Exeter City gave Ipswich Town ‘too much respect’
EXETER City defender Alex Hartridge said that the players will be trying to put things right next week after the disappointment of the 2-0 defeat to Ipswich Town. In front of the Sky TV cameras, the Grecians were well short of their best as they suffered a loss which saw them drop to 11 th in the League One table.
The Tractor Boys went ahead after 11 minutes when Freddie Ladapo nodded home from close range as they flew out of the traps and dominated the early stages. City rallied, but created little, and when Marcus Harness was left unmarked to head home from a corner midway through the second half, the game as a contest was over.
City were limited to next to nothing going forward, having just one shot on attack, a chance that fell to the defender in the first half, but his half-volley was pushed wide for a corner. The academy product admitted after the game that the players know they were not at the races and they need to do better, especially against sides like Ipswich who cut the gap to just two points to the top of the table.
“We are disappointed, we don’t feel we showed our best selves out there,” the 23-year-old. “They are a good team, and we weren’t far off them, but we need to do better, and we can. They are one of the better teams, they were set up and a had to good plan compared to what we wanted to do, and in the big moments, they stood up, but we need to be better
“We have said it too many times, we need to start games better and we gave them the momentum, and it will be tough against a time like that if we give them a one goal start. The message has been to respect teams but not fear them, but we showed them too much respect and weren’t intense enough.
“We are getting into a rhythm in these one game weeks and can do some proper work on the training ground and we now need to turn that into performances and results and there is an opportunity next week to put things right.”
On his own chance, which would have been a first league goal of his career, the defender said that it was a crucial moment in the game as it would have given them a perhaps undeserved leveller and that would have changed the outcome. It came from a corner which wasn’t properly cleared, Pierce Sweeney headed it back in, and from around six yards, the defender half-connected on the half-volley, but Christian Walton pushed it wide.
“I wasn’t too disappointed with the connection as it is not a technique I have practiced,” he said. “I know I need to add goals to my game, and it was a golden opportunity, and as bad as we were playing, it was an opportunity to give us something to hold onto.”
City have another free midweek before they travel to Oxford United next Saturday in the second round of the FA Cup.