Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale praised his side’s second half display as they came from behind to beat Cambridge United 3-2 at the Abbey Stadium.
After the Grecians fell behind in the first half to Jabo Ibehre’s strike, they levelled through Jayden Stockley’s header. But George Maris’ effort from distance put the home side back in the ascendancy, and they also hit the crossbar shortly after through Jevani Brown.
However, the Grecians rallied well and drew level when Matt Jay notched his first league goal before Jake Taylor sealed all three points for the Grecians when he fired in late on.
Following the match, Tis said: “It was a good day for us, it was all about the result, so we are delighted.
“I still fancied us because we had the bit between our teeth, we were bold and brave in what we were doing.
“I felt we had confidence about us today, it was a tough game for us, firstly it was more difficult with the breeze, we haven’t coached that page yet. I said to them at half-time that I wish I could go back and do that yesterday! Second-half it was a lot easier for us, we covered the pitch better. I thought Matt Jay and Jake Taylor were excellent in their roles off of Jayden.”
With City trailing at the break after the home side dominated the opening encounters, Tis explained his thinking as he had to make changes following an injury to Robbie Simpson.
He continued: “Robbie was injured, he got a dead leg 10 minutes before the end of the first half. He came across about six minutes before the end and I asked him to carry on just to give me a bit of thinking time because I didn’t want to be forced into a change and then, at half-time, wish I did something else.
“We had a few debates to have at half-time because Cambridge had the better of the first half, so we needed to do something. Matt Jay helped me sort out issues that we had.”
In what was a frantic match with both sides looking for the win, Tis explained his thought process going into the final stages of the match.
He said: “I don’t think you can describe it to anybody, having to make decisions, and I’ve got a very good support staff beside me, all the information comes into Matt Oakley and he filters it into me and we make a decision.
"It was one of those games where we had to cover the pitch. Barry Corr couldn’t quite get on the end of it at the back post, which would have been heart breaking for us, but it was a really impressive second half performance.
We weren’t’ bad in the first half, Cambridge were good. It was a game of 100+ minutes today, we did the important thing which is to score more goals than them.”
The result keeps City fourth in the Sky Bet League Two race for promotion, just two points behind Wycombe Wanderers, and with five games to go Tis is targeting third place but was keen to stress that his side are taking it one game at a time.
He continued: “We are looking at third place, that has to be our focus. We have five games to concentrate on, Accrington next week, it doesn’t really need saying but it’s going to be a pretty tough game up there. We’re doing pretty well at the moment, we have key players missing from the squad, but we are still doing ok and I’m very proud of them. “