Grecians boss reacts to Devon derby win
EXETER CITY manager Paul Tisdale revealed that Ollie Watkins was offered the post-match team-talk after his two-goal salvo won the Devon derby for the Grecians at St James Park.City came from behind to win this one, and had to contend with the blow of losing captain Matt Oakley early on.
"I took a gamble on Matt, and it appeared not to have paid off," Paul said. "I selected a bench with it in mind that he might be forced off early, and that probably tempted fate. The first half seemed very competitive - they had territory on us, but it was even Stevens at half-time. They certainly deserved their goal with the pressure that they put on us early in the second half, and their two centre-forwards spent too much time around our box for my liking, but in that position you have to keep it at 1-0. We knew they were physically strong in many areas, which is why we put everyone back when it came to long-throws and corners, but the best thing to do when the other side have just taken the lead is to make sure that you don't concede another. With twenty minutes to go, and with Jake Taylor and David Noble coming on and making a huge difference to the side, we had some passing and some movement to allow Ollie Watkins to have that space. Jake and David put Ollie on the ball.
"If you don't shoot, it won't go in. The last five or ten minutes were about making sure we didn't lose, and it's amazing what can happens when you just focus on those things. That's one of the best goals that you'll ever see in League 2, in this kind of pressure and this kind of moment. He's flicked it around the Plymouth player, done a Cruyff turn and then hit a left-foot shot into the top-corner. That was something else; it's one thing scoring that goal when you're 3-0 up, but doing it at 1-1 with thirty seconds to go takes some doing. It won't get any better than that for him.
"At this stage of the season with six games to go, it's very pleasing to get three points against this sort of team. In our last home win (against Accrington Stanley) it was the same: they outplayed us and we beat them, and Argyle had the ascendancy and the flow of the game, and we've come and won it. You never know, but what a fantastic day for Ollie. I let him do the team-talk afterwards, but I think I caught him by surprise, so he declined the offer!"