Taylor explains his early changes

MATT Taylor said that the double substitution he made just 20 minutes into Exeter City’s 2-0 defeat to Morecambe on Tuesday night was necessary to give them any chance of claiming the points.

With the Grecians already trailing to an Adam Phillips penalty, Taylor took off Alex Hartridge and Ben Seymour - the latter making his first league start of the season - and brought on Jake Caprice and Nicky Law.

He also changed the shape of the team and, while City improved, Cole Stockton grabbed a second midway the second half to condemn the Grecians to another home loss.

Taylor said that Hartridge’s removal was injury related, although his performance beforehand was below-par, and that Seymour had to be sacrificed as a result of the poor start of the defence, and the changes were needed to try and keep them in the game.

“I wanted to stay in the game and give us a chance and the amount of chances they were creating and how they were hurting us, I felt I needed to do that,” the manager said.

“We paid the price for a start that wasn’t good enough. We knew it would be difficult against a good team but we gave them an in with our start and we were forced into changing shape and personal very early.

“It is hard on Ben as I wanted to play two up top and be a bit more proactive, but it clearly wasn’t working, and sometimes when the defence isn’t working, you have to sacrifice a player at the other end of the pitch.

“It was tactical and I can only apologise to Ben, but it was either him, Ryan Bowman or Matt Jay and went with the more senior ones to remain on the pitch. Anyone who watched the game knew we needed to change something and Ben paid the price for the team’s slow start. When the defence are struggling, you have to sacrifice someone somewhere.”