Paul takes a lesson from Rangers defeat
Following a 2-0 defeat at home against Queens Park Rangers in the first round of the Capital One Cup, Grecians gaffer Paul Tisdale was left lamenting a lack of vigour at times for the Grecians.
Charlie Austin got off the mark within two minutes on his first appearance for the Hoops, which scuppered a few plans for the Grecians. Danny Simpson netted early in the second half – after which the hosts looked freer and more ambitious with their play, and came close to finding the net themselves on several occasions. But Paul had hoped to see slightly more oomph about City’s play, both with and without the ball.
“I don’t think we did as well as we could have done,” began Tis. “A few people have made comments saying ‘that was alright’, but I think we could have done better.
“I asked the players to play a certain way, which they did – but we didn’t show enough energy. Whatever way you play, you’ve got to show energy and we didn’t show enough.”
One of the bigger disappointments for Tis was that the scoreline was already going to be hard to rein back in by the time City really began to show their purpose and true potential in the second half.
With experience at the heart of defence in Clint Hill and Richard Dunne – and ability throughout the team – breaking down the Rangers defence was always going to prove troublesome.
“We improved that in the second half and the substitutions gave us a lift which is what I intended to do – but I was hoping that there would be one goal in it at the worst,” Tis continued. “At two-nil, it was a bit too much to ask.
“It’s not about will or wanting to win more or being more passionate – it’s just reading the game quicker, seeing what might happen and being on the move. Liam Sercombe was the one player that had that – he looked like one of their players playing for us.
“The lesson today is not the technical lesson that people would imagine that I would speak of – the lesson was that we didn’t have enough energy in our play.”
However Paul was pleased with both the turnout of the crowd, and the way the fans backed their team as they showed fight and determination to get back into the game – in the second half for in particular.
“It was a good crowd. They really got behind the team in the second half and we gave them something to get behind as well.
“It was a good evening really for the supporters and it’s just a shame we couldn’t have done any better.”