Impressive Exeter please manager Gary Caldwell

Posted Saturday, September 21, 2024 by PA

Exeter manager Gary Caldwell feels there is a lot more to come from his young side, despite the ease with which they accounted for Stevenage in League One.

The Grecians were 2-0 winners at St James Park, with goals from Ed Francis and Kamari Doyle, and they could easily have won by more, such was the dominance they enjoyed.

“I’m pleased with the win, but I think we could play better,” Caldwell said. “I would like us to be better and do more, I am never going to stop driving these players to be better because I believe in so many of them and the potential of this group.

“When I think of the journey we have been on since I have been at the club, to win a game as comfortably as we did, playing at probably six out of 10, shows the progress that we are making at this level and the understanding we are making at this level.

“We tried to improve from the start of the season and I think, not winning duels is something that has cost us victories, but we worked all week on making contact and I thought we won so many first contacts.

“In the first half, I felt we controlled the game without really hurting them, we were too slow with our rotations. But second half, we upped the tempo and we could have scored more. At 2-0, we were very comfortable, but I do think we have more in the tank.”

Stevenage took until the 89th minute to register a shot on target with manager Alex Revell admitting they were well beaten.

“It was a bad day at the office and for the first time this season, we weren’t what we are about,” he said. “The first five minutes of a game, it is really important to win your first header and set the tone for the game, but we lost too many duels, midfielders running past, no one tracking runners, or passing players on; the centre forward not bringing things down – that was not us, or what we are about.

“I was really disappointed because after last week (beating Barnsley 3-0), you think we are on a high – and we were. But if you don’t win duels and if we are slightly down on our performance, at this level, then we will get punished.

“We pride ourselves on defending set-plays and scoring them at the other end and we had plenty of chances to get the ball on their goal in the first half, but we missed the target and had another one roll along the six-yard box, which you expect someone to tap in and then they go down the other end and it’s 1-0. If you don’t do your job, then you end up conceding a goal and we just didn’t do enough to win the game.”