Yeovil Town new boy Josh Sims has said that his team-mates are working hard in training to eradicate the mistakes which have cost them in their last two matches.
The Glovers suffered a double defeat over the August Bank Holiday weekend, going down 3-1 at Gateshead last weekend and then losing to a late goal at home to Rochdale on Monday, with sloppy goals and a failure to be ruthless in front of goal a major factor in both results.
But, the winger, who joined a fortnight ago having been with Scottish Premiership side Ross County for the previous two seasons, said he did not believe the team was far away from turning performances in to results.
Speaking on Thursday ahead of the trip to Boston United this weekend, he said: “It is a difficult league and it is so important to pick up results in your home matches. These games (like Rochdale at home) are the ones where you need to be picking up at least a draw if you want to do well because everyone can beat everyone. We were disappointed not to get three points, we never looked at it as a game we could afford to draw, it was three points dropped because we had some big chances where we should have been more ruthless.
“It shows where we are as a side, the losses this season we could have won every one, because we have been conceding disappointing goals but we have been creating a lot of chances, we just have to put the ball in the net and stop giving away sloppy goals in the manner we have been. We are working on that in training and fingers cross we can put it right on Saturday.”
The 27-year-old was born in Yeovil and grew up in Gillingham, across the Somerset-Dorset border, and recalled visiting Huish Park as a youngster during the period when the club was promoted to the Championship in 2013. He joined the Southampton youth set-up as a 14-year-old, eventually making his Premier League debut in November 2016, before having loan spells at Reading, Doncaster Rovers and a stint in Major League Soccer at New York Red Bulls, before being released in the summer of 2021 and joining Ross County.
As the father of two young sons, he admitted the lure of having his family close to home than the 600-mile journey to the Scottish Highlands was a bit part of the appeal, but said that his conversations were manager Mark Cooper were another factor in his decision to choose a move back to the South West.
He said: “I came down earlier in the week I signed and had a good chat with the manager, staff and the players and watched one of their training sessions. I was really impressed with what the manager (Mark Cooper) wants, the style he wants to play, and the standard. We have a good team and I think we can achieve good things at this level. The standard is much better than people imagine, there’s some very good players in this league and the football is not that different (to the Scottish Premiership). We play good football here at Yeovil and that is one of the reasons why I wanted to come here. The way I want to play football aligns with what the manager wants and that was a big part in why I came to Yeovil.
Sims added: “I left Ross County and came home and was weighing up my options, so I had a long break over the summer which meant I was not training and therefore I was quite far behind (the other players) when I signed. I didn’t have any pre-season minutes or training, so I have been thrown in at the deep end, but the only way to get match fit is to play games. The manager is aware of that and has said ‘we are not going to chuck you in for 90 minutes straight away’, so I am still not 100% match fit and it is only going to get better by playing games. I know Michael Smith from playing against him in Scotland, Matt Worthington from youth football, so I know some faces and the boys have been brilliantly with me.”
Having made his debut with a brief cameo in the second half of the 1-0 win at Braintree Town in the second match of the season, he has started all Yeovil’s following three matches with the 64 minutes he had on the pitch against Rochdale on Monday being his longest outing since joining.
Asked about what he hoped to bring to the side, he added: “I am not a physically big player, so I want the ball at my feet and be able to pass, move and create chances that way with my agility and speed. The manager explained to me the role he sees me playing in the team and it is one I enjoy doing, so it worked out well. Location-wise it worked for me with having family in the area, when you are moving from the top of Scotland, back here was a big factor. But what the manager wants to do on the football side was also a massive factor.