Tis confident of first home win this Saturday
Exeter City boss Paul Tisdale is confident their first home win of the season is just around the corner ahead of Saturday’s match with Mansfield Town.
After a mini-run of three games without defeat and the joint best away record in League Two – having picked up 21 points on the road – Tis is confident that City’s stand a good chance of getting their first three points at St James Park this weekend.
“We’ve been trying every game, it’s not like we haven’t,” said Tis. “We’ve played particularly well in the last couple of games. Against a very good Luton team we came close and played well against Doncaster, it’ll happen soon.”
The Grecians have been particularly out of luck this season with injuries that have hindered progression and prevented any form of consistency in the starting 11. A few of these players are looking to get back in the side in the coming games.
“We had defensive issues last week at Cheltenham which we managed to overcome and get through so I’m hoping that we will have Jordan Moore-Taylor and possibly Luke Croll back in contention,” said Tis.
“Neither are assured of being fit but we are hoping they may well be available.
“It was good to see Troy Brown and Jordan Tillson back on the pitch but as many players as possible will be a good problem for me to have.
“They’ll both be looking to be fit for selection. Other than that Robbie Simpson will still be out, Pierce Sweeney still out, along with Troy Archibald-Henville and one or two others.
“We’ve got a lot of football, just coming up to the halfway point of the season. A lot of football still to be played and if you look at the last four or five months, how many enforced changes there have been.
It gives you some idea of what’s coming and we want as many players fit as possible for what will be a really tough winter few months I think.”
Mansfield have recently appointed ex-Championship manager Steve Evans as their new leader and the team seem to have reacted well. Mansfield have only lost one of their last five games in all competitions, scoring nine.
When asked about their opponent’s biggest strength, Paul replied ‘the new manager’.
He added: “He’s got them competitive and up and running over the last four or five games. He knows the league, he gets his teams very purposeful and energetic and knows exactly what he’s doing. I think the biggest strength will be the influence of the manager and this early period where he’s taken over a team and they’ll be playing to his word.”