Paul praises discipline of City players
Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale was glowing with praise for his players after they completed another come-from-behind victory as they defeated Fleetwood Town 2-1.
Substitute Matty Blair had put the hosts ahead in the second half before two Scot Bennett goals in front of the travelling fans completed a turnaround.
City might have felt somewhat irked at going behind as the Cod Army hadn’t often worked Artur Krysiak too hard between the sticks.
But the Exeter manager was full of praise for the way they stuck with impeccable discipline to a gameplan and ultimately got their just rewards which their efforts merited – as well as praising Bennett for his goals.
“It was fantastic,” said Tis. “I was critical last week because they didn’t play to plan. But today they played to plan to the nth degree and they got what they deserved. They were impeccable.
“That’s not to say they didn’t make mistakes on the ball or do bad passes or miscontrol it, but I’m not judging them on that. I’m judging them on whether they played to plan and they were absolutely spot on with it. Even when we went a goal down I still thought we had something in us. I’m very proud of them.”
It took a bit of tactical mastery from Tis to nullify what threats Fleetwood had. The starting formation was something like a 5-4-1 – with Alan Gow at the peak of a diamond in midfield behind Jamie Reid – and the grumblings of the home crowd in the first half showed how well the Grecians managed to quash the threats.
After the hour mark, the system resembled a 4-3-3 with Alan Gow and David Wheeler either side of Scot Bennett, who led the line and netted the goals. And Tis was pleased with the way in which the team adapted in order to earn a smart victory.
Paul continued: “There was a five-man defence as we had Arron Davies playing out of position playing against their wide-left player and we had Craig Woodman against their wide-right player.
“It gave us three centre-halves and although that seems a bit odd as they only had one striker, it meant their midfield players had nowhere to run.
“That meant that our midfield players could hold the middle of the pitch and could break. It was discussed over the last 24 hours.
“It doesn’t always go to plan, but today we scored the goals which meant for a positive result for us.”
And once again, the manner of the result means that City have now taken 10 points from games where they have been in losing positions.
The City managed expressed his pleasure at his team being able to show such character through adversity this season, and for having the gall to turn the game around.
“It’s not the way you want to plan it, but we’ve just got something about us at the moment,” Tis explained. “Even going that goal down with 20 minutes to go, I still thought we were a bit hard done by.
“The players probably felt, as I did, a little bit aggrieved. But we had something in us – we had a response and it was brilliant. We had the right players in the right place doing the right things and we had the ability to execute.”