Matt Taylor bemoans Exeter wastefulness despite win at Carlisle

Posted Sunday, April 10, 2022 by PA

Exeter boss Matt Taylor was left with mixed emotions after his side left it late to beat Carlisle 1-0 at Brunton Park.

The high-flying Grecians needed a dramatic 89th-minute Padraig Amond winner, his first goal for four months, to extend their fine unbeaten run to eight games.

City have won three on the bounce and six out of eight to open up a healthy five-point cushion over the promotion chasing pack.

But Taylor rued his side for being wasteful in front of goal and urged them to improve in the final third with League One football firmly within their grasp.

“It was a game we should have sewn up sooner,” stressed Taylor.

“In terms of the performance, the chances we created, we haven’t worked their goal enough.

“Their keeper made one really outstanding save and some other good saves you’d expect him to make.

“It took one moment, a set piece, and Podge doing what he’s done throughout his career and being on the move to anticipate where that ball’s going to land from a header at the back post to win it.

“I’m delighted and I’m delighted with our defence to have that mindset because when you’ve got a lot of possession and on the front foot you can take your eye off the ball at the back and we didn’t do that today.

“That’s the most amount of chances we’ve created in a long time.

“In terms of our performance from box to box I thought we were excellent.

“It’s that final bit that we were missing. If we score one early it could be a totally different game.”

Carlisle boss Paul Simpson was left bitterly frustrated with his side’s off-colour performance.

Simpson, who has turned the club’s fortunes around since returning to Cumbria, groaned: “Well it wasn’t very good was it? I think anybody who was here today would say it wasn’t very good.

“It wasn’t the level of performance, level of energy or level of desire that was shown in the first nine games that I’ve been here.

“That’s the biggest disappointment for me, because I can accept losing games.

“I accept that when you’ve done everything you possibly can and you lose you have to hold your hands up.

“We could have done a lot more. We could have worked harder, we could have played better football and be more competitive.

“With that said we’ve been done by the most basic of basic goals in whatever minute of the game it was.

“If we do our jobs probably we don’t concede a goal and take a point out of the game that they will say they deserved to win because they’ve absolutely dominated it.”