Exeter City FC

Exeter City manager Matt Taylor said he was pleased with how his side battled back in the final half hour of their match with Crawley Town.

The Grecians fell behind to a first half strike from Ashley Nadesan and Matt felt that for the first hour of the match his side were leggy. However, following the introduction of Jayden Richardson and Lee Martin – on 60 minutes – City created chances and deservedly equalised with nine minutes to go.

“We looked a little bit leggy for the first hour or so and, maybe, that exposed our shape to a certain extent and they had some good attacking players that could break through the space,” said Matt. “However, I was really pleased with the last half an hour of the game. We played forward, played simple and we made things happen off the back of that. We looked like a really threatening team. If we had scored a little bit earlier, we might have gone onto win that game but I also understand that we might have rode our luck earlier on in terms of the chances we conceded.”

Asked if the conditions, a heavy, bobbly, didn’t help for a free-flowing game, Matt said: “It was such a difficult pitch to move the ball on, certainly in the middle.

“We had a lot of possession in certain areas of the pitch first half and we couldn’t get it to the next level of the pitch.

"However, we can’t use that as an excuse because it is the same for both teams and it is our home pitch, but we didn’t quite understand what was needed.

“And as much as we were trying to get the right information into this group of players sometimes you have got to get the ball forward an expect the boys at the top end of the pitch to compete and play into space. That is all Crawley did at times, they either ran or played into space. We have got to be more willing to do that and then be connected off the back of it. We were just a little bit open when we lost possession.

“It is such a difficult pitch, there is going to be a hundred of mistakes every half in a game like that and I can’t fault the players in terms of making a mistake when the pitch plays its part, but we have got have a bit more structure than we did have in that first half.”

Brennan Dickenson scored the equaliser with a low drive from inside the box. Speaking about the equaliser, Matt said: “It was a really good finish. I am pleased for Brennan because he has had a really tough time. He contributed with a goal when he was playing at left-back for the final half hour and that is really important. It shows how attack-minded we were towards the end when are full-backs were really joining in.”