Paul lauds an exceptional team contribution against Morecambe
City boss Paul Tisdale commended all-round team performance which led to a special 3-0 victory against Morecambe at the Globe Arena.
In a reversal of the opening-day defeat – which saw City lose by the same scoreline to the Shrimps at St James Park – the Grecians put in a complete display from back to front to earn a famous win. Three tremendous goals – two by Jamie Cureton, and one by Arron Davies – helped City on their way. A similarly efficient performance by the defensive unit kept the Morecambe attack at bay for another clean sheet on the road.
“You don’t see many better passes than the one Tommy Doherty gave,” Tis said of the assist for Cureton’s first goal, as the Irishman slid in Curo for his 17th of the campaign. “It was a slide-ball from Tommy, and he won’t need too many chances, Jamie Cureton. It was a great pass, and a really good finish.
“The second goal was a very good example of how to take a free-kick. It was a wonderful free-kick which ended up with a competent finish by Arron, and then the third goal was real team composure in the last third.
“We’ve been at fault once or twice by rushing things and in the first half we did that a couple of times. But Mark Molesley and one or two others kept their heads and Jamie’s was a terrific finish.”
Prompted with Tommy Doherty’s name as a candidate for the man-of-the-match award, Tis was complimentary about the midfielder’s exceptional performance. The former Bristol City man put in a quite brilliant display with and without the ball – although Tis was keen to play tribute to every one of the 11 that earned another win on the road.
“The man of the match today would certainly be the team,” he continued. “Tommy was very strong – he passed the ball very well and competed. So I do agree, it was a very good performance by Tommy – but I have to say, the man of the match was certainly the team.
“We lost one or two players coming into the game. But the likes of Kevin Amankwaah, Tommy Doherty, Arron Davies that have been on the fringe a bit for the last couple of months came in and did extremely well.
“That’s what it’s about – it’s about trusting those players. When one drops out, the next goes in – and it will give us all plenty of belief in the squad we have.”
And a tenth away of the season for City set a new club record – surpassing the nine which were set under Tis during the 2008/09 season – and the Grecians’ manager was happy to have broken a new landmark. However he stressed that plenty of hard work lay ahead and that they will interpret the record within the context of the entire season.
“I’m very proud of the ten wins,” said Tis. “But as I’ve just said to the players – what really matters is where we finish in the league, and how many more wins we get – home or away.
“We have to take whatever positive and encouraging comments that we get off the back of this with a pinch of salt. It’s about how many wins we get in the season and where we finish, and that’s all that matters. It was three points today, and I’m very pleased we got them.”
Accrington are the Grecians’ next opponents, when they visit the Park next Friday evening under the floodlights. And Tis looked ahead to the game with high hopes of following up an excellent win with another in front of the home fans.
“It’s a Friday night game, it’ll be something different. Hopefully we’ll get one or two people coming to watch the game that wouldn’t ordinarily come on a Saturday afternoon for whatever reason.
“But more importantly it’s another chance to get three points – we’re playing against an Accrington team we’ve seen play once or twice recently and we’ve been quite impressed with.”