Grecians boss reacts to Hartlepool win
EXETER CITY manager Paul Tisdale commended his players for handling rough conditions as they got a big win over Hartlepool United at Victoria Road."Those were very difficult conditions today," Paul said. "We took a bit of a chance with the way that we set up; we opened the game up and tried to find all the space on the pitch. We took a chance, got in front, and then decided to hold fort and work our socks off in the second half. It was a really, really impressive win for reasons other than the fantastic football. We did the basics really well, and worked well together. It keeps the wheels turning; we'd had a good week or two, but it would count for nothing if we let it slip and take our foot off the gas. We've won another game; that's three in a row, and added to the point at Morecambe, you could say that we're in form.
"It was a good job that we scored early. The linesman put his flag up very quickly for the second goal, and our players were very sure that it crossed the line. It was brilliant play from Alex Nicholls to create it; he turned his defender when it looked certain that he would play a safe backward pass. Joel Grant aimed for the space, got the first touch and got himself the goal.
"Christian Ribeiro did a great job, coming in at centre-half to cover for Jordan Moore-Taylor. He wrapped up everything; it was a superb performance from him. When you've got the one-goal lead, the opposition will have a go at you, but you'd really have to push me to pick fault with how we defended. We had Jake Taylor coming on to play in behind the striker, and that is his best position for me, and he was so sharp to see danger. We ended up with a really good unit on the pitch defending that lead.
"The supporters were fantastic - they've gone through some real expense in following us over the last month or so, so we thank them. We're all in it together."