Exeter feeling pressure of play-off race, admits Matt Taylor after Newport draw

Exeter manager Matt Taylor said his team will keep battling on in the race for the Sky Bet League Two play-offs, even though they failed to claim victory in their “must-win” home game against Newport.

The Grecians knew a win would take them into the play-off places at the expense of the Exiles, but a goalless draw means County still hold the advantage over Exeter, who were overtaken by Salford in the quest for a top-seven spot.

The Grecians failed to register a shot on target in the game, while this was their third goalless draw in succession.

“We are looking for solutions to not score but create,” Taylor said. “People will ask who is playing up front in three goalless draws, but we have not got that ball where we have needed it to be. That is with no disrespect to the players on the pitch, that was down to execution today. I can’t shape it any other way.

“The pressure of the game and expectation is there in terms of us needing to win today. We now have to win (against Grimsby) on Tuesday, so I can’t take that away or hide that from the players, and it just seems to be inhibiting in the way we execute things in those moments. We lacked real quality today.

“Some are young kids, so they will naturally be nervy. And let’s be honest, some aren’t quite good enough to execute. We are a hard-working, well organised team and we have always relied on moments of quality form certain personnel.

“When you take real quality out of a hard-working team, then you are a little bit short and looking for others to stand up and make a difference.

“We will keep plugging away, there are three games left and nine points to play for. We are three points behind Newport still and a lot can change in the space of one game, let alone three games.”

Newport manager Michael Flynn added: “We threw everything at it, kept our composure, defended well and we should have won the game. I can’t ask for any more than what they have just given me.

“We dealt with their crosses quite comfortably and we looked like the team that was going to win that game today.

“That is three good performances on the spin and hopefully we are hitting form at the right time.

“We have got a tough game on Tuesday. Everybody thinks because they (Scunthorpe) have lost a few in a row it will be easy, but they won’t want their season to peter out.

“We have to make sure we have the same desire, attitude, determination and a little bit more quality and hopefully get three points and put the pressure on others.

“It was a good performance, I would have liked to have won, the performance was good and just missing that little bit of quality.”