Exeter v C Palace reaction

Paul Tisdale could not hide his disappointment after watching his Exeter side bow out of the Capital One Cup with a 2-1 loss to Crystal Palace.

The Grecians made a brilliant start with a goal inside two minutes from John O'Flynn, but the manner in which the Grecians handed the initiative back to their visitors was what frustrated Tisdale. Jermaine Easter levelled from the penalty spot before goalkeeper Artur Krysiak's error led to the winner for Kagisho Dikgacoi a minute before half-time. "I a very encouraged with the performance and it would be too hard to criticise the team," Tisdale said. "We played in a very pragmatic way and in good areas, but I feel really disappointed that we lost. "I felt we could have won tonight and we had enough pressure and attacks to have done so, but we let the game slip in the first half and I am not sure of that was our fault or not. "The penalty against us was harsh, but I don't blame the referee because that area is so grey. And the second goal was sloppy, you are always disappointed when a long ball gets in behind your team. "I'm really disappointed and the players are too because we had the game by the scruff of the neck in many ways. But we will learn from it." Palace reached the semi-finals of the competition last season, where they lost on penalties to Cardiff. Manager Dougie Freedman was pleased to be on the road once more, but he paid tribute to Exeter and felt the Eagles' character was what won them the tie in the end. "I think we can perform better than that. I felt in all honesty it was a good performance from them and they made it difficult for us," he said. "But I felt our honesty, professionalism and character shone through in the end. We got off to a disappointing start but that is the cup for you. I felt we showed tremendous character to come back. "In the end we did enough to win it when you look at the chances we created. They put us under the cosh a little bit and I thought we defended well in the second half. I would say overall our performance needs to be better but I saw a lot of positives out there. "We did fantastically well in this competition last season and I picked my strongest team tonight - the team I felt would win the game. "My teams don't just turn up with their work rate, they turn up every week committed to winning football matches and I felt they did that tonight."