Tisdale happy to take something as League Two promotion race intensifies
Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale felt Saturday's 0-0 draw was a fair result after his side had been held by promotion rivals Fleetwood Town.
Although the game ended goalless, there were plenty of chances for either side in an entertaining encounter between two very evenly-matched sides, although Exeter came closest to winning in a frantic finale.
"I think you have to be pleased with a point when it has been a very good, open game," Tisdale said. "You have to defend space strongly when you come away and we did that.
"You always want the three points, both sides wanted the three points, we had to work very hard to keep the clean-sheet, but we are pleased and it is another point towards where we want to get to.
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"The team kept its discipline very well and worked extremely hard in testing conditions. Both sides had chances and we picked up in the last ten minutes and in injury time, and I don't know how we didn't manage to score at the end.
"The ball has thudded against the goalkeeper's chest in the last few seconds, but you can't blame anyone. John O'Flynn did superbly to keep the ball in play, as did Scot Bennett and Jake Gosling, and then Jamie Cureton hits his chest from six yards out.
"It would be harsh to blame Danny Coles as well for the chance he had. He is probably not a natural finisher and you would want Jamie in that situation to put that away, but there we are. Such is life!"
Until that point, Fleetwood had probably enjoyed the better of the second half after a half-time switch by Tisdale perhaps did not have the desired effect.
Explaining his decision to replace Kevin Amankwaah with O'Flynn, Tisdale said: "There are probably three or four that I would like to have given a rest to, but I thought after playing game after game after game after game, he looked a bit tired. With Steve Tully fresh in and the fact I wanted to put another striker on the pitch, I thought it was an attacking move to try and get more from the game.
"I think we had the ascendancy in the next ten minutes although Fleetwood probably got a foothold and were in the ascendancy after that."
The draw means Exeter will go into tomorrow's home game with league leaders Gillingham occupying seventh spot, the last of the play-offs places, and keeps the gap between the Grecians and Fleetwood at seven points.
"The result doesn't just suit us, it suits everybody else as well," Tisdale added. "Other clubs will look at our result and think: 'That's not a bad one, really.' It could have been better, it could have been worse, but there is still a long way to go.
"We just have to hold our nerve, keep picking up points and let it be more about what we do rather than what others do. That has always been our way."
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