Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale praised the response his players showed as they bounced back from a disappointing performance and result away at Crawley Town on Tuesday night to beat Accrington Stanley at home.
Goals from Hiram Boateng, in the first-half stoppage time, and Pierce Sweeney, from the penalty spot, gave the Grecians a 2-0 victory. However, it was the performance of his players, and their determined attitude, which pleased the manager the most.
“I like a 2-0 win and a goal in both halves,” he said. “It is symptomatic of a certain type of performance. We played in really tough conditions today.
“We have still got one of those pitches at Exeter which is like the old days. We are only in November and it is slippery and bumpy and just difficult to play football on.
“I think both sides made it an open game. However, the biggest factor about our performance today was how determined we were. And we needed that off the back of Tuesday’s dire performance at Crawley. We needed a response today and win, lose or draw, the players gave me that performance.”
The win moved City to within a point of third-placed Accrington Stanley.
“It was a good, hard-fought victory and we needed to get back into the top three challenge,” added Tis. “I know we are not there yet but we were four points behind Accrington going into today so that pulls us back in contention and we want to stay there. By Christmas and New Year, we want to be in those areas of the leagues. Today was a really important win for us.”