Taylor jumps for joy as his City win again
EXETER City boss Matt Taylor was left jumping for joy after Jack Sparkes’ late goal sealed a deserved win over Scunthorpe United.
Matt Jay’s early free-kick had given the Grecians the lead and despite dominating their opponents, missed a hatful of chances to put the game beyond doubt.
The Iron were kept to half-chances at best as City made it three clean sheets in a row, and it wasn’t until Sparkes’ 89 th minute goal that made it 2-0 that Taylor could feel comfortable that City would come away with the three points
So much so, the manager was left jumping up to celebrate the winning goal, something he said he hasn’t done in a while, after what a ‘top performance’ that means City have taken 17 points from the last 24.
With other results going against the Grecians, they stay 8 th in the table, but with games in hand on those above them and are just six points off the top.
“It was a really top, top performance,” the manager said. “I would have liked us to have scored the second a little earlier than we did. We kept them at arm’s length and kept creating those chances and just stood there thinking if the second wouldn’t go in then it could take something special to keep it at 1-0, so I was so pleased for the team and Jack Sparkes.
“I don’t know if you saw my celebration but I haven’t jumped in a little while but I really celebrated that one.
“When it’s 1-0 you want the reward for playing so well and an early reward to take the pressure off as it only takes one moment and can be a referee mistake, a slip, a keeper error, or a bit of brilliance which they have in them, and you have it in the back of the mind, which is why I was so pleased when we got the second.”
Jay’s free-kick, his 17 th goal of the season gave City an early lead, and Taylor praised the performance of his ‘go-to’ man, despite the 25-year-old missing chances to secure the win.
He said: “He is in great form and he took the goal well but was putting himself in the position for the other chances. He’s becoming not our main man but the go-to man in converting those moments.”
And Sparkes contribution off the bench for his first league goal left Taylor delighted as he felt that the substitutions he made improved the Grecians performance, saying: “It wasn’t the cleanest of finishes but he hit the target. I’m delighted for him as we need him, and the pleasing aspect was the subs improved us, and I felt that they made us stronger. It is about the collective and the squad and will need all the bodies fit and firing.”
It was the third clean sheet in a row that the Grecians kept - the first time they have down that since the last game of the 2018/19 season and the first two games of the 2019/20 season - and for the second time in that three game run, Jokull Andresson didn’t have a save to make.
On the defence, Taylor said: “Clean sheets are so important and Alex (Hartridge) and Rory (McArdle) were exceptional again. We were solid and we had more quality as the half went on.”
Up next for City is a home game against league leaders Cheltenham Town - who lost 3-1 at Mansfield Town - but Taylor said that it was just another game at this stage of the season.
“Until it gets to single figures, we won’t be looking at the league table,” he said. “It’s just another game and I just want to keep picking up the points and the opportunities which are coming our way, but it is a real shot in the arm in terms of three clean sheets and good haul