Crawley boss Yates: '˜We responded well in the second half'

He believes the changes made led to them improving and giving their opponents a good contest.

Yates said: “I think they (Exeter) showed what a good side they were, particularly in the first half.

“I felt the goal was coming, as did the crowd and we didn’t set out not to make tackles and not to go with runners we didn’t take enough warning from it.

“But we responded really positively in the second half.

“Despite having an extra body in there, we didn’t really get anywhere near them in the first half, in the middle of the park. So we thought we had to change it.

“And when we got back to doing what we do best: the second half was really pleasing for me as we gave them a right game and we made their keeper make four or five really good saves.

“Unfortunately we got done on a break and have paid the price.

“Paul Tisdale (Exeter manager) has been manager long enough and that is made his fourth or fifth building of a really good side and has been there long enough.

“They do everything the right way. They have got some promising youngsters coming through.

“They have got a good youth system and you can tell with the boys coming out of it like the kid (Ollie) Watkins, I thought he was terrific today.

“We asked questions of them and if we had got one (goal) I think it could be a different story.

“Even at 2-0 down if we had got one we could have been asking questions but they looked pretty assured they were getting the win.”

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