Former Glovers favourite Kieffer Moore has been in the news recently for his exploits at Euro 2020 with Wales, and his former coach, Darren Way has been speaking to BBC Radio Wales about the strikers journey, including a stint playing for the Glovers at centre-back.
“Gary Johnson was manager, we were in the dizzy heights of us in the Championship at the time, we signed him from Dorchester and he came in to a level which was a few jumps up,” said Way.
“For me, personally, to work with him, to play 50 games was excellent for his experience”
Way was asked about how Moore adapted from part-time Non League football to Tier 2 of the football pyramid after swapping Dorchester Town for Yeovil Town in the Championship.
“Gary Johnson has to take huge credit for giving Kieffer that opportunity… it was a huge jump and I think it took him time to adjust to that level”
The former Swansea midfielder was quick to praise Moore’s attitude and talked about how much he learned in a short period of time, whilst also having to adapt to some slightly unusual situations when asked to play in defence.
“One thing I can witness is that his perseverance, the number of clubs [he’s played for], dealing with team selections, coming in, coming out, it’s helped him massively”
“He’s very brave, he had a number of bandages playing for us, in fact he had a number of appearances playing as a central defender, to put someone at centre half, you’d got to be willing… show a huge willingness to be brave”
“I think that was one of his strengths, his willingness to run, you can see his athleticism… there was always going to come a time where someone was going to bear those fruits”
“The experience of playing in all of those positions, I think, has helped his understanding of the game”
Moore scored nine goals in 57 appearances for the Glovers.