Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale praised the players’ focus as they recorded a 1-0 victory over Grimsby Town on Saturday.
City took the lead in the 38th minute when Jake Taylor was brought down in the box and Jayden Stockley tucked away the penalty.
And, thanks to a penalty miss from Grimsby Town’s JJ Hooper, that proved to be the difference as City restricted the hosts to just one shot on target throughout the whole match.
It meant it was six points from two games that week, with City recording another morale-boosting victory at Crewe Alexandra on Tuesday night. That performance was different to the Grimsby game as City had to come from behind to win that match, but that pleased Tis.
“It’s six points on the road this week and we feel pretty pleased with ourselves,” he said.
“If you were a neutral watching the flow of the game, you’d say they deserved something, but we got our noses in front and we just dug in.
“It’s the sort of performance where, again, Tuesday gave us confidence going forward, today gives you confidence, because we just defended so well and were so resilient and determined and made life very difficult for them.
“They played really well and Paul Wilkinson (Grimsby Town’s manager) had them really geared up and they had some good play about them.
“I said to him afterwards they were so keen and eager to do things they probably didn’t take a deep breath when they needed to, which was probably the difference. We probably had that confidence, where we are, just to do the basics, one step after the next and we managed to hold on.
“There were some big defensive performances there, particularly in the second half, so we’re really pleased.”
Tis also thanked the 148 City fans who turned up at Blundell Park, including one supporter who took his shirt off during the game despite freezing conditions on the banks of the Humber Estuary.
“I saw on social media this morning how far the journey was to get here – we just sit on our coach and switch off but, for those people making that journey, it was a terrific journey to make,” said Tis.
“So thank you for all of those and, the guy who was stood there without a shirt on at the end, thank you very much and are you sure? Because it was cold today, we need to get him looked at.”