Scott Brown urges Fleetwood to find ugly side after Exeter clinch late draw

Posted Sunday, April 02, 2023 by PA

Boss Scott Brown urged Fleetwood to find their ugly side after conceding a late goal in their 2-2 League One draw with Exeter.

Jack Marriott put the hosts 2-1 in front with a brilliant brace, his first for the club, with goals either side of Kevin McDonald’s leveller.

But Pierce Sweeney popped up with a last-gasp equaliser to ensure Exeter’s drive back to Devon was not in vain.

Cod Army boss Brown said: “We got bullied at the back. If you’re a centre-half you have to be able to mark, you have to do better, you have to be able to bully and not get dictated to.

“It’s small details and it’s a mentality thing. You need to know you can bully the man that you’re marking.

“You don’t want him to score, you don’t want him to win the first contact and it’s happened too many times this season.

“I thought we actually played quite well. The lad were fluent enough and kept the ball well.

“The big problem was one set play, H (Harrison Holgate) has to do better. H has to go away and defend against Jayden (Stockley) in the box, because if you can defend against Jayden then you can defend against 99 per cent of players in League One.”

Gary Caldwell was delighted his side left Lancashire with a point after twice going behind.

But he was left disappointed with the goals his side conceded in their draw.

He said: “I’m delighted with the players’ character after a tough, long week, to come from behind twice to get a point tells you a lot about these players.

“We found a way to not be beaten. Pierce stayed on the pitch after not feeling his best in the first half, it epitomised the way we all were today.

“It’s a fair result. I don’t think we can defend the way we defended and expect to win a game of football.

“We’ve lost two poor goals. We looked loose. We need to be better and there’s always places to improve.

“Some of our build-up play was excellent but we weren’t as good as we have been in recent weeks in the final third.

“I felt like any long ball caused us problems. Too many times it caused us a lot of problems and it’s a difficult task when you give two goals away, but we found the answers.”