Tis: “I certainly won’t be cruising into that game expecting to win."
Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale says he expects his players to be fully focused on their match with Notts County this evening as they look to bounce back from the Devon derby loss to Plymouth Argyle.
The Grecians were beaten 3-0 at Home Park on Saturday thanks to goals from Matty Kennedy, Ryan Taylor and Jake Jervis.
It was a defeat that ended City’s 12-game unbeaten run, but they have little time to dwell on that as they travel to Meadow Lane this evening.
Notts County are third from bottom in League Two having won just two of their last 10 matches.
Therefore, City will be labelled as favourites going into the match. However, that wasn’t a debate Tis wanted to get into when looking ahead to the fixture.
“I think we go into every game respecting our opponent and knowing how we have to approach the game in order to earn a draw or a victory and that is what we will be focusing on,” he said.
“I certainly won’t be cruising into that game expecting to win. I expect the players to be playing as hard as they did against Plymouth and in every game they have played so far this season. That will be our target going into the Notts County match.”
Despite the disappointing result, Tis was pleased with what he saw from his side away at Plymouth. Argyle scored two well-taken goals in the first half, but City had plenty of chances to get back in the match with David Wheeler heading against the crossbar, and Troy Brown and Reuben Reid also going very close, before a late penalty from Jervis settled proceedings.
“I was very pleased with the players,” said Tis. “It didn’t go our way, but I’m very proud of what we have done. I find no weakness in accepting defeat or victory gracefully and Plymouth earned their win.
“They scored three goals and we didn’t put it into the net. That doesn’t mean we were unlucky or they were lucky. They played very hard and they defended their goal and we didn’t put the ball in the back of the net with some very good chances. But, we played really well, and I liked the luck of us.
“It was no surprise that we played with a level confidence we did, on the back of the last couple of months, but we have got to luck forward now.
“Tuesday (against Notts County) is the next game now and there is a long way to go between now and the end of the season. There is a lot of water to go under the bridge and we have got a target at the end of the season.”