Mark Cooper: Yeovil Town manager says confidence key to ending poor run

Yeovil fell into the National League's bottom four before Cooper's appointment as manager

New Yeovil manager Mark Cooper said the team need to get confidence back as they look to move out of the National League bottom four.

Former Barrow boss Cooper, 53, was appointed on a two-and-a-half-year deal on Friday, following the sacking of Chris Hargreaves.

He took charge of the team's 1-1 draw away at Maidstone on Saturday.

The result meant Yeovil remained 21st in the league and have won only two of their 16 league matches this season.

"My teams have always been very heavily ball dominant and tried to dominate the opposition with the ball," Cooper told BBC Radio Bristol.

"At the moment - like I said to the players - it's just about simple, clear messaging and trying to get some confidence back because they're low on confidence. When you're on a bad run that's what happens.

"It's about trying to play in the opposition's half, it's about trying to get some crosses in the box, it's about sustaining attacks and trying to get supporters behind the team."

Cooper has previously managed 10 other clubs across the English Football League and National League and has been out of work since leaving Barrow in March.

"I could have waited for another league job, I could have waited for a better non-league job, but I wanted to go back to work - whenever I've been there I've enjoyed the atmosphere," Cooper said.

"There's work to do and I'm looking forward to it.

"[It's] Definitely going to be a challenge but very rarely do you go into a job where everything's right and everybody's smiling. You go into a job where somebody's been sacked for a reason. It's a difficult job but I'm looking forward to it."

'Build from the bottom'

The 2022-23 season is the Glovers' fourth back in the National League and while they finished fourth in their first campaign, the last two seasons have seen them end in 16th and 12th place.

Cooper led Swindon Town to the League One play-off final in 2015 and guided Forest Green Rovers to promotion to the EFL two years later. However, he said instilling a winning mentality takes time.

"You have to build from the bottom, you have to build the club, you have to put the processes in place. That doesn't just happen overnight, it takes a long time to build," Cooper said.

"The recruitment's got to be right, everything's got to be right about the club to get that winning mentality and that winning formula, and that has to be the aim going forward."

Yeovil have scored just 13 goals this season so far, the joint-lowest in the league, and have yet to score from a set piece.

Cooper did not rule out bringing in new players, although he said others would have to depart for that to happen.

"The squad is big enough, I just think we've got to add a bit of freshness and some athleticism in the team," he added.

Yeovil next travel to Woking on Tuesday, where they face former manager Darren Sarll. While Cooper watched Yeovil from the stands on Saturday, he confirmed that was out of choice and he has served his eight-match touchline ban for comments he made to a female assistant referee while at Barrow.

"I like what I saw, certainly in the first half on Saturday [against Maidstone]," Cooper continued.

"I think the fans that went would have seen the effort, the commitment and a little bit of what we're trying to do."