Darren Sarll said he was mentally exhausted during Yeovil’s defeat at Solihull (last Saturday) and that some of his players were feeling the same way.
Speaking after the 3-0 win in the return fixture on Tuesday evening, Sarll said: “I stayed pretty quiet about it on Saturday, but the mental drain that these players have all gone through and are still going through now, makes it hard to get any joy even out of tonight. On Saturday, everything about our attitude and what we think we have come to know about these players (was challenged). I can only speak for myself, but I was mentally exhausted and I know that some of the players were feeling the same way. We did not come out and say that because we did not want to be excuse makers.”
Yeovil made four changes for the midweek fixture, including starts for Chris Dagnall and Joe Quigley, and Sarll explained his reasons behind the decision.
“We were able to brighten everyone up on Monday, and I thought some changes to the team might change the dynamic and freshen things up. Some of these lads had not had the chance to play for Lee since he passed, especially Dagnall and Quigley whose attitude through their periods out of the team has been so good. I wanted to do that anyway because I felt they deserve that chance. I don’t think Reuben (Reid) and Rhys (Murphy) were not deserving of the chance to play, I just felt (Dagnall and Quigley) needed that opportunity to go out and play for Lee.”
The manager also acknowledged, as is totally understandable, that the whole club is still in the process of healing following Lee Collins’ tragic passing.
“They were wonderful tonight and they were wonderful on Saturday. Just because we went down the tunnel once the week before (against Borehamwood) does not make us robots, it doesn’t mean the world is okay, nobody has stuck a bandage over this situation, we are still very much healing. The fact that they go out there to play (says everything you need to know about them). I don’t think anyone would have been complaining if we had cancelled these last three games, people would have supported us and stayed with us, so we did well to get out there on Saturday and we did well tonight.
“Looking back, I probably should have more of a point of that on Thursday (before the game at Solihull) when I did the press, but that’s the problem, isn’t it? We are all macho men and we don’t like telling anyone how we feel.”