returned from injury last month having been out since the end of February with a calf strain.
The manager said: “We need to use that extra energy and freshness to get a big win, but it will be very tough.
“We are probably the worst we have been in terms of availability this season, I think we may have had a couple of games where I could not fill the bench but probably had less players to select from in terms of the squad.
“But we have never used that as a reason to not win or perform or be at our motivated best, we have used that to galvanise to create a strong bond and we will have to have that really strong bond tomorrow.
“We will have to show better quality than we did last weekend (against Wealdstone).“