Michael Appleton's notes in the Yeovil Town programme
Welcome back everyone and a warm welcome to Paul Sturrock and his Yeovil Town side. Paul is a very experienced manager who has enjoyed success at this level before and I am sure that his team will prove very difficult opponents this afternoon.
It has been another eventful couple of weeks in what has been a hectic start to the season. Our last home game turned out to be a very enjoyable game to watch after we had responded well to going behind to the opening goal. Games at this level are tough enough without having to come back from a goal down each time and that is something we know we have to tighten up on.
Mansfield last Saturday was a different story because it turned into a very physical game. If you contrast that game with the previous Tuesday you can see the difficulty of this division because you have to overcome a different sort of challenge every single game. Having outplayed Notts County, I think we probably outfought Mansfield and should have come back with all three points for our second half display alone. We dominated that 45 minutes and I thought only one team looked like they were going to win the game.
It speaks volumes that the players were a little bit disappointed only to get one point at such a difficult place as Mansfield. If you contrast it with last season where we were beaten by a last-minute goal then you can see the concentration levels, the fitness and the determination have all become significantly better in the last 12 months.
On Tuesday night we were back up the motorway to Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One Cup and I thought we gave a good account of ourselves against a side that I reckon will do well in the Championship this year. After the match I was talking to their manager and he said that at no stage did he feel he could relax because we were always in the game.
Get behind us,
Michael
Read the full notes (and the rest of the programme) online at www.matchdayfix.com/oufc.