City boss contented by approach to Clevedon friendly
Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale was happy with the performance of his young side away at Clevedon, as they took a 2-0 win back home from Somerset.
City’s two goals came in as many minutes midway through the first half, and Tis was especially pleased with the side’s ability to put on the afterburners from time to time to carve open chances. The dynamism died somewhat towards the end of the game, when the substitutions started to fragment the flow of the game and the thick grass at the Hand Stadium began to take its toll – but the City boss was pleased with what he saw.
“It was a good run-out,” Tis said following the fixture. “The game became a little bit scruffy towards the end, but the first 45 minutes I thought was excellent. There was an injection of pace into the game, which can always be lacking in this type of fixture when the grass is a bit long. A lot of our players did it in a really positive fashion – they injected pace into the game, moved the ball quickly, and they were effective.
“We had a very nice symmetry to our game. Especially the front three worked very well together in Sam Parkin, David Wheeler and Jake Gosling, and overall it was a very useful workout.”
It was the first opportunity for Exeter fans to see Parkin in action following his move from St Mirren. The striker made his presence felt as part of a front three before his routine substitution at half-time, and looked comfortable in linking with his young colleagues.
“Sam is 45 minutes behind his colleagues, so it was important for him to get that into his game today,” continued Paul. “His job was made simpler by the fact the two wide players really occupied that back four – the front three were very effective today.
“He knows his job, he knows where he should and shouldn’t go – he’ll be a nice fit into our team.”
Other than veteran striker Sam Parkin, most of the other players in the starting XI are yet to get more than a single season of Football League action under their belts. But the Grecians, despite being wet behind the ears in adult football, didn’t shirk challenges and matches the Seasiders every step of the way for commitment and physicality.
Tis continued: “There’s a physicality of standing up and being shoulder to shoulder with someone, and a physicality of pace and movement and balance – and they showed a good balance of all of it. That overrides stature – the ability to move and run and be dynamic.”