Manager reflects on defeat to Wycombe
Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale reflected on a disappointing evening at St James Park as his side went down 1-0 to Gareth Ainsworth’s Wycombe Wanderers.
The Chairboys went ahead with some style, as Max Kretzschmar lobbed Christy Pym from around35 yards, and the Grecians were unable to draw themselves level.
“I’m disappointed,” said Tis following the match. “The one thing you don’t want to do against Wycombe is concede a goal, because they set out to defend. When they go a goal up, that situation is clarified, and that was the last thing we needed.
“We looked incredibly nervous in making the correct decisions; we put in a lot of effort, but when the team is disconnected, that effort just falls into the mud. That was how it felt today – the players were exhausted at the end of it. We played some good stuff, but overall we failed to show the appropriate levels of composure around the box.
“When we got near that position we didn’t really look like we were going to score, and so we ended up going a goal behind against a team that was set out to defend. It was a really disappointing night”.
The defeat to the Chairboys comes just ten days after a superb victory away at title-chasing Southend, and Paul spoke of how he wants to see his side recapture the level of performance that saw them take all three points at Roots Hall.
“We’ve just got to carry on,” he continued. “When we played at Southend a couple of weeks ago we looked like a proper team, but now having played three home games in eight days we’ve looked a very average team. We’ve got to find a way of getting our game back on track.
“I made a few changes – I think it was too much to ask to have players play every game, especially some of the older ones. We started lively, but on the whole we looked anxious, which is a theme of these home games.
“There’s a third of the season to go, so we’ve just got to keep going. There’ll be twists and turns between now and the end. It’s not over now, at the end of February – there’s a lot of football to be played, and we have to keep going.”