Exeter squad need time to adapt - Taylor

Exeter City manager Matt Taylor says his side’s fans must give his young squad time to adapt to League Two.

The Grecians were beaten 1-0 at Grimsby Town in their opening game of the new season on Saturday.

The financially-stretched club has seen a host of experienced players leave following their relegation from League One last term, but have been unable to afford to bring in similar replacements.

It has led to Taylor relying on a large number of young players as the fan-owned club tries to rebuild in the fourth tier.

“We’ve got certain players who we feel are at, and maybe beyond, the level and then we’ve got other players who are working towards the level,” he told BBC Radio Devon.

“Through no-one’s fault they’re on the pitch and there’s no harder moment to start out then Grimsby away and Plymouth away, so it’s difficult.

“But they’re trying, they’re really trying. It’s important our fans understand that they are giving absolutely everything.

“We’ll be short in certain moments and we will look a little bit ragged and a bit messy at times, but we’ll get better over time, I fully believe that.

“There’s some players on the pitch with a big Exeter City future ahead of them.”

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Exeter City began their League Two campaign with one of their longest away trips of the season to Grimsby [Shutterstock]

With just over a fortnight left in the summer transfer window Taylor says the club does not have the funds to bring in many experienced players.

They still have highly-rated striker Jayden Wareham, who scored 22 goals in 53 appearances last season, as well as influential midfielder Reece Cole.

But without any further sales, Exeter’s squad will continue to be limited.

“This is no disrespect to anyone we’ve brought into the football club, [but] we are limited in terms of what we can and can’t do, that’s the nature of the beast,” Taylor added.

“I don’t want to moan about that, that’s not an excuse. If anything, the reason I took this job was for the challenge of seeing where these younger players can eventually get to.

“We might have to suffer a little bit. We might have to go through a little bit of pain.

“I’m comfortable with that, it would be interesting to see how comfortable everyone else is in terms of their reaction to it, because a lot of teams will come here [to Grimsby] and struggle.

“It was a difficult but we’ve more than created enough to take something out of the game, despite still not being at our best.”