Midfielder gives reaction to victory in Carlisle
Exeter City midfielder Liam Sercombe is hopeful that a 3-1 win away at Carlisle United can prompt a few more positive results in the coming weeks.The Grecians will return to the Park next weekend to face AFC Wimbledon, and then return three days later to host Stevenage.
And the Exeter midfielder, whose goal sealed the win at Brunton Park, is hopeful that the win in Cumbria is the first of many in a positive run-in.
“We looked strong defensively,” he explained. “In the past few months we have leaked a few goals – poor goals as well. But the last couple of days we have looked quite solid, and we keep getting chances.
“That’s satisfying – we look solid now and we don’t look like we’re going to concede too many goals.
“We have to do our defending from the front – the forwards have to defend first. They lead it and we have to back them up from behind.
“So we need to take each game as it comes now and keep getting the three points. It’s a good start for us and we need to keep going now.
“We’ll move on to next Saturday against Wimbledon now and hopefully we can keep getting those wins.”
City had twice taken the lead through Ryan Harley – netting his first and second goals since returning to Exeter – and Liam praised the performance and quality of his teammate.
He was also pleased that he could add a final goal for himself on a quick counter – gently touching the ball over the advancing goalkeeper – to seal the victory in added time.
“Anyone that knows Ryan knows that he’s capable of scoring goals,” said Sercombe. “He has taken a bit of time to find his feet again, but he didn’t play a lot of football before he came to us.
“You have to give players time – we know how good he is and we know that he can get us goals. They were two great goals from him and that’s typical of what he can do. There’s more to come from him too.
“And for my goal, we just broke and had a lot of players over – and it just came to me. I was just glad to see it hit the back of the net because I feel like I need to get a few more goals.
“It was nice to take the pressure off the last few minutes because they could have kept piling on and might have got an equaliser right at the end. It was nice to kill the game off.”
For players and supporters alike, the result will make for a far more enjoyable journey on the 350-mile journey home.
He thanked the 154 supporters that made the long-haul visit up to Cumbria for the support they gave the team throughout the afternoon.
“It’s much better to go home from a long journey with a win – it’s probably going to take us seven hours or more to get back to Exeter, and if we had lost the game it wouldn’t have been the best trip home,” he continued.
“But now that we have got the three points, it’ll be a lot better. It’s great to come home with three points and we can smile on the coach and start getting ready for next Saturday.
“Fair play to the fans that travelled here today – it’s a long way to come. So a massive thanks to them from all the players and staff that they did that.
“The result will make their trip home a lot easier too. They can have a laugh and there won’t be too many sad faces. Big thanks from all of us.”