Exeter City must “play with handbrake off” following their performance in the second half.
In order to turn draws into wins and move up the League One standings, Exeter City boss Gary Caldwell has challenged his team to play more with the handbrake off.
At St James Park on Saturday, the Grecians and Wigan Athletic split the points following a 1-1 draw in a match that City most likely did enough to win. However, it ended equal due to a slow start, a poorly conceded goal, and a failure to maximise possession and momentum. Despite having 75% of the ball, City rarely threatened the goal, the build-up was too slow, and Callum Wright gave the opposition the lead with a single through ball from a free kick. The first half was reminiscent of some of City’s worse performances this season—Port Vale comes to mind.
However, City put on some of their best performances in the second half, taking the game to the Latics and creating opportunity after opportunity. Reece Cole’s fantastic finish from Jayden Wareham tied the score, but with the momentum behind them, they were unable to produce the second goal to secure all three points. According to Caldwell, the game should have ended in a 1-0 draw.
He remarked, “We gave them the start.” “In the second half, we were outstanding in our approach and daring; the goal was of an extremely high calibre, but we were unable to score the second goal. “We produced memorable moments, but it wasn’t meant to be. If the ball goes in, we win the game. We need to learn from such situations because we failed to pin them back and keep them back at 0-0. We persisted, and the football was outstanding, but we wanted to witness that from the very beginning.
“We are a really tough team to play against when we take the handbrake off. Every manager looks for that to play like that; it’s the Holy Grail. Football-wise, it’s more difficult due to their setup, but psychologically, it’s easier to fall behind. “In my opinion, the goal should have been a 1-0 game; we don’t concede the goal and it’s easy, but that final bit and those little margins decimated them.
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