“It was all about the result and the result was fabulous.” That was the verdict from Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale as they beat Forest Green Rovers 2-0 at home to record their sixth straight Sky Bet League Two win at St James Park.
That victory took City back up to fourth in the table, with a game in hand over the two sides – Notts County and Wycombe Wanderers - immediately above them. However, the win against relegation-threatened Rovers didn’t come easy with the visitors having the better of the first half chances as Dayle Grubb went close on a couple of occasions.
However, a few words of encouragement at half-time, coupled with substitute Kyle Edwards arrival in the game, swung the match in City’s favour after the break with goals from Jayden Stockley and Pierce Sweeney.
“It is a win,” said Tis. “That is how I see it. It is a 2-0 home win. It is winter football. The pitch is really difficult to play on but we were really disciplined in what we did and it was all about the result and the result was fabulous. We did what we had to do. We defended really well in the first half when they had their moment.
“They were the better side first half, but we defended really well. They had a couple of half chances, but we used our half-time really well and made an immediate response in the 15 minutes after the break.”
City brought off midfielder Ryan Harley at half-time as he was struggling with the heavy conditions. He was replaced by West Brom loanee Edwards who had an immediate impact, crossing for Stockley to score the opener before winning a penalty for Sweeney to convert the second.
“The pitch is going to challenge the players physically and Ryan Harley was just beginning to feel something and we didn’t think it was a risk worth taking,” explained Tis. “That was coupled with the fact that it was in our minds before the game that this would be a good match for Kyle (Edwards) and we were talking about that 10 to 15 minutes into the game.
“It was a good opportunity for Kyle and he is improving. He is contributing in all areas and he is becoming a more all action player. Surely that is the purpose of his visit down here. He is becoming a more rounded player and he showed that in the second half.”
City are now up to fourth, level on points with third-placed Notts County and a point behind Wycombe Wanderers, in second. They also have a game in hand on both those teams. However, looking at the table every week is not something Tis is keen on doing.
“It is something we don’t really want to do, slipping into assessing the League table every Tuesday and every Wednesday night because one week we will feel very grumpy and the next week we will feel elated,” he said. “That is not the way we need to do it. We have got 18 games to go now and it is about how many points we accumulate over that time. We take it one game at a time, one half at a time, one minute at a time. We shouldn’t worry too much about what everybody else is doing.”