Manager looks back on Scotland trip after defeat at Arbroath
Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale was contented with a productive week in Scotland for Grecians, as it came to a close with a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Arbroath.The fixture at Gayfield Park was settled by a late Kane Hester strike, meaning that the tour was ended with a loss in the final friendly fixture.
But with five more senior pre-season games to come before the big kick-off, the Scotland trip has represented a chance for a bit of team bonding and a chance to cram a lot of training and games into a short space of time.
And Paul saw the game in Angus to be a continued step in the right direction for the Grecians, as the new season continues to draw near.
“We played better tonight than we did against East Fife, so it was another step forward,” said Tis.
“We created lots of chances and we didn’t take any – it was an ‘almost’ performance in that regard. And we had lots of changes at once and conceded a goal.
“But the priorities again today were to increase the intensity of our play, which we did. We suddenly had some pattern to our play which we didn’t have against East Fife.
“And we had some really good performances. It was good to see Bobby Olejnik and Troy Brown have their first starts for us and they both did particularly well, and Ryan Harley and David Noble were on the pitch for the first time having not had a run out on Tuesday.
“So there were lots of positives – it was a shame we conceded a goal at the end, but so be it. It was a thoroughly good night.”
There were wholesale changes at half-time and a number of subs in the second period, as many players were afforded a chance to get more minutes under the belt.
And Paul is anticipating seeing a more structured line-up when the friendly fixture against AFC Bournemouth comes around on Saturday 18th July at St James Park.
“We will again split the workload against Weston-super-Mare,” he continued.
“Then we’ll get through that game successfully and the level of our play will have raised again, and then I think we’ll be looking to form some pattern going into the Bournemouth game.
“We won’t be playing players for 90 minutes in that game; we’ll still need a full squad but we’ll start to see the team taking shape.”
A full interview with Paul is available to watch below for Grecian Player subscribers.