City attacker gives match reaction after Bury draw
Exeter City man David Wheeler admitted that there was an element of frustration at coming away from Gigg Lane with just a point, as the Grecians and the Shakers played out a 1-1 draw.Arron Davies’ first-half strike, following in a free-kick from Alex Nicholls which had hit the bar, was cancelled before the break out by a back-post header by Daniel Nardiello.
City had to withstand a lot of pressure in the first 15 minutes after the interval, but after riding the storm Exeter began to carve out some gilt-edged opportunities of their own – including a couple of one-on-ones and a few dangerous attempts at Nick Pope’s goal.
“We had a few chances, especially towards the end,” said Wheeler. “We were penned in our half for quite a bit of the game but I don’t think that’s uncommon away from home. We’re genuinely quite disappointed not to win the game.
“A draw may be a fair result on the balance of play – they had a few chances and Christy [Pym] did really well at the end to hold onto one and block one, and earlier in the game he made a double-save.
“Coming off the bench, I felt we were well-organised defensively today, and especially for the last half an hour when we put in a lot of blocks and stopped a lot of crosses.”
One of the key flashpoints of the match came in the final few minutes came when Wheeler was released with a clear route to goal, sprinting full-pelt from the halfway line and showing a clean pair of heels to the defenders as they bust a gut to recover.
Cutting across from the left, the City man was impeded by a defender as he took shape to fire a shot past the Shakers stopper from close range – but the whistle wasn’t sounded and the hosts were able to play out.
The decision – or lack of – left Wheeler with a feeling of injustice in the result.
“I made my run across the first man, and then across the second man, and I was about to pass it past the ‘keeper and the defender clipped my heel and went straight into the goalkeeper,” he continued.
“I thought, ‘this is definitely a penalty’ – and when I turned around and saw that he hadn’t given it, I couldn’t believe it. It was incredible that he got away with it.
“The result is about fair, but I feel gutted that I didn’t get to score and that I was robbed of it. It was a shame for everyone that it wasn’t a penalty.”
City’s next game comes as soon as Tuesday evening, when Cambridge United come to the Park for an evening fixture.
The team will be aiming to move on quickly and to secure the first home victory of 2015 in order to keep putting the pressure on the teams above them in the League 2 table.
David continued: “If we keep picking up the points, we’ll be fine. But we need to look to win games now and as long as we try to keep the goals against down, we’re always confident of scoring at the other end.”