It is a gesture usually reserved for those great warriors of rugby union. As the players approach the tunnel at the end of a match they form a guard of honour and applaud each other off the pitch.
That same show of respect was displayed by League Two Exeter City after their regulation victory over non-league Didcot Town in the first round of the FA Cup. The Oxfordshire club had been outclassed, conceding three goals in the second half, but Paul Tisdale, the Exeter manager, felt that credit was due and should be recognised for a Cup run that had begun in the preliminary round at Wantage Town back in August.
“I think it was the right thing to do,” Tisdale said. “The effort of the Didcot team to get to this point is huge. Just the amount of games that you have to play. This was a big occasion for them and I just wanted our team to show the appreciation we have for the competition and for what Didcot have put into it. We just wanted to say thank you. It was a hard-fought game out there. We get to the end and you have to do the right thing. It was a nice touch for the players to do that.”
It is unlikely that Tisdale and his players would have shown such sportsmanship had they lost to Didcot, from the Southern League Division One South & West and 95 places behind their Devon opponents.
In nine years in charge at St James Park, Tisdale had toasted only two Cup wins. And last season they went out of the competition 1-0 at Warrington Town – like Didcot, playing in the first-round proper for the first time. “After the experience of last year it was all about winning today and getting through,” Tisdale said. “It was all about making sure that we didn’t let it happen again.”
It was never likely to, despite a goalless first half in which Didcot huffed and puffed and Exeter gradually and professionally drew the sting from them.
Tisdale’s men could have led 1-0 against the battling “Diddy” men but Leigh Bedwell pulled off a stunning save from Jamie McAllister’s fierce drive.
Three minutes into the second half Clinton Morrison, the 36-year-old former Republic of Ireland striker, scooped a shot over Bedwell and into the net via the crossbar.
Didcot replied briefly, when Exeter’s goalkeeper, Bobby Olejnik, saved from Josh Dutton-Black’s close-range effort, but a two-goal burst in five minutes ended the contest. David Wheeler struck the bar, with Tom Nichols tucking in the rebound, then the substitutes, Joel Grant and Alex Nicholls, combined for the third. Grant crossed, Nicholls prodded home. Exeter’s apparent Cup curse had been exorcised and Didcot’s seven-match run was over.
A record crowd of 2,707 at Loop Meadow and a £100,000 windfall, from prize money and television revenue, should at least help ease their disappointment. “The whole Cup experience has been fantastic,” Ian Concannon, the Didcot joint-manager, said. “There’s a lot of hard-working people at our club and they deserve a lot of credit for this.
“The £100k? It’s indescribable. We’ve got aspirations of putting down a 3G surface. That’s a big project we want to do. But I can assure you the money generated from this Cup run will be spent very wisely.”
Man of the match Tom Nichols (Exeter)
