💬 Ryan Bowman: “We came out in the second half much better, much brighter, and we got the goal.”

City striker Ryan Bowman has given his thoughts after the Grecians beat Cambridge United 2-0 at St James’ Park to continue their unbeaten run in Sky Bet League Two.

Bowman’s goal, as well as a late strike from Randell Wlliams secured the points for Matt Taylor’s side, and the goal scorer says he is on track for his pre-season target.

“I think my highest league total is 16, so hopefully I can get that again. I set myself 15-20 at the start of the season so I’m on track for that.

“I’ll keep picking up as many goals and helping the team as much as I can.”

Both goals came in the second half after a first period that saw little action aside from an injury to referee to James Oldham. City failed to really get going in the first half, but Bowman says he is pleased with how his side reacted after the break.

“We knew ourselves we weren’t good enough in the first half, and the manager knew that. We had a chat at half time and we needed to pick ourselves up and we did that.

“The second half we started really bright, got the goal early and dug in for the win.

“We knew we could be better and we’d worked on things all week, so it was up to us to put it right.

“Thankfully we didn’t concede. That would have put a downer on things, but the boys at the back were fantastic.

“We came out in the second half much better, much brighter, and we got the goal.”

Bowman’s goal was followed by Williams’ finish, as he nicked the ball off the Cambridge defender inside the area before finding the back of the net. The huge sigh of relief inside St James’ Park could be felt, with 1-0 a dangerous lead to hold.

“It gave the fans something to cheer about because it was a bit quiet. You can’t fault them for that because there wasn’t a lot happening on the pitch, so when we got the goal and started brightly on the front foot it got them going as well, which helped us even more.”

After this result, The Grecians now face a long trip North to Grimsby next week – the last side to take maximum points from EX4. Bowman believes the Mariners will prove as difficult a task as this weekend’s opponents.

“That’ll be tough. It will be similar to what we faced today so we know what we’ll be up against. They’ll be on their home patch as well. Obviously we want to keep up our unbeaten run, so we’ll see where it takes us.”