Paul accepts that the Brewers merited victory
Following Exeter City’s 4-2 loss to Burton Albion, manager Paul Tisdale conceded that the Brewers had deserved the victory which brought the Grecians’ incredible run of undefeated away games to a halt.
Burton – earning an equally commendable seventh consecutive home win in the process – raced ahead to a four-goal lead, before Guillem Bauza and Scot Bennett reduced the arrears. However Tis admitted that that the result was justified and improvements were needed.
“It’s very hard to take a snap-judgement on the performance without taking the time to analyse it and think about it,” said Tis. “They deserved to win today – they played better than us, and they executed their performance better. I don’t think we were that bad that we deserved to concede four goals, but I don’t think we deserved to win the game either.
“The major factor today was that we conceded goals which we haven’t done recently. Now it’s about moving onto the next game, and I’ve highlighted one or two things we should have done better today.”
Early goals by the hosts – in particular, Michael Symes’ strike in the 11th minute – had the Grecians chasing the game from the outset. City found themselves in the rather unfamiliar position of chasing a three-goal deficit at the interval, and Paul was ruing how soon the Brewers had effectively secured the result.
“The overall feeling from today is that we let it get away from us very quickly,” continued Tis. “It was too much to claw back – and that’s it really. There weren’t too many poor performances out on the pitch, and the players haven’t let me down at all this season.
“Once the game got away from us, it was very simple. We were having to start again at half-time and pull the game back, and as unlikely as it seems, you may just do it. I wasn’t frustrated – the game had been stretched away from us very quickly.”
Despite being unable to complete the comeback and earn anything for their efforts, the return of duo John O’Flynn and Matt Oakley to first-team action was one positive to be had from the afternoon. The pair had been missing for several weeks with injury, and both made their return by being introduced from the substitutes’ bench after the interval.
That was a priority at half-time at 3-0. If we can’t get a point back from this, then let’s get something else positive out of it, so Matt and John O’Flynn both playing some minutes on the pitch is a boost and a productive element of today’s game.