Midfielder gives post-match verdict following draw at Chesterfield
Exeter City midfielder Matt Grimes was understandably pleased to open his goalscoring account at senior level, as his free-kick for the Grecians opened the scoring in a 1-1 draw at Chesterfield.
The 18-year-old’s dead-ball took a touch off the wall, leaving Spireites stopper Tommy Lee stranded, and put the Grecians in the box-seat against their high-flying opponents.
It follows closely in tow of Jordan Moore-Taylor’s first professional goal, who netted his first Football League goal against Cheltenham the previous weekend.
“It’s pleasing – a few people have said to me throughout the games that I’ve played that I need to get on the scoresheet,” said Grimes.
“It is one thing that I need to add to my game, so it’s pleasing to get off the mark.
“Jordan was winding me up about it last night in the hotel, asking, ‘how many goals have you scored?!’
I told him that he had played one more game than me, so I’ve got one game to get on the scoresheet.”
City drew plaudits for their playing style, which belied the relative league positions of the two teams, and plenty of chances came and went before Chesterfield equalised through Eoin Doyle.
The striker drew a foul in the box and converted the resultant penalty – and Grimes felt that it felt unjust – both on the balance of play and the softness of the decision.
“We got top of them and played really well, and would have fully deserved the three points.
“We didn’t think it was a penalty, but the referee gave the decision. We are disappointed because we felt we should have taken all three points, but that’s what happens in football.
“The lads felt hard done by from a decision that shouldn’t have gone against us. But we’re looking at the positives – we played some really good football and we know we’d have deserved it.
“We’ll take that into Monday [against Torquay] – it’ll be a completely different game but we’ll keep doing what we’ve been doing for the last six or seven games and try to get the three points.”
The two goals bookended a red card for Chesterfield’s Sam Morsy, who was dismissed without a moment’s hesitation by referee Rob Lewis for a lunging challenge on Grimes.
It came as little surprise to Grimes that Morsy – who had an exchange of views with Matt Oakley early in the game, before spending time on the deck after claiming to have been caught by Liam Sercombe before the break – was eventually given his marching orders.
“He was in everyone’s ear early on in the game and just being silly about things. I don’t think anyone could say they were surprised by it,” continued the City man.
“He was standing on people’s toes on goal-kicks and little things like that. So it was no big surprise; everyone saw it coming really.”