Yeovil Town put in a defensive masterclass at Meadow Lane as they became the first team to shut out Notts County at home since April 2021.
Despite spending vast periods of the game on the back-foot, manager Cooper explained that this was the Glovers’ best route to leave Nottingham with something.
Speaking to BBC Somerset, the boss said; “I’m very pleased with the team, we chose to sacrifice the ball today, because we’re on the start of our journey. We’re not ready to compete punch for punch with Notts County yet.
“If we’d have gone toe-to-toe with Notts County, we’d have got knocked out. So the plan was to keep everybody back and use the tremendous pace in the team to spring forward.
“We had a couple of actions, where the work we did this week was solid, trying to spring Andrew (Oluwabori) and he got in first half, and a couple of times second half.
“That was the plan to be in the game at half-time, then go to two up front in the second half, we had to defend, but we still had one or two opportunities.”
In such a tactical performance, it was a very active dugout, with the Yeovil management team doing all they can to help the Glovers over the line.
“You are constantly trying to help the boys out, tactically manoeuvre and make the game a little bit easier for them.
“In the second half, I thought we had less to do. They’re (Notts County) are a tremendous football team with terrific players. The key point is, it’s the first blank they’ve had here, and that takes some doing.
“I make no apologies for setting up the way we did, we are near the bottom, we have to get points.’
Such a selfless performance was a testament to the Yeovil team and Cooper was full of praise for them.
“I said to the boys at the start of the week that they need to leave their egos at the door. We all want to play pretty football, but the result and the team are more important.
“We had to try and get something out the game, and I said to the players after the game, they’re the best at defending their own penalty area, and they had to do that.
