Following Yeovil Town’s hard-fought 2-1 victory away at Hornchurch, midfielder Zain Westbrooke caught up with BBC Somerset’s Mark Stillman.
After a disappointing result on Saturday, the Glovers knew they faced a stern test against a physical Hornchurch side on a Tuesday night.
However, Westbrooke felt the team handled the challenge maturely. “I think it was a really good performance, a good way to bounce back from Saturday,” Westbrooke said. “I think we knew it was never going to be easy coming here… they’re a physical team. They put it on you a lot and I think we dealt with that really well.”
Westbrooke marked his return to the starting line-up, having recently recovered from injury, with a well-taken goal. Describing his strike, which followed a deep cross from Joe Gubbins, he noted: “[I] Don’t really remember too much. I think the cross came in from Gubbo, like a deep cross and it just landed at me and luckily I took my time and picked the spot… and yeah, it was a good goal for me, brings me some confidence moving forward.”
The timing of the goal proved vital, coming just after manager Billy Rowley made a triple substitution, Westbrooke praised the immense strength in depth within the squad this season, pointing out how the substitutes consistently alter games. “We know that we’ve got a really strong bench to come on and impact the game,” Westbrooke said. “Today the starters did really well, moving the ball, working Hornchurch and making them run, tiring them out and then subs came on and to a man, everyone was outstanding.”
Westbrooke is Yeovil’s 12th different goal scorer and for a side with 50 goals across all competitions this campaign, Westbrooke emphasised that the attacking responsibility is shared across the entire pitch. “We’re always going to create chances, I think we’ve shown that in majority of the games,” he explained. “I think all of us need to sort of take that on our shoulders, that we need to score from all areas of the pitch if we’re going to do something positive this season.”
Reflecting on his move to the club over the summer, the midfielder highlighted the positive atmosphere behind the scenes at Huish Park. “It’s been really good, working with the staff, working with this group of players,” Westbrooke shared. “There’s a lot of belief in the building, a lot of positivity. You know, we’ve got off to a good start, but we know nothing’s done yet. We need to keep pushing and we know that there’s a lot more in that dressing room.”
Finally, Westbrooke acknowledged the loud backing from the traveling supporters who made the trip to cheer on the team, concluding: “Really big travelling support coming to watch us… and we need to repay those fans. They show up in their numbers and we need to give them performance and I feel like we did that tonight.”