Tis tells his players to have no regrets by playing to the best of their ability
Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale has told his players to take nothing for granted when they take on Blackpool in the League Two play-off final on Sunday.
The Grecians secured a spot in the final by scoring a 95th-minute winner against Carlisle United at St James Park on Thursday, May 18, but Tis has warned his players to come down from the elation of that moment as the job is not complete yet.
Having got City to Wembley twice before in the Conference play-off finals when they lost to Morecambe 2-1 in 2007 and then beat Cambridge United a year later, Tis has experienced the highs and lows of losing at the iconic stadium and issued the following warning to his team.
“Take nothing for granted,” he said. “You come through the play-off semi-final as high as a kite because just the nature of it – to win a semi-final two-legged game – you feel you have achieved something. You feel absolutely exhilarated, but actually you have still got one game to go.
“My experience of the previous two times (when Exeter City went to Wembley) is that when you look back on the semi-finals, the game we had against Oxford in my first year was a wonderful game but then you lose in the final and then that semi-final doesn’t turn out to be so important.
“The next year we won the play-off final and then the Torquay semi-final previous to that turned out to be very, very important. Both games were really exciting and both games were terrific games, but our target has to be to make the Carlisle United semi-final important by finishing the job.”
Tis also urged his player to make the most of the day by putting in their best performance.
“It is an awful place to lose and a great place to win,” he said. “We have to make sure we really get the most out of the day. I just urge the players to make the very most of it and play to the best of their ability. If we do that, then we can have no regrets no matter what happens.”
Tis has almost a full squad to choose from with just Matt Jay and Robbie Simpson out injured.