City boss assess derby defeat
Grecians manager Paul Tisdale expressed his disappointment at City not playing their game during his side’s 3-0 defeat away at Home Park in this season’s first Devon Derby, but he was keen to look forward and respond in the coming weeks.
Paul outlined how the home side trumped the Grecians, and explained: “They played their game and we didn’t play our game. They deserved their goals and their win.”
Goals by Tyler Harvey, Reuben Reid and Curtis Nelson helped the Pilgrims take all the points in a strong and physical encounter, that also showed the home sides pace and attacking prowess. He explained that:
“They were a strong, physical side, and they played their trump card and we didn’t play ours.”
“We know what we are, what our skill set is, what we’re capable of and what we practice and therefore I’m disappointed that we didn’t do the things that we practice.” He said.
But Paul was keen to look forward to the remainder of the season and was keen to emphasise how sides are not judged on individual performances but on how they respond to those performances.
“I went through the debrief with the players I pointed out that we’re two games in and we’ve got 44 to go. We’ll be judged on the full season ahead of us and in the first instance I’ll be judged on how we learn from today’s performance and result.”
Looking forward to Tuesday, he said “You can’t just move on and toss it away as if it’s not important. I have to make sure we talk about the things we could have done better again, and the things that we practice, but then we have to go to Burton with renewed optimism and compete again.”
The Grecians travel to Burton Albion on Tuesday in their next League 2 fixture and will be hoping to respond with renewed focus. The manager looked forward and stated: “The big picture is that we’ve got a game on Tuesday and we’ve got to move on, so it’s not the time to dwell too long, but we’re disappointed none the less.