Grecians boss reacts to Oxford defeat
EXETER CITY manager Paul Tisdale expressed his disappointment at a crucial refereeing decision which went against the Grecians, but insisted that it wasn’t the sole reason his side left the Kassam Stadium empty-handed following defeat at the hands of Oxford United.U’s defender Chey Dunkley looked a certainty for a second yellow when he kicked Ollie Watkins in the face as the City man was going clean through, but the referee kept his card in his pocket after a sizeable melee set in motion by the foul.
“It was a non-decision really,” Paul said. “The referee was close to it, and he could see it better than me. We speculated that if the player had not already received a yellow card, he would have received one for that; it was a very hard boot when Ollie Watkins had gone through their back four. Three or four players came out of the fracas that followed with yellow cards, so for him to get away with it didn’t seem the correct outcome.
“The referee has to make that call – but he deemed it a non-violent challenge. Well done to Ollie for carrying on when he needed three stitches in his head. The clue was that they took him off at half-time – that was a wise decision.
“It certainly could have gone either way following that point, but we didn’t work the goalkeeper like we should have done. We were then punished by a good shot from twenty-five yards, and it could be argued that we had plenty of opportunities to do the same.
“For the first hour, I was very pleased with how we played. We had a lot of players out of position with our midfield issues, but I thought that we were very competitive, sharp and bright. The game was in the balance for the first hour, but we had two or three good half-opportunities, but we just didn’t manage to trouble their goalkeeper. We didn’t keep the ball in their half enough; the ball needed to be in the final third more.
“We just have to move on to Monday. We have two home games now, which means we have to be competitive, positive and purposeful. I don’t see why we can’t do that on Monday, and then follow that against Dagenham. Yes, we’re disappointed, and 3-0 probably didn’t do us justice, but I’m not going to lose faith in the players; hopefully the injured players will be a step closer on Monday.”