Tisdale on Portsmouth Defeat: “I loved the way they played”

Sometimes we use the phrase ‘A good day out spoilt by 90 minutes of football’, but maybe today it should be a ‘A good day out spoilt by the wind’! The wind certainly played its part. Straight into the faces of the Exeter fans congregated in the Milton End. Blustery and cold.

Neither team mastered it in the first half, and the Grecians looked good value for going in at half time at 0-0. Looking at the starting line-up this did seem to be Paul Tisdale’s master plan. However a speculative cross/shot on almost the stroke of half time from near the touchline by Holmes was neatly picked up by the wind and delivered in to the top of the net.

The 2nd half Pompey started much the brighter. With the wind now in their faces they played much the more controlled football and hardly gave the City players a touch of the ball. Within 4 minutes of the start of the half Portsmouth had doubled their lead. An elbow to the face of Jordan Moore-Taylor went unpunished by the poor referee, Langford, and with the City players distracted and a defender short Pompey were easily able to score with Bird via a header that bounced over the line.

With the assembled 1304 Exeter fans looking towards the bench for some inspiration and changes Tisdale decided none was needed. On the 71st minute Bird increased the leader with a clear header from a cross from the right. So, 3-0 to Pompey. Could the Grecians stage a comeback?

The travelling masses were not too down hearted. Up went the tribute song to Adam Stansfield. It continued as Coles scored when Carson let the ball though his legs on the 75th minute, after a Davies’ corner.

The singing from the Grecians continued and real hope was given in the 84th minute when O’Flynn was gifted a free header for City’s 2nd goal. The singing continued, and the introduction of Nichols caused a nervous defence a number of issues. The Pompey fans made their voices heard and were able to support their team to victory.

Despite the defeat, the backdrop of Fratton Park and the support from the away fans made the day not too bad. The singing continued long after the final whistle.

Portsmouth 3		Exeter City 2
40 Carson		01 Krysiak
02 Moutaouakil		04 Bennett
05 Devera		03 Woodman
31 Racon		14 Doherty
03 N’Gala		06 Coles
06 Bradley		15 Moore-Taylor
11 Holmes		07 Sercombe
16 Ferry		29 Grimes
18 Bird		10 Gow
23 Agyemang		25 Parkin
35 Wallace		11 Davies
Substitutes		Substitutes
01 Smith		19 O’Flynn
04 East		20 Nichols
07 Barcham		22 Keohane
08 Padovani		26 Tillson
09 Connolly		30 Pym
13 Ertl		32 Wheeler
20 Cooper		35 Gill
Substitutions
Portsmouth		Wallace was replaced by Barcham 69′, Ertl  replaced Ferry 72′ ,  Agyemang was replaced by Connolly 76′
Exeter City		Moore-Taylor reaplaced by O’Flynn, Doherty replaced by Gill, and Gow replaced by Nichols
Goal scorers
Holmes 45′		Coles 75′
Bird 49′, 71′		O’Flynn 84′
Discipline
Portsmouth		Yellow Cards: Barcham
Exeter City		Yellow Cards: Gill
Ref: Oliver Langford
Att: 16,168 of which 1304 Exeter City fans
Match Stats	PFC	ECFC
Possession	53%	47%
Shots	15	11
On Target	8	6
Corners	12	7
Fouls	11	7

Exeter City’s official match report – http://www.exetercityfc.co.uk/fixtures-results/match-report/

The 90 seconds official highlights on You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVut0SknmBc

Quotes

From Exeter’s young striker Tom Nichols speaking on the official site:-

If the game had gone on ten minutes longer, I think we could have won it.

I think as a team we reacted well to going three-nil down. We’re disappointed that we didn’t manage to get the points, but I think there are a lot of positives that we can take from the game.

Scoring with that header would have capped a good week for me, after the two goals at Crystal Palace.

I made a good connection and I thought it was in. I don’t think there was much more I could have done though, because I directed it well and got plenty of power behind it. When I came on, I knew I was going to get a chance so I’m disappointed that it didn’t go in.

I’m not going to get into the team because of my finishing alone. Paul wants me to work on other parts of my games and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing.

I know I can put the ball in the net and I know I can take chances when they come, so I’ve got to keep working on the rest of my game.

Paul Tisdale said:-

I can appreciate the type of game and the finish to it, and I appreciate the way we played. I have mixed feelings – of course we lost, but I really liked us today.

I liked the way we played and how we built our performance – three goals was a tall order to come back from.  I would like to a repeat of that last 15 minutes more often; I know that’s difficult all the time, but we have to harness a bit of that.

It was a really good game, and I’m smarting a little bit with one or two moments of the game which went against us.  But we won’t go far wrong if we keep on playing like this.

It was an incredibly difficult set of weather conditions.  It wasn’t just a straight wind; it seemed to swirl.  I don’t know whether that’s the nature of the stadia here and the gaps in the corners.  There was an erratic nature to it, which we saw with their goal.

Our players worked off the back of the energy in the stadium. It’s a wonderful place to play football – our players really enjoyed it.  I suppose we have to find a way of playing with that intensity we had at the end of the game when we’re playing in front of a quiet set of supporters at home.

It was a really good experience for us, and well done to Portsmouth.  They have a terrific set-up here and the supporters really support their team, and it was a terrific place to play.

Ricky Holmes of Portsmouth on the first goal.

It was a worldy wasn’t it. No, it was a cross and thankfully the wind picked up right at that point. I didn’t hit it very hard – I was just looking to get the ball towards the back stick and it caught everyone by surprise.

Portsmouth boss said:-

Exeter could afford to go for it because they were three down. They played without fear and it was nerve-wracking.

But up until they scored the first one we looked like we were in control of the game. The conditions were difficult, but we passed it well and got ourselves into good areas.

We knew Exeter would play football, but they didn’t hurt us until they just threw the ball into the box late on.