Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale was happy with his side’s performance after they earned a hard-fought three points against Coventry City.
Ryan Harley’s early goal was the enough for City, who defended excellently to hold out for their victory at St James Park.
Tis praised Christy Pym, who made a string of smart saves, and felt that City could have scored more after they created some good chances in both halves.
He said: “That’s why both penalty boxes are so important. We had a goalkeeper today who kept the ball out of the net, I thought Christy Pym was so solid and trustworthy in everything that he did.
“We would have liked to have got a second goal, that might have eased the anxiety a little. We played to the conditions, the players took away their pride and their ego and did what was necessary.
“It was a really turgid affair, a long 85 minutes for a manager, to see your side score a goal and ask them to keep a clean sheet and ride through the game at 1-0.”
Tis also explained how his side went into the match with the same focus as usual as the Grecians look to put a string of consistent results together, both home and away.
He continued: “It was no different to how we thought last week and the week before that. The opposition has a part to play in how you play, so it was not different to how we played in any of our recent home games, at all.
“We have to adapt because at the moment it’s a difficult pitch to play on. It’s not the best spectacle to see, I guess, but home fans like to see home wins. It’s five or six wins in the league at home in a row so it can’t be too bad.”
The Grecians now look to difficult away matches with the top two sides, Notts County and Luton Town, and Tis thinks it will be an indication as to where his side are when they come up against them.
He said: “It’s so tight, two or three games and the picture changes so we are there but I think we have a real test with the Notts County and Luton Town games.
“We all know that we want to, and need to, improve our away form. It is difficult to adjust how we play, from playing here to going away from home and needing to do things a little differently so it’s something we need to be conscious of.
“Over the next two away games we will have a pretty good indication of how we fare against the top two teams in the league.”