Tis: We played well and must keep faith in what we are doing
Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale says he has every faith in the players and what they are doing, despite the club falling to their third defeat of the season on Tuesday night.The Grecians were the better side against Crawley Town at St James Park, but missed a number of chances to take the lead before substitute Josh Yorwerth gave the visitors the lead in the 83rd minute.
Tis said City hadn’t got the points their performances deserved from the opening three games of the league season and that the players just had to keep believing in what they were trying to do.
“I thought we played quite well (against Crawley),” said Tis. “We weren't at our very best but I think we feel that, after three games and no points, the way we've played over the three games we've probably deserved to get a point or two.
"That's the way football is sometimes, but we've got to keep faith in what we're doing and trust each other. These things can very quickly be sprung upon you and suddenly we feel very disappointed with the points we had and where we sit, but we’ve just got to keep going and trust in ourselves."
City created most of the running during the first half of the game, with Ollie Watkins hitting the bar and Liam McAlinden and Robbie Simpson both going very close to breaking the deadlock. So, was Tis frustrated with his side’s inability to convert the opportunities they created?
"Clearly you want to score and, when you don't, you run the risk of what happened which is a goal against the run of play,” he said. "It's frustrating but we've just got to keep with it – we had our chances, we had one or two very good chances, but we didn't take them and that's what happens.
"There was no want of effort, there were one or two tired bodies out there for us, but I'm sure Crawley had one or two as well.”
“I had no complaints at all about the way the players played,” added Tis.
"Obviously it was a goal that went in with seven or eight minutes to go and it was just a disappointing way to lose the game, as they were restricted to so few chances in that game, a bit like Saturday (against Hartlepool), really.
"We just have to move on. I've got every faith in the players and what we're doing. So we will keep going.”
Tis was without a number of key players for the match; including Troy Brown, Troy Archibald-Henville, Lee Holmes, David Wheeler and Joel Grant. Will the manager have any of those players back for the trip to Stanley?
"I'm hoping one or two but we just have to wait and see,” said Tis. “Who knows who came through the game against Crawley, so let me just get to Thursday first before I start making too many decisions.
"It's just a shame, having gone through preseason with such a settled group, in the first fortnight of the season we've had to alter and adjust.
"It's given players opportunities, though, with Connor Riley-Lowe playing the last three home games, so he's had a chance.
"That's the way we work here, we have lots of young players and it's good to give them opportunities."