Yeovil Town have lots of ponder after Exeter City defeat
“But for us, fitness is key at the moment. We’ve still got three of four weeks, so we’ve got a real good week next week to get stuck into the boys and get more stuff nailed down.”
Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper described his pre-season defeat against Exeter City as a good workout. The Glovers have enjoyed a mix of friendlies, which began with plenty of goals against Melksham Town and Frome Town, before facing a much tougher task in League One sides Bristol Rovers and Exeter City.
Reflecting on the defeat against the Grecians on Friday, Cooper said: “Good workout for us. First ten, 15 minutes, we were really good with the ball, gave an horrendous goal away which turned the game around and Exeter gave us a real test with the ball.
“The rotations were really good, so it was a tough evening for us, but that’s what we wanted. There’s no real benefit for us winning five, six, seven – one in the friendlies. It’s about when we come up against real quality teams and League One players that we have to make sure we’re organised. But still lots to ponder for us.”
It took just four minutes before former Glovers loanee Sonny Cox broke between the defence and remained onside to tuck the ball past Ollie Wright. Charlie Cooper tried his best to immediately level things with an effort from inside his own half which went wide of the Grecians’ net.
The remainder of the half was largely dominated by Exeter as Yeovil struggled to get the ball down and play as fluently as they did against Bristol Rovers just days earlier.
After ten minutes, Josh Magennis rose highest following a Reece Cole cross but headed just over. That was soon followed by two chances in quick succession as Jack Fitzwater saw his effort blocked, before Ilmari Niskanen suffered the same fate from the rebound. Wright then had to make a couple of saves within minutes of each other. The first came from an acrobatic attempt from Magennis, before Cox strode forward but his effort lacked power and was easily collected.
It was Niskanen who should have made it 2-0 just before the half-hour mark when a delicious ball fell to him at the back post, but his effort somehow flew over the crossbar. That brought on the drinks break due to the scorching temperatures.
Yeovil made two changes at the break, with Morgan Williams and Jordan Stevens replacing Jake Wannell and Michael Smith. A fairly slow start to the second period saw Cox continue to be a nuisance as he drove from the left and sent another curling effort for Wright to save with his fingertips.
From the resulting corner, Jack McMillan crashed his header against the bar. Glovers boss Mark Cooper rang the changes, which included another appearance for Corey Koerner and a new trialist. Just moments later, Exeter were awarded a penalty and Santino Ohanaka, who had been fouled for the spot-kick, thundered his effort into the top-right corner – giving new goalkeeper Matt Gould no chance.
Yeovil now looked to find a response and, with 14 minutes remaining, they had their first real opportunity after Brett McGavin’s corner was cleared as far as Dylan Morgan whose volley was no problem for Joe Whitworth. The deficit was halved just a minute later though when a rare defensive error allowed Frank Nouble the chance to open his account for the summer in front of the Thatchers Terrace.
The celebrations were short-lived though as Exeter restored their two-goal lead on 79 minutes. Kieran Wilson broke and only had Gould to beat, which he did with such composure.
The game had come to life within five minutes and Yeovil were awarded their own penalty with eight minutes to play. Morgan was tripped inside the area, however his subsequent effort was denied by Whitworth who had guessed the right way. Morgan used his pace late on to cause havoc down the left and slammed a final effort off the top of the crossbar as it finished 3-1.
That early goal from Cox gave the Grecians the platform to go and control the game, and Cooper admitted it panicked the side. He said: “It was just a rubbish goal to give away. Control of the ball, a loose turnover and Sonny Cox goes through and scores, does what he does really well. That panicked us a little bit and we started turning the ball over far too much. That was for me the crux tonight. We turned the ball over far too much and if you do that against teams that are two leagues higher than you, it’s going to be a long evening and it was.
“But for us, fitness is key at the moment. We’ve still got three of four weeks, so we’ve got a real good week next week to get stuck into the boys and get more stuff nailed down.
“We’re a couple of players short and we’re looking and seeing who’s available, who can we attract, when we get to a position where we can move to bring somebody in. It’s important that we keep trying to push the young boys, we’re trying to get that sort of connection with the academy. But if they’re good enough there’s a realistic pathway for them. We put another couple on tonight.”
Yeovil next go to Farnborough on Saturday before heading to Buckland Athletic on Tuesday, before the Glovers’ pre-season concludes on August 3 with the journey to Weston-super-Mare.
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