Grecians boss reacts to thrilling Sunderland cup exit
EXETER CITY manager Paul Tisdale insisted that he and his players were disappointed to come away from Premier League Sunderland without victory.The Grecians came in 3-3 at half-time after a rip-roaring opening forty-five minutes of football, but Sunderland's Premier League class showed as the second half wore on.
"It was a pulsating game," Paul said, "and my optimism for the result kept going up and down. When I put in my team sheet before the game, I felt that it was a very strong side, even though it was a side depleted by injury after what was our sixth game in the space of two weeks.
"Coming in at 3-3 at half-time, having played particularly well, that changed. If it wasn't for Jermain Defoe, I think things would have been a lot different, because he was a different level to the football that we normally play. He contributed to those three goals in the first half significantly.
"Amazingly,we come out of the game disappointed. We almost feel as if we let them off the hook a little, and their fourth and fifth goal were defensively weak for us, or by anyone else's standards. I'm very proud of the way we played, and we do pride ourselves on being able to play good football, and we were playing against a good football team on a good surface and had a chance to show what we could do. We came without four or five players who arguably would have been selected if they'd been fit, so we had to use the squad, and I think we displayed today that we have a good team, and I'm so proud but equally disappointed that we've lost."