Grecians boss reacts to Mansfield win
EXETER CITY manager Paul Tisdale lauded a practical performance from his players following last night's 2-0 win at Mansfield Town.Goals from Joel Grant and Lee Holmes helped City on their way, but it was a strong defensive performance that ensured that the Grecians held on to their clean sheet.
"I'm delighted to get the three points, which were what we set out to achieve," Paul said. "It was a little bit scruffy in parts; I don't think it was the best that we've played, but we crafted two really good goals. There wasn't a lot of great football in the game, but both of those goals came from very nice passing moves, and were nicely finished. Once you go two goals up, it's about being practical with your play, and we were. We defended pretty well, and 2-0 away from home is always a nice result.
"Christian Ribeiro was one of the standout players; he played his position really well. The way that Mansfield played was inevitable - when you're two goals down at home, you have to try and do something. I have to say that I think Mansfield are playing some good football. I wouldn't say that they did themselves short in that aspect, but after we put another defender on, it became defence versus attack for the last fifteen minutes. Mansfield are having a very good season, and we're very pleased to have got a win here.
"My synopsis of the first half was that we were reasonably comfortable. When there was the odd set-piece into the box, we might have worried that something might happen, but generally I was pleased with the first-half display, other than the fact that we didn't put enough passes together with real momentum. When we did, and it was only two or three times, we opened the opposition up. Both goals were very similar in their production, and both were finished very nicely.
"We need to be reasonable - the players did the job today. When you go away from home, it's a pretty nice package to have; a hard-working team, substitutes that came on and did their job and the team defended well throughout. All of the central defenders played their part, and all-round it was a very practical performance."