Gary Caldwell unhappy with Exeter performance despite win at Shrewsbury

Gary Caldwell believed his Exeter side were “poor” despite their 2-0 away win at Shrewsbury that took them to fourth in the league.

The Grecians’ victory means they remain unbeaten in six games and have managed to keep a clean sheet in all.

Caldwell also oversaw his 100th game in charge of the Devon outfit in style, thanks to some fine finishing from Kamari Doyle and Josh Magennis.

Exeter opened the scoring early on through Doyle, who disposed Toto Nsiala and fired into the bottom corner and concluded the scoring in the 65th minute through Magennis.

Shrewsbury’s best effort came just past the 20-minute mark when Funso Ojo and John Marquis had efforts from close range in quick succession, but Joe Whitworth’s double save kept Exeter ahead.

“It’s the first time that I have reached 100 games at a club as a manager, so I am really proud of that,” Caldwell said.

“There are a lot of people behind the scenes to help me achieve that, and we had really difficult moments last year when everyone stood together, and we are reaping the rewards of that.

“There is such a long way to go for this football club and what it can achieve, but what we are doing at the minute is really special.

“I thought we were poor overall, and I thought we started extremely well, and we scored a goal that we spoke about all week.

“After that, we just stopped playing; Shrewsbury made it difficult for us in the way they set up, they locked on and made it hard, and we couldn’t find solutions.

“When we did get opportunities in the final third, we didn’t have the threat we would of liked to have had.”

Shrewsbury boss Paul Hurst felt his side were unfortunate not to get anything from the game.

Hurst said: “We have played well enough tonight to get something from the game.

“Some big decisions have gone against us. One is obvious, the other one I have just been told about, I have not seen it myself.

“I think there were a couple that he should not have had the opportunity to save, so it is a night where I am not sure we have got what we deserved.

“We make life difficult for ourselves at one end, and if you do not put the ball in the net, then you are always going to be up against it.

“The handball, I do not understand how he cannot see that.

“If it were a goalkeeper, we would be saying great save. There is confusion with the rules and all of that.

“I don’t feel like that falls into that category. I don’t understand how you cannot see that.”