The arrival of Morgan Williams as an anchor in midfield has created even greater competition for places in Yeovil Town’s engine room, according to midfielder Matt Worthington.
The defender has played the past two matches – the 1-1 draw with Chelmsford City last weekend and Tuesday night’s 3-2 win at Weston-super-Mare – in that position and has impressed even in unfamiliar surroundings.
But, the ability of the ex-Coventry City youngster to take up the role has not surprised Worthington.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s home match with Eastbourne Borough, he said: “I’m not surprised, (Morgan is) one of those players who will do a job anywhere. On the defensive side, he anchors that midfield really well as does Coops and it’s competition in the middle.”
Worthington returned to the starting XI in midweek having missed out last weekend – an experienced it is fair to say he did not enjoy – and admitted that playing two games in 48 hours over the August bank holiday worked against him.
He said: “When you get on the bus at the end of games or you wake up the next morning, you definitely feel it.
I am not too bad because getting around the pitch is a big part of my game, but the Saturday-Monday came a bit too quick. But fortunately the injury was not too bad.”
Asked about missing out against Chelmsford, he added: “I hate it, it’s awful. The whole build-up of the game, I turn up knowing I can’t play and watch the lads get ready for a game. It is awful, knowing you can’t effect the game.
“It’s nice to watch the lads and know what the Gaffer will want in the next game. I did not really enjoy it though!”
The Glovers welcome Eastbourne Borough to Huish Park this weekend looking to extend their unbeaten run on home soil against a full-time side which was the subject of a takeover by businessman Simon Leslie, who owns travel firm Ink, in the summer. Sound familiar.
Echoing manager Mark Cooper’s mantra of their being no easy games in football, Worthington admitted the team are having to find different ways to beat their opponents.
He said: “A lot of teams will sit behind the ball and we have to find different ways to score goals which we are doing very well at the moment, so it is a new challenge.
“We have to find ways to break down teams but I think we are doing well at that, we have scored a lot of goals recently.”
On the subject of full-time fitness, he added: “Towards the end of the game, you can feel (a difference in fitness levels), especially as a midfielder if I am running off my man and he is not tracking me, that is when (fitness) comes in to play.
“It is more of a mental thing, if we turn up for a game and we are not mentally right any team will give us a good game.”