Tisdale calls for more purpose

Published Sep. 17, 2012 1:16 a.m. ET

foxsports

Exeter manager Paul Tisdale was disappointed with his side's display and felt they lacked purpose in the 1-1 draw with York.

The Grecians equalised seven minutes from time when John O'Flynn side-footed in a cross from Matt Oakley. Earlier, Michael Coulson opened the scoring in the 52nd minute after slotting home a pass from Jonathan Smith.

"I am pleased that we got a point from where we were, but I am disappointed with our purpose overall," said Tisdale. "I am happy with the last 25 minutes, but we lacked purpose until that point.

"I don't think we played badly and we weren't lacking in energy or commitment. We just didn't mean it enough when we were moving forward.

"We had the same team playing as last week (a 4-2 win at Oxford) but an away game is very different to a home game. We played with a lot of purpose in the first game of the season, but found ourselves 3-0 down after half an hour.

"There are actions and consequences off the back of that experience and I think the players perhaps wanted to ease themselves into the game. I see no harm in that, but we should also recognise that there needed to be more purpose."