Manager looks back at goalless meeting with Stevenage
Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale was a little disappointed that the Grecians weren’t quite able to put their own stamp on the game as they played out a 0-0 draw with Stevenage at St James Park.The Boro arrived in a rich vein of form with four wins and two draws from the previous six games, and City became the first team in seven to shut out the Hertfordshire side. They played in typically robust fashion and made the Grecians defence work hard for the clean-sheet.
But the Grecians didn’t force Stevenage goalkeeper Chris Day into muddying his jersey too often: David Wheeler went closest as a leaping header cannoned out off the bar, Jordan Moore-Taylor also headed wide from a corner, and Clinton Morrison shot smartly on the turn but missed the far corner by a whisker.
“The game lacked real chances,” he explained. “It was a bit of a stalemate and you could see it being decided with a set-piece – it was one of those types of games.
“I didn’t mind us and the way we played – we weren’t great and we didn’t play great football, but we played with good discipline.
“We wanted three points and we got a point. I’m philosophical about it and I’m certainly not overly disappointed.
“The pitch was excellent and the crowd was behind the team and stayed with the team right the way through, so well done to them.
“It just had a feel today that as much as we wanted to go and win it, it was a stop-start affair really. That’s the way it was and we didn’t quite turn the game our way.
“That’s the thing that I’ll probably go home tonight and be rueful about. We didn’t quite make it go our way and play with enough fluency. But then you have to credit the opposition in not allowing us to do that.”
And while the point is certainly better than a defeat, it didn’t come due to any lack of ambition to try to get all three.
However ultimately a game that saw very little given by either defence saw both rearguards failed to be breached.
“In hindsight you can look back and think maybe there was some discipline about us and a determination not to get beat – and that’s not a bad thing,” he continued.
“Possibly six or seven weeks ago that’s a game we might have lost. So we looked a bit more resilient than we have in recent months.
“But there was nothing from me saying ‘don’t go and attack’. But it was a bit of a stalemate and a stop-start affair, and we couldn’t find our rhythm.
“There was one or two too many free-kicks and corners into our box for my liking near the end but we stood up to it and by hook or by crook we stood up to it and did what we had to do.”