City boss speaks after Yeovil win
EXETER CITY manager Paul Tisdale was happy with the input of all of his players after the Grecians secured a thrilling 3-2 opening-day Sky Bet League 2 win over Yeovil Town.A Tom Nichols penalty and David Wheeler goal gave City a commanding half-time lead, before Yeovil levelled things up in the second period. The three points were sealed five minutes from time by substitute Will Hoskins, who netted a debut winner.
Tis commended his goalscorers for opening their accounts for 2015/16, but also showered praise on the players who carved the goalscoring opportunities.
"Let's not forget the two passes that led to David [Wheeler] and Will [Hoskins]' finishes," he said. "They were absolutely wonderful, with the first one from David Noble and the second from Matt Oakley. Sure, they both took a good finish, but it's about more than that, it's the movement which creates the pass. David and Will both timed their runs perfectly, and both put in a brave finish, because in both situations the player got clattered as he put the ball into the net. Every game is different, and every goal will be different; we just had to adapt, and bring on the subs to do what we have to do.
"It was a good day for our new arrivals too, with Bobby [Olejnik] and Troy [Brown] starting the game, and Clinton [Morrison], Manny [Oyeleke] and Will [Hoskins] all coming on. I was delighted for Will in scoring his goal. For any player who scores on his debut, it's something to remember. Will is nowhere near ready for ninety minutes yet, but for a twenty-minute burst he managed it particularly well. He got himself into some very good positions, and capped it off with a wonderful goal.
"I've limited talk of his injuries, as if you keep talking about it that's going to stay with him. He has trained with us for most of pre-season, and we've been very careful with what we put him through. With each passing week, we've been a little more advanced than we were the week before. I'm relaxed about it, but I'm very pleased for him. His movement was fantastic and for his goal he took the ball at the right height - if he'd waited a fraction of a second more, the goalkeeper would have got it."
After news of his re-signing with the Grecians was exclusively revealed in the match day programme, Paul gave some insight into Clinton Morrison's situation with the club.
"We will address the situation with Clinton at the end of the window," he said. "We needed someone else up front, and the door has always been open to him. I would like to keep him here, and I was clear with him that he wasn't a priority earlier in the summer, but he's great; he works within the dynamic of the squad really well. He has a part to play and I'd like to keep him."
After Saturday's thriller, the Grecians head to the County Ground on Tuesday evening to kick-off their Capital One Cup campaign with a Round 1 tie at Swindon Town. City can head to the League 1 side in great spirits after a top performance against Yeovil, as Tis confirmed.
"I congratulated [Yeovil Town manager] Paul Sturrock on a great effort by him and his players after the final whistle, and that wasn't being patronising," he said. "They did everything they could, and the match could have gone either way late on. I'm so pleased with those three points. It was a very good day; the weather was good, the pitch was fantastic and the competition was fierce and there were five goals.
"All in all, it was a really good game. There are things that we need to look at, of course, but I'm not going to berate the players about those just yet. They've won the game and pulled themselves back into it having let a two-goal lead slip, and now they are very happy. Now we move on to Tuesday."