Taylor is frustrated after loss for Exeter
EXETER CITY manager Matt Taylor was left frustrated and disappointed at the concession of the stoppage-time first-half goal which changed the complexion of the match in Tuesday’s abject League Two defeat at Barrow.
After a half which was lacking in any real quality or goalmouth action, Patrick Brough fired home from 12 yards after the Grecians’ defence appeared to stop playing in anticipation of a penalty being awarded.
City rallied after the break and were the better side, but created little and Scott Quigley’s goal in secondhalf stoppage time sealed the win for the Bluebirds on the break.
Pierce Sweeney’s second goal of the season, smashing home from a corner, deep into injury time gave City hope, but time ran out and they slipped to a 2-1 defeat – the fourth in five on the road.
Speaking after the game, Taylor said he felt that the first goal was the crucial moment as it changed how both sides had to approach the second half, and he was left unhappy with the ease and manner of which Brough was allowed to score.
“It was a scrappy, messy game, with very little quality in it, but I was very disappointed with the goal before half time,” Taylor said.
“It was an even encounter with little creation from either team, so it was a difficult one to take as then we have to chase the game and they can get bodies behind the ball and slow the game down. We allowed them to do that, so that’s frustrating as we should have dealt with the situation better than we did and it made us chase the game and we didn’t do that effectively.”
Asked if it changed his team talk, he added: “We needed more and more quality and needed to be more willing to get off our heels and toes and be in the action more. Maybe we didn’t have it in the legs on the night, but if you go in at 0-0 then it’s a different game as they have to change as much as we do and then, as desperation sets in, concede a second, but we didn’t get the ball in the box often enough, second half, and barely beat a man one on one.
“We gave them something extra in terms of the [first] goal. It was too easy and we were in a fantastic position to stop it at source and the importance of the goal is huge as it changes the half-time team talk and everything we do in the second half and we are chasing the game, and having to do things that don’t suit our way of playing.”
After last Saturday’s superb 4-1 win at then league leaders Cambridge
United, hopes were high that City could get the win that would take them back into the play-offs for the first time in two months. But, on a bobbly and difficult pitch in Cumbria, the first half was a drab affair until Brough’s strike.
Barrow cleared their lines, the wing-back drove forward down the left wing, beat Josh Key, and squared the ball to Luke James, who appeared to be brought down by Tom Parkes inside the box.
Referee Ross Joyce was unmoved, the City defence stopped, but Brough was alert, wriggled past Sweeney, and then fired home from ten yards into the corner of Jokull Andresson’s goal to put Barrow ahead.
City had all the play after the break, but a Jack Sparkes header straight at goalkeeper Jason Dixon was as close as they came, and with Taylor throwing on Alex Fisher and Ben Seymour in a vain attempt to level, Quigley doubled the lead in the 90th minute on the break.
There was still time for City to get one back, Sweeney firing home from a Sparkes corner, but time ran out to grab an equaliser.
Taylor added: “We didn’t get enough out of the three centre-forwards and, the one moment that we did get the ball into the box, we scored, but it was too little, too late.
“Everyone is fighting for lives and for something, and it’s about execution at certain times and the first goal is so big. The game had no quality, and we did enough to be in level, and have a chance to sort it out, and we have to understand the magnitude of it as we can’t let that happen in the remaining six games,” the City boss concluded.
Despite the loss, Exeter stayed in eighth place in the table. While they failed to capitalise on their game in hand on managerless Forest Green Rovers, the Gloucestershire side, who City face next Tuesday, are only two points ahead of Taylor’s men, meaning that it is still in their own hands.
Up next for City is a home game against Phil Brown’s Southend United on Saturday, which will kick off at 12.30pm.