Exeter City 'must be better when things don't our way' verdict

Exeter City captain Pierce Sweeney admitted that the Grecians need to learn from their worst defeat of the season at Wrexham and get better when things aren’t going their way. City were beaten 3-0 by the high-flying outfit on a wet and windy day as Storm Bert battered the country.

It always looked like being a tough after for City against the Red Dragons who have an imperious home record, and so it proved when Max Cleworth was left unmarked to head home after a flurry of early corners. Ollie Palmer ended his goal drought when no-one picked up the big striker from a cross to double the lead with just 25 minutes gone.

Oliver Rathbone sealed the win 20 minutes from time when he headed in from a corner, as City lost their crown as the side with the best defensive record in League One to Wrexham, who rose to second in the table. Exeter, who have now won one of the last five in the league, drop down to 11 ^th .

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“It was a difficult result,” the skipper said. “Two poor first half goals. We came here with a gameplan and we half executed, had some decent opportunities in their half. They have a melee of five or six corners and we haven’t defended it.

“They are a big side, dangerous on set pieces, so if we give them opportunities like that, they will have an opportunity. We are really good when things are going our way, when against us we have to learn to wrestle the game back in our favour. They played the game the way they wanted to play and we didn’t play the way we wanted to.

“We played better after the break and had some opportunities and started playing well and passing the ball but we have to do that from minute one. We need to be better, stand up to the challenge, and we didn’t do that on three occasions and scored three goals from what we expected them to be strong at. We have let ourselves down and move to Tuesday.”

More than 1200 City fans made the long trip to North Wales, and Sweeney added: “It was not the performance we should have given them. We showed moments of quality but the result was poor. We are deflated and a disappointing result but have an opportunity on Tuesday to change that.” Exeter City are back in action on Tuesday night when they host Birmingham City.