Manager gives reaction to Torquay defeat
Following a 2-0 friendly defeat to neighbours Torquay United at St James Park, Grecians manager Paul Tisdale admitted that his team didn’t quite pack enough of a punch during the outing.City had impressed during the other two home fixtures in the pre-season schedule, with lively performances against both Reading and Swansea.
However it never quite clicked for the Grecians against their Devon rivals, and goals after the break by Ryan Bowman and Jordan Chapell sealed a win for the Gulls.
Paul treated the experience as another learning curve ahead of the big kick-off at the Park against Portsmouth in a week’s time.
“It was a dull day in training yesterday and it’s gone into today, and sometimes you’ve just got to accept that,” said Tis.
“We lacked spark today and it was a legacy of what we’ve just been through, but I’ve not been too critical of the players.
“We got a lot wrong in the first half; we neither went forward, we didn’t pass enough, we didn’t tackle enough and although it was only a fraction away from being right, it went all to pot.
“Sometimes you’re better off writing a few things off. I’ve learnt a few things and some of the players have had a bit of an opportunity to pick on a few points.”
There were a number of absentees for Exeter, including centre-half Jordan Moore-Taylor and midfielder Liam Sercombe and some other precautionary omissions.
That allowed trialists Christian Ribeiro and Graham Cummins both to have a run-out, each of whom performed well in their positions.
But with the season just a week away, Paul felt that there is still time to find their rhythm.
“We’ve had two new players on the pitch with Christian and Graham, who I’d like to be with us and work through this process with us, so that’s a positive,” he continued.
“I though ironically that we looked more composed in the second half, although we conceded the two goals.”
“We made lots of changes and once you’re up to the hour mark you can see how jaded a lot of the players are and it was just a process of making it through to the end of the game and concentrate on damage limitation.
“Scot Bennett and Liam Sercombe didn’t play today because of fatigue, David Wheeler Arron Davies dropped out this morning with illness, Pat Baldwin was also ill but still played half the game as did Matt Oakley, which didn’t help and compounded the issue.
“There is a lot of work to do, and you’d expect there to be work to do over the course of the season. I’d say two weeks ago I was very happy with where we were with the fitness and the shape of the team, and in the group there are eight or nine players who are confirmed in my thinking.
“We’ve had a really long week and perhaps have lost our way a bit, but this can be brought back into rhythm in the next week ready for the start of the season.
“I was really happy two weeks ago with the way they worked. I’m not happy that five are missing today but we hope that they can be ready for next week.”