Exeter City midfielder Reece Cole said that the Grecians were left disappointed and will need to bounce back after they were beaten 2-0 at Stockport County. City failed to have a shot on target at Edgeley Park as Tristan Crama’s own goal and then a Louis Barry penalty gave Stockport a 2-0 win.

It was an afternoon of frustration for City as while they were off their game in an attacking sense, they had kept the promotion-chasers to largely half chances before the unfortunate opening goal which came when Joe Whitworth parried save from a Kyle Wootton strike hit the Frenchman and bounced into his own net. The second came late on after the Hatters broke as Exeter pushed for an equalizer, Crama brought down Barry, and the Aston Villa loanee dispatched the penalty.

“It was a tough one to take,” Cole said. “I was watching the first half. We had good periods but didn’t solidify our status on the game enough as to how we wanted to. We let ourselves down with some of the patterns of play we worked on and finding the free man so we have to look back at it and be ready to go again.

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“It is a busy period, we will need everyone, so a squad that we will need everyone over the next month or so. We can’t be too down, we have another big game on Tuesday, but it is a disappointing defeat.”

Cole, who was a second half substitute, was making only his 10 ^th appearance of an injury hit season, and first in over a month. But the 26-year-old feels that he has now recovered and is raring to go to help a City team who while 11 ^th in the League One, have now won just one of the last eight games in the league.

“It has been an annoying start to the season with recurring injuries but I’m in a good place now,” he added. “I have been working hard on my fitness, so I'm feeling really good and hopefully it is the start of my season today.”