Caldwell makes case for defence as Exeter grab victory

Exeter boss Gary Caldwell admitted that what pleased him most about his team’s 1-0 victory at Oxford was the resolute defending.

Sam Nombe’s 79th-minute winner on the break gave the Grecians successive away wins and a great start to 2023.

“A clean sheet was the best thing for me today,” Caldwell said, recalling both the number of goals his team have conceded this season, and the drama of Thursday’s 4-3 triumph at Bristol Rovers.

“We showed a different aspect of what it takes to win a football game in terms of resilience, grit and character.

“As I said to my players, if you get clean sheets, it gives you a chance to win football games.

“The longer it went on, the more we created and the more dangerous we looked, and I thought we deserved to win the game in the end.

“I thought we had great chances early on, but then Jamal Blackman made two great saves to keep us in the game.

“I always felt at 0-0 going into half-time that we could be a real threat in the second half.

“And when we had the front three of Josh Key, Sam Nombe and Adam Stansfield in the second half we were devastating – and thought we could have scored more goals.

“And I felt once we got in front we were never going to go behind because of the desire there is in the camp.

“To get back-to-back wins shows the quality and character we have.

“We don’t have a game now for two weeks, but we have put ourselves in a position and given ourselves a great platform, to really attack the second half of the season.”

Oxford boss Karl Robinson rued his team’s inability to convert possession into goals in the first 45 minutes.

Robinson said: “You can’t play like we did in the first half and not score.

“We’re not as aggressive in the final third as we need to be.

“Also, we should defend as a team, and that includes from set-plays. Exeter’s goal came from two of our players not doing their jobs.

“That’s what is so frustrating.

“There’s a transfer window coming up and I don’t want to speak openly about our intentions but we have two forwards out injured.

“We have to make sure we bring in reinforcements at the top end of the pitch.

“I would say basically we have been playing with one striker all season.

“Today’s match sums up a large part of our season. You won’t get a better performance than our first half – except we didn’t score goals.

“And you can’t keep up that level for 90 minutes – there’s going to be some sort of drop-off. The second we dropped off and they raised their game, they scored.

“That’s the bit that leaves me disappointed and angry.”