"I'm really pleased with the whole day.” Brian began. “The support was amazing, and the crowd was huge. I was slightly concerned before the game when I was told about our record on Boxing Day in previous years, so it was a big motivation to try and put that right and I’m over the moon with the players.
“The first half didn't go as smoothly as we would have wanted, but we saw Exeter against Barnsley last week and how good they were, and we knew it'd be tough to overcome them. But in the second half we were really calm, and the movement that created the goal for Alex [Robertson] was something that we wanted to do. The skill level from Dylan [Lawlor] to find the pass to Alex was perfect.
“We didn't manage to get the second goal, we had one brilliant chance through Cian’s [Ashford] run, but to look so solid throughout the course of the game is a big thing for us and to be able to give Matt Turner his first clean sheet is a big day for all of us.
“Something I know from my past with Alex (Robertson), he has the awareness of when to make the movement at the right time and to watch the opponent's last line closely. We felt we had to be a little bit more direct in terms of playing balls in behind Exeter’s defence after the break, and he had the perfect feeling of when to make the run, and Dylan recognised it too for a brilliant goal.
"It’s something I've seen from Alex a lot as a younger player, and he utilised it very well. I think he's going to improve a lot as the season progresses based on his increased level of fitness. He's getting stronger every single day, which is very important for us.
“Since Rubin [Colwill] got injured at Northampton, all the guys have really stepped up to the mark. David Turnbull, who we saw score against Chelsea, has also become really valuable to us. Joel Colwill is one who has lost out on game time recently, but Joel's been training to the highest level and I'm sure he'll be back in the team soon. There's that feeling that we are really well equipped in that area of the pitch and it’s just small tweaks in terms of how we set up that forward line influences who starts.
Over 22,000 came to CCS for the Boxing Day football.
“It was incredibly proud, and humbling really, to see a crowd of that number come out today. It felt amazing and felt similar to the Chelsea game. In the first half, we weren't able to give them enough excitement as they deserved.
"While we always want to provide the perfect game, it's not always possible, but in the second half, we looked to cross the ball more and you can see there was more intent in our play where we were looking to find Yousef [Salech] and to find Alex and Omari [Kellyman] in the box, and even Cian to the back post. And that just gave the supporters what they wanted to see.”
After Exeter City’s 1-0 defeat to Cardiff on Boxing Day, Gary Caldwell emphasised the narrow margin and praised his team’s effort against the league leaders. He said:
“It’s another fine margin loss against the number one team in the league.”
Caldwell highlighted that Exeter were competitive and caused problems despite the result:
“We were in the game and caused a few problems. We just have to be a bit better.”
He commended the defensive organisation:
“We were very good defensively against a very good side who like to dominate possession. We had to frustrate them and not give them chances, which we did apart from the one defensive slip-up.”
On the relegation battle, Caldwell added:
“Our fight won’t be against the teams at the top in this league, but against those around and just above us.”
He also praised the travelling fans:
“Incredible support. I think they appreciate the team’s effort and how we go about trying to win the game.”
