Goal machine Cooke enjoying his perfect start
Cody Cooke made it five goals in five friendlies last Friday in Bath City’s defeat.
The 28-year-old was on Jerry Gill’s radar last year and in 2018 before finally arriving last month from Weymouth.
With 11 goals between he, Alex Fletcher and Tom Smith this preseason, Gill has seemingly found a dangerous combination which could terrify National League South defences this season.
“It seems to be a perfect match at the moment,” said Cooke. “It’s early days and we’ll keep doing everything we can on the pitch.
“A little bit is what we’ve done on the training pitch. We did a some this morning too.
“I like to bring defenders where they don’t want to go and the other two like running in behind.
“Going forward I thought we looked really dangerous tonight.
“It’s nice to get on the scoresheet and when you’re linking up with someone. The same happened at Frome a couple of times.
“Ultimately the result wasn’t what we wanted but we scored goals and looked a threat. Hopefully that’ll keep us in good stead.”
Cooke was furloughed by Weymouth in February but has looked sharp despite a lengthy absence, playing every minute of the five friendlies to date.
“I’ve had a few months resting up and not playing so it’s been nice getting back in,” he said. “It was good to have that full-time feel today and have a bit of time together before we meet at the ground.
“We had an understanding of how we’re going into a game. Working on it on the pitch this morning had a big impact on performance.
“The group’s feeling good, it feels like we’re getting stronger every week. Hopefully we’ll end up adding a few more bodies to give us more competition for places.
“We’ve got some tough friendlies coming up now which will be more like what we’re playing against week in week out.
“We’ll understand then where we’re at as a group.”