City need to show ruthless streak - Caldwell

An afternoon friendly against Brentford B saw the Grecians claim a 4-1 victory at their Cliff Hill Training Ground, before an evening encounter at Torquay United ended 2-2.

Two goals apiece from Sonny Cox and Pedro Borges gave City the victory in their first fixture, while Josh Magennis continued his impressive pre-season form with the opener at Plainmoor, before Jack Fitzwater added a second for the visitors.

At 2-0 up, City were cruising against their Devin neighbours, before they hit back late on with a Jordan Dyer effort, plus an own goal from Fitzwater in the dying minutes of added on time.

Assessing the Torquay result first, Caldwell said: “I’m not really pleased with what I’ve seen out there.

“First half we had total control and the game should be well and truly over. We toy with the game a little bit, we get a bit complacent, we don’t put the ball in the net as many times as we should and that can always come back to haunt you and it did tonight.

“As good as we were for periods in that first half we have to be leading by more goals, we have to be ruthless and it’s a massive learning experience for a relatively new group of players.

“Obviously, we make changes and I thought the young lads should be coming on to a much easier game at that moment. When the first goal goes in they are then playing in an environment they are not used to. It’s a great experience for them, albeit a disappointing one for them, but it’s something they can learn from.

“I thought Liam Oakes was outstanding when he came onto the pitch, but the other young lads will learn something from that. As a whole group, though, as good as our football was in the first half, we have to be much better in the final third and in front of goal to kill the game off.”

Caldwell added: “We’ve got ten days now to iron things out because if we do that against Rotherham, we’ll pay the price and lose points. It’s never nice not to win football matches because that’s what we’re in the business of doing.

“We came here to win, as we’ve done in the past, we didn’t and we’ve got ten days to put that right. As I said, there’s lot of learning for the group, I’m glad it’s a pre-season game, there was a great atmosphere and good to get that feel of a bigger game for the players.”

Switching to the earlier fixtures against the Bees, who scored within the first minute through Ashley Hay, Caldwell continued: “It was another good lesson that we weren’t ready to start a football match. Brentford B were a very good team, excellent in what they did, but against a better team you can pay the price for that.

“These games are important now and we have to be ready for Eastleigh at the weekend and then for Rotherham after that. It was good that we came back after that, we scored some good goals and we recognised when to play space and when we could play the free player.

“Tactically, I thought in position we were very good. Second half the game died a bit. It was extremely hot and both teams struggled with the pace slowing.”

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