Exeter City FC

Exeter City manager Matt Taylor was delighted with his side's performance in the Devon derby against Plymouth Argyle.

The Grecians went ahead through Nicky Law’s penalty at the end of the first-half, before goals from Tom Parkes, Randell Williams and a second for Law topped a perfect afternoon at the Park.

“The game was obviously pleasing and the manner in which we approached, and, won the game on the back of two disappointing results was fantastic," said Matt. 

"We started the game well and we were patient enough to wait for that first goal to come, then in the second-half we just kept on going.

"We were relentless; it was every single player and the substitutes and the crowd and time and time again, it was us today – first to the ball, incredible in terms of our press and our attack, our forward intent, and we were strong when we needed to be in the big moments at the back.”

City scored in vital moments; either side of half-time and then a third soon after to kill off any hope of a comeback, before Law’s second – and City’s fourth – of the afternoon provided the icing on top of the metaphorical cake.

“I’ve spoken about chances created and chances missed – goals change games, and we saw that at Cambridge and Scunthorpe," said Taylor. "Goals change the feel of the place, they change the confidence; all of a sudden we’re getting stronger and stronger as that game goes on which I’ve been waiting for all season really, and we’ve ended up scoring four goals.”

City’s set-piece prowess was on display as Tom Parkes glanced a brilliant header home from Randell Williams’ free-kick four minutes after half-time, while Randell Williams’ deft finish after 67 minutes sent the St James Park faithful into raptures as it killed off any hope of a Plymouth comeback.

“Randell’s delivery for the second goal was great," said Matt. "If Tom doesn’t head it in then the goalkeeper has to make a save, and that was part of our purpose today – really committing to it. You settle down at 2-0 but you want to keep on driving forward.”

It wasn’t just the goalscorers, but the team collective, that impressed in the derby – Nicky Law won man-of-the-match but in truth, it could have been anyone. Matt was quick to praise the forward line of Lee Martin and Ryan Bowman, who led the line and were both unfortunate not to score.

“No-one does the chasing down better than Lee Martin for the goal, he can take huge confidence from his performance today," said Matt. "I talk about the personalities within the group but he and Ryan (Bowman) led the line really well today and they’re our first line of defence, put Plymouth under constant pressure and made life a lot easier for our boys at the back.”

Moving forward, Matt’s focused on not getting carried away with the result, as his attentions shift onto the next set of fixtures, beginning with Bradford away next Saturday.

“We can’t get too high; we didn’t get too low after going to Cambridge and Scunthorpe – we were disappointed at Cambridge, Scunthorpe didn’t go our way but football’s like that," he said. 

Matt gave a final word on the fantastic support the Grecians had this afternoon, with a crowd just shy of 8,000 in the sell-out fixture.

“Hopefully some of the supporters come back, hopefully they’ve seen something they can believe in and support – today was a good day and they’ve seen a good performance," he added.