Tis: 'I want say thank you to the supporters as well. They played their part. They were brilliant.'
Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale issued a thank you to the supporters who travelled to watch them at Crewe on Saturday.City, who are still struggling with injuries to several key players, put in an impressive display at Gresty Road. However, an inability to convert the chances they created, plus a well worked Crewe opener, saw the Grecians crash to a 2-0 loss.
Tis was upbeat going into next week’s Devon derby though and took the positives out of the match.
“It would be a brave man to argue that we didn’t deserve something from the game,” said Tis. “I have to say their goal was a magnificent goal. You won’t see a better run, pass and finish, but we had our fair share of opportunities. How we managed to come away with a 2-0 loss I don’t know.
“I thought we started the game well. We didn’t sit back, we didn’t just defend our box and we got on the front foot.
“Yes, we left ourselves open a couple of times and they had a couple of counter-attacks, but we are playing against a good team and we took the initiative right throughout the game.”
“I am very proud of the players,” added Tis. “I said to them at half-time the only thing I will not tolerate is disappointment, frustration and exacerbation at the scoreline.
“I want to say thank you to the supporters as well. They played their part. They were brilliant today, all three hundred plus of them. They were fantastic and thank you so much to them for sticking with us. I really believe we have got the support behind us, so well done them.”
City best chance arguably came when Connor Riley-Lowe’s second half shot cannoned off the head of Joel Grant as it was heading towards the back of the net.
However, City had a good shout for a penalty in the lead up to that moment when Ollie Watkins was fouled in the area and another spot kick turned down when Jake Taylor’s cross was handled in the box.
Those two incidents were a cause of frustration for the City manager.
“Well the handball rule is so subjective, I just don’t understand it,” said Tis. “We chipped the ball from probably 12 yards away into the danger area and the player has got his hands above his head and it hits his hand.
“The referee, apparently said ‘he was too close to the ball’, but the ball is going towards the goal and he has got his hands above his head. I don’t know, it is a just a toss-up, but we believe that is a penalty.
“It also looked to me that Ollie Watkins was fouled and the message we got back from the referee was that none of our players appealed. If that is the reason, it’s just beggar’s belief. I haven’t seen it though, so it might be that the referee has got it spot on but I was jumping up and down thinking it was a penalty.”