Home defeat for Town
Graham Alexander was left frustrated after Town’s September winning streak was ended by Exeter City on Saturday.
Matty Blair’s strike 20 minutes from time looked to have given the Cod Army another three points at Highbury - which would have capped a perfect League Two record for the month.
Instead, the visiting Grecians snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with two goals from Scot Bennett – leaving Alexander disappointed with the climax of a one-sided afternoon.
“It’s frustrating, a poor fifteen minutes at the end cost us,” Alexander said. “After scoring we looked flat, and that was the overriding thought of the game.
“When you’re playing a game one way, and on the attack for ages, things can change and Exeter changed their mentality when they went behind. If we could have got a goal earlier on, it might have opened them up a bit more for us to go on and win it.”
Bennett struck with both his left and right foot to turn the game around for Exeter within the space of three minutes – the goals coming from seemingly nowhere when Town went in search of a second.
Alexander said: “We lost our focus (after Blair’s goal). I thought we took a step backwards instead of staying positive, and allowed Exeter a territorial advantage to play in our half.
“Their goals were quite cheap and we could have defended them better as a team. We started positively in the second half, looking to win the game, and we deservedly got a goal.
“After that it was obviously really disappointing because we conceded two really poor goals. It was definitely not a game that we deserved to lose, but lose we did.”
Despite the defeat, Alexander issued a reality check and admitted there could be more sides looking to frustrate Fleetwood at Highbury this season.
“If you’re taking a team near the top away from home then you’re going to take things into account and adjust your tactics,” Alexander continued. “While we’re up there, we’ll have to take that into account and particularly at home.
“I think after nine or ten games into the season teams will play for certain results. Life isn’t a bed of roses and you’re not going to win every week. Never think you’ve cracked football, because it has a habit of coming back to make you realise that.”
“What I want to see now is a good response like we’ve had before. We’ll work towards next week, hit the ground running and hopefully get our form back. We go down to Bristol looking to get a result.”
Attendance: 2557
Substitutes: Brown (Blair), Evans (Matt), Ball (Parkin).