Exeter earned an impressive 3-1 win against Swindon
PHIL Brown accused his defenders of getting bullied by Exeter striker Jayden Stockley as Swindon’s play-off hopes were dealt a blow.
The Robins took a 27th-minute lead thanks to a close-range finish by Kaiyne Woolery, but Exeter hit back to lead at the break through Jake Taylor and Pierce Sweeney.
Stockley was booed and branded a cheat by the Swindon supporters after getting knocked out in the second half. But the striker silenced his critics with an 88thminute clincher and celebrated wildly in front of the 337 visiting supporters.
Swindon’s fourth defeat from their last five away games leaves them three points adrift of the play-off places, and Brown fumed: “When it comes down to games like this, you have to put your body on the line and your character has to come out.
“But our centre-halves got bullied by Stockley. I am not sure who the Exeter man of the match was, but he was outstanding.
“It is up to ourselves now. We have got eight games left and nobody is giving up on anything.
“There is a points total to be had and we are still capable of achieving that.”
Swindon started brightly and Matty Taylor’s free-kick brought a smart save out of Christy Pym.
The Robins broke the deadlock after Sweeney’s tackle on Marc Richards only succeeded in presenting Woolery with a gilt-edged chance six yards out. The striker calmly rolled the ball into the bottom corner for his fifth goal of the season.
But the Grecians grabbed an equaliser with 33 minutes gone after Hiram Boateng clipped the ball to the back post for Taylor to dispatch into the roof of the net.
Exeter’s first-half fightback was complete a minute before the break after Dean Moxey was tripped by Matty Taylor and Sweeney converted from the spot.
Despite having the bulk of possession in the second half, the Robins rarely looked like finding a route back into the match. Marc Richards was denied by Christy Pym before the Exeter keeper excelled again to foil substitute Amine Linganzi.
Stockley sealed the win after latching onto Boateng’s pass and firing the ball into the roof of the net for his 18th goal of the season.
The win lifted Exeter up to fifth and manager Paul Tisdale beamed: “We earned that win.
“The players really lifted themselves after Swindon scored.
“The crowd were really energetic and noisy and really got behind the players. Let’s have more of that because it can really make the difference.
“They had a lot of the play, but we were in the right place and got the goals.
“In the second half, we just knew what we had to do. We just wanted to keep a clean sheet and I don’t want to apologise for that because it was needed.”