Tisdale: “I’m pleased that Danny [Coles] is back”

In a statement that will send a chill down the spine of most City supporters, Tisdale has said on the official site that:-

I’m pleased that Danny [Coles] is back after his one match suspension, but Pat Baldwin did extremely well in the game on Saturday – not to say they both can’t play.

The Grecians have 2 games this coming Easter weekend. Firstly promotion hopefuls Chesterfield on Friday with a 3pm kick off, then relegation haunted Torquay United on Easter Monday (kick off 3pm). No doubt a lot of promotion and relegation issues will become clearer by the end of Monday. A point alluded to by Paul Tisdale:-

It is very tight and there are a lot of teams feeling the same pressure as us. They’ll be looking at their fixtures and each other’s fixtures, and trying to get a win or two over this weekend.

It’s going to make for an exciting weekend – I’m not sure it will be particularly enjoyable from the touchline as a manager, but it will be very exciting.

On Chesterfield, Tisdale said:-

Chesterfield will be a tough nut to crack. We have watched them play in our scouting lead-up to the game, and they are a good side. They are strong, they attack very well and they have a good record.

We will have to get our game in tune and we have to play to our strengths. We have to back ourselves in terms of the perceived strengths and weaknesses of both sides, and try to minimise their strengths and get ours on show.

With 2 very different oppositions this weekend Tisdale admitted:-

There will always be decisions – even when the first 11 is settled, you can spend all your time worrying about the last selection on the bench,” he continued.

Those decisions very often go to the last minute on a weekend. Whether it’s someone coming into the starting 11 or onto the bench, they always play a part.

I commented to the players on Monday that we’ve got to train very hard, and train to be ready for both games. The chances of us using just 11 players across the 95 minutes in both games is slim.

So there are lots of players that are capable of playing a part in this weekend, and not just the 11 that I select on Friday.

Match Officials for the Chesterfield game are:- http://www.exeweb.com/2014/04/15/match-officials-away-to-chesterfield/