Tisdale on FA Cup Exit “I’m more disappointed because we played competently”

A disappointing day. Witnessed by only 181 Grecians, such was the disappointment with the draw and the expectation levels for a result.

The first half was typical of many Exeter City performances, hold and frustrate the opposition. This worked well and the Grecians looked comfortable with their League 1 opposition. Not an awful lot for each keeper to do, and with Krysiak the busier of the two keepers.

Paul Tisdale started the second half with O’Flynn added to the attack line. But the change to the formation was to be City undoing as City played more up field leaving the defence more open. Posh were able to take advantage in the 72 second minute with an Assombalonga goal, which was followed up in the 70th minute by a defensive lapse to allow Mendez-Laing goal.

Despite Nichols and Wheeler being added to the attck City were unable to penetrate the Peterborough defence. Good games for Davies and Gill.

Another season, another Cup exit at the first hurdle.

Peterborough United 2		Exeter City 0
01 Olejnik		01 Krysiak
31 Little		04 Bennett
03 Ntlhe		03 Woodman
06 Bostwick		14 Doherty
04 Brisley		05 Baldwin
02 Alcock		06 Coles
07 Swanson		07 Sercombe
17 Newell		29 Grimes
23 Barnett		25 Parkin
09 Assombalonga		11 Davies
08 Payne		35 Gill
Substitutes		Substitutes
05 Zakuani		15 Moore-Taylor
13 Day		19 O’Flynn
15 Anderson		20 Nichols
19 Mendez-Laing		21 Gosling
22 Ephraim		22 Keohane
32 Conlon		30 Pym
36 Jeffers		32 Wheeler
Substitutions
Peterborough		Mendez-Lain on for Barnett 45′, Ephraimon for Swanson 46′ , Conlon on for Payne 68′
Exeter City		O’Flynn on for Doherty 47′, Nichols on Baldwin 77′ and Wheeler on for Gill 81′
Discipline
Peterborough		Assombalonga and Ephrain both booked
Exeter City		Doherty booked
Goal scorers
Assombalonga 72′ Mendez-Laing 79′
Ref: Graham Salisbury
Attendance: 3,379 of wich 181 were Grecians

Match Stats	PUFC	ECFC
Possession	57%	43%
Shots	15	7
On Target	8	2
Corners	2	1
Fouls	7	8

Cheggers Pics – http://exetercityfc.newsprints.co.uk/1/peterborough%20vs%20exeter%20city%20fa%20cup

Quotes

Paul Tisdale on the defeat :-

I’m disappointed fundamentally because it’s the first round of the FA Cup and we’ve not been the best candidates for a cup run in the last couple of years. It’s something that we’ve put a lot of preparation into this week and we really applied ourselves this week to try and get a result here.

I’m more disappointed because we played competently and built our performance nicely. There was a strategy to the way we played and defended and how we increased our offensive play, and I’m pleased with that.

Our players match them with comfort on the ball and trust in each other, and we looked strong in defensive situations. We were building our play when they scored their first goal.

Pat Baldwin’s thoughts:-

We felt comfortable and we were trusting each other and we were on the same page, but we lacked that bit of threat in the final third.

Peterborough upped the tempo, which they were always going to do as they were at home. And our change in formation probably mean they had more space in wide areas, and they exploited that quite well.

It was a game that we knew was going to open up, and Sam needed a bit of help up top because he was quite isolated in the first half. But we’re disappointed with the first goal – it changed the game and it was a disappointing one to concede.

Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson said after the game:-

I thought we were patient the first half, maybe lacked a bit of quality but I thought for the whole of the second half we were very good.

I think it typifies the problem at the moment where everyone expects us to win 6-0 when your first question says we didn’t really get going until the 70th minute. They’re a very good team, Exeter, fifth in League Two and a good footballing team. We just had to be patient and we had to produce a better quality in the second half to be fair and we’ve done that.

90 seconds of highlights http://youtu.be/x8NCXZOzJr4