Head coach Scott Brown spoke to the media straight after this afternoon’s fixture against Exeter City, which finished in a 2-2 draw at Highbury.
After what was a brilliant first half for the Cods, which saw Jack Marriott pick up a quickfire brace either side of a Kevin McDonald goal for the visitors, it was heartbreak at the end as Pierce Sweeney found the back of the net tow equalise in added time at the end for Exeter.
Here’s what he had to say after the game:
On the game…
“I thought we played quite well today, we managed to change from 3-5-2 to 4-2-3-1 and the lads were fluent enough in the switch of formation. We kept the ball well; the big problem was one set play.
“We got bullied at the back; if you’re a centre half you have to be able to mark, you have to do better, you have to be able to bully and not get dictated.
“It’s small details and it’s a mentality thing. You need to know that you can bully the man that you’re marking. You don’t want him to score, you don’t want him to win the first contact and it’s happened too many times this season.”
On Jayden Stockley and Jack Marriott…
“Jayden has been brilliant, him and Jack have got a good understanding as well. In terms of us going forward we’ve just got to make sure we keep these two fits because we’ll score goals, and we’ll cause problems.
“Jayden in both boxes is exceptional, Jack is lively and got two fantastic finishes today for us, he was unlucky probably not to get a third. We had a lot of chances; we just couldn’t really get the killer goal.”
On the disallowed goal…
“It’s very soft; Jayden [Stockley] went in and scored. Jack [Marriott] isn’t bullying a six-foot-six goalie that’s a unit so for me, it’s never a free kick - that happens week in and week out.
“If that was to be a free kick, there would be about 300 stoppages in a game because that happens everywhere all over the park, there’s pulling, there’s grabbing, and it’s part of the game.
“It’s frustrating because they were doing the exact same thing and we never once got a free kick. If you’re going to give one foul, you have to continue them all the way down. If you give that against a goal it’s a huge decision, we go 3-1 up and we’re in cruise control.”