Cooper: We want Jarvis to hit the ground

Yeovil Town manager Mark Cooper wants striker Aaron Jarvis to continue his run of impressive goalscoring form as he returns to the starting line-up against FC Halifax Town today.

The former Torquay United forward is one of two changes to the team that won 1-0 away at Southend United seven days ago, with Brett McGavin, who was on the bench at Essex, replacing the suspended Charlie Cooper in midfield .

Jarvis has three goals in his last three games, including a last-minute double at Huish Park as Yeovil ran out comfortable 3-1 winners against Maidenhead United.

Talking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah ahead of the match Mark Cooper said: “We want him to hit the ground running and get back to where he was before the suspension. Brett starts again after missing last weekend with illness and Sonny (Blu Lo-Everton) comes in for Charlie Cooper. Josh (Sims) has had a couple of training sessions but he is still not 100% so he is one of the six subs along with Michael Smith.”

Exeter City on loan Pedro Borges impressed playing right wing-back at Southend last weekend and the boss said he has no doubts about the 19-year-old’s ability to cause problems.

He added: “The way we ask our wing-backs to play is more or less wide midfielders, which is something he is used to. Pedro has energy and physicality, so if he brings that to us, he has a chance to play well.”

Today’s match sees two of the National League Premier Division’s best defenders face off. The visitors have conceded 16 in their 17 league games this season, while Yeovil have only conceded 15 goals in the same number of games.

Cooper said: “They are very determined, well structured with a lot of energy in the team. I say it every week but every game is really hard and sometimes you need a bit of luck. We’ve put a good run together and I said (in the pre-match press conference) on Thursday that we’ve earned the fans to get behind us. We’ve played some good stuff and looked a decent team, so hopefully they can get behind us from the start and we can give them something to keep shouting about.“