I knew Jake Taylor would net ahead of his wedding day – Exeter boss Matt Taylor

Posted Wednesday, October 21, 2020 by PA

Exeter manager Matt Taylor was confident captain Jake Taylor would find the back of the net in the Grecians’ narrow Sky Bet League Two win over Crawley – because he gets married in the morning.

Exeter came from a goal down to beat the Red Devils 2-1 at St James Park with Taylor netting the equaliser before Ryan Bowman charged down a Glenn Morris clearance and the ball rebounded into the net for the winner.

“I said he (Jake Taylor) was going to score tonight because he is getting married tomorrow,” Matt Taylor said. “You often find that things like that happen because your mind is in a good place.

“It is going to be a fantastic day for him and his family, in spite of the circumstances. I just felt that he would be in a positive mindset tonight and I think he got better as the game went on.

“We played poorly and sometimes you have every right to play poorly and the opposition play well against you.

“I felt we were too far off in all areas in the first half. I could use excuses about the shift they put in against Walsall or players coming in and not finding their rhythm, but they would be excuses.

“We have to start the game better than that. I know field position is a rugby term, but it is so relevant to League Two football but – all of a sudden – our players were more dangerous and we earnt a little bit of luck off the back of it.

“We rode our luck and we didn’t defend well enough, but we gained some control, got a bit of luck and I am delighted with the three points.”

Crawley had taken the lead after Max Watters netted his fourth goal in just his third game for the club and manager John Yems, the former Exeter assistant, felt his side deserved more from the game after they missed a glut of first-half chances.

“I am not going to sit here and criticise (goalkeeper) Glenn (Morris),” Yems said. “It is a team game, we were winning as a team and we lost a team. We have to grow up pretty quickly otherwise it won’t happen again.

“You can’t come to these places….we could have been three or four up – we could have this, could have been that but we didn’t and we wasn’t good enough on the night to see the game out.

“Max does score goals but if we are letting in goals at the other end and not doing what we should be doing, then it’s a waste of time.

“They are a good side Exeter and I know I have got my allegiance with them. They won’t give in – seems like some of us did.”