Gary Caldwell's side travel to Luton Town in the Vertu Trophy on Tuesday before hosting Wycombe Wanderers in the FA Cup second round on Saturday [Shutterstock]BBCMon, December 1, 2025 at 8:35 AM UTC·2 min readGary Caldwell said he is proud of his Exeter City side's performance in their 1-0 loss at third-placed Bradford City.
The Grecians had more possession and shots at Valley Parade but were undone by Joe Wright's 20th-minute goal.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDespite the defeat Exeter remain one place outside the League One relegation places.
"This is a difficult stadium to come to and I thought we were the better team in the game," Caldwell told BBC Radio Devon.
"I thought we dominated the game, especially second half, but even first half, created good moments.
"I'm really disappointed for the players because of the way they played, the way they kept going.
"We stuck to our game plan, We caused them so many problems with our two number 10's against their lone six.
"Sometimes the outcome of a football match can go against you, but we have to keep building in terms of that performance and take that and the next week in the cup games and the the 29 league games that are remaining."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe result means Exeter have lost three of their past five league games.
But despite the club's difficult league position, and financial issues off the field that means his budget is frozen, Caldwell is confident his side have what it takes to stay up.
"I know the outcome of a football match is what everyone cares about and what you need to get right," he said.
"But over the course of 46 games we have to be clear on what performance levels look like to get us enough wins in those periods for us to be successful.
"In recent games there's 15 minutes at Leyton Orient where we weren't right, and I can't think of many moments within games where we've not been great, going way back to Cardiff in the Vertu Trophy.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"But we know at this level it's fine margins that dictate the outcome of a football match, and we know we need to get that or turn that in our favour more often.
"But the league is extremely tight, there's 29 games to go, and we need to keep believing in what we are doing to make sure we get enough points to be successful this season."
