Exeter City manager Matt Taylor credited his players for their performance at Forest Green Rovers, despite the club missing out on the play-offs in Sky Bet League Two.
A win for the Grecians, with Newport County dropping points, would have given City a place in the top seven, but despite creating a host of chances, Matt’s side were unable to find the net as the match finished 0-0.
Following the result, Matt said: “We could’ve scored, we had lots of opportunities. I think we had more chances in that first half of football than we’ve had in a number of weeks. It hurts more than usual because you’ve created chances and we were good enough to win that game of football.
“The lads put in another fantastic shift, the game plan was right from the start and we went after them, we pressed and pinched the ball high up the pitch and created numerous chances. We’ve hit the post and missed the target too many times but in terms of effort I can’t fault the boys, it’s just devastating, the season comes down to that. You want a good performance to be backed up with points but unfortunately that wasn’t the case today.”
Matt and his players will now turn their attentions to next season and he admitted that though some players may depart the club, he is determined to build and take the side forward and have success.
“As much as we’ll regret those chances today, ultimately over a season it comes down to the moments in other games and at times we’ve probably not been quite good enough in both boxes to look after points and to gain points,” explained Matt.
“The boys are gutted, and rightly so, they’ve given everything for this football club. Some will move on, some of them we can’t keep hold of and will move on to bigger and better things, and some of those players have been fantastic servants for this football club and we wish them all the best. Right now, is a time for digesting, it’s a disappointing day and one we can’t affect now. We could affect it before the game, and we tried our hardest. I want to say good luck to Forest Green and all the best in the play-offs.
“I’ve had my gripes this season about where we’ve dropped points and that’s up to me as manager to sort out. We’ve got a couple of months now to get things in place and get players in.
“I want to take this club forward, everything is in place at the training ground and at the ground, the structure as well, and I’m desperate for success. The league table doesn’t lie, and we’ve missed out by a point and that hurts because we’ve left points out there this season.”
Matt also says he and his staff are aware of where they need to strengthen and will now look to add to the squad as they go in search of success next season.
He continued: “It started months ago, we knew we weren’t quite good enough for automatic promotion in this league and we had a chance at the play-offs. We know what we need, and we know where to strengthen, it’s easier said than done. That group of players have got to be proud of themselves because they couldn’t have done any more in terms of the chances created. We threw everything at them in the end, they could have scored on the counter-attack but my players were still sprinting back, getting the ball, and getting up the other end but it just didn’t quite fall for us.“