Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale praised his side’s performance on Saturday despite the Grecians suffering a 3-1 defeat at home to Doncaster Rovers.
City scored the opening goal through forward Reuben Reid, but Doncaster replied with two goals from John Marquis and a header from Liam Mandeville to win the match.
Tis was unhappy with the result, but took plenty of positives out of his team’s display.
“We were in front and played particularly well for the first hour,” said Tis.
“We kept the pressure on 10 minutes after we scored and they capitalised on two great finishes.
“I thought we played really well, the players played some good football. I’m really impressed with how they played as a team. We just couldn’t get the second goal but through the course of the game we put some good crosses in.
We go away with nothing but need to keep our heads up.”
Struggling with injuries to key central defenders, Tis was left with no choice but to switch to a back three for the match with midfielder Matt Oakley playing alongside full-back Craig Woodman and youngster Pierce Sweeney.
Exeter will be hoping to bounce back on Saturday when they travel to second-placed Carlisle United, but will Tis have any of his first-choice defenders back for that match?
“We had five or six central defenders unavailable to play against Doncaster,” said Tis. “Troy Brown had been back in training all week, but wasn’t fit enough to start the game. Troy Archibald-Henville is going to be out for a while; he took a very nasty tackle in the reserve game, while Jordan Tilson is two or three weeks away and Jordan Moore-Taylor, I don’t know.
“It’s a disappointing situation, but we just have to accept that’s the way it is at the moment.”
City under-18s will also be in action this weekend when they take on MK Dons in the FA Youth Cup second round on Friday night.
Kick-off for the game at St James Park is 7pm and tickets are available on the gate priced at £5 for adults, £3 for seniors and £1 for under-18s and students.