Grecians manager delighted with 4-0 victory and praises performance of Lloyd James against his old club

Exeter City boss Paul Tisdale was always confident his team would eventually break down Leyton Orient during Mondays League Two encounter.

The Grecians claimed a 4-0 win over the O’s after scoring three times in the second half following David Wheeler’s fourth-minute opener.

Ryan Harley added a brace after the break before Liam McAlinden also got in on the act eight minutes from time.

“There’s continuity through training and into the matches and I’m not chopping or changing too much,” said Tisdale when asked about Exeter’s recent good form.

“You can see the players are playing a simple game very well and the good bits of play are the platform and that’s what we did against Orient. We had a threat about us and the strikers were always looking likely to break down their defence.

“Our two centre-backs looked very strong as did the two centre midfield players – Lloyd James has had two extremely good matches, and Jordan Tillson was close to being, if not was, our best player.”

Exeter always looked in control against Orient, although the visitors did create a couple of early chances.

Ollie Palmer tested Christy Pym with a header before nobody could get on the end of Paul McCallum’s knock down.

But Grecians soon showed their dominance and could have been further ahead by half time if it wasn’t for Alex Cisak and some slack finishing.

It only took Exeter five minutes after the break to double their advantage through Harley before he then made it 3-0 from the penalty spot.

Substitute McAlinden then ran onto Robbie Simpson’s through ball after Nigel Atangana lost possession to conclude the scoring.

Tisdale added: “The goals are a product of the performance and the positional play and the robust nature we played with.

“It was the same against Newport County on New Years Eve and against Mansfield Town a couple of weeks ago - it’s been the case for the last month and it’s no surprise when you get your squad back together again.

“We’ve got one or two out, but we’ve got a strong squad – the bench looks strong and the spine of the team looks good. We didn’t chase the game or try to score four goals; the goals came to us because of our discipline and team work.”

Exeter’s victory maintained their excellent record over Orient as they’ve now won their last five matches against the east Londoners.

The O’s haven’t earned success at St James Park since January 13 2001 when they claimed a 2-1 triumph in the old Division Three.

“I’m really happy. I’m not surprised, with the form we’ve got, but it was great to have that result,” admitted Tisdale.