Exeter scorer: I was lucky not to get sent off against Carlisle United

The Grecians winger expected to be shown a second yellow card for a foul on Fin Back late in the first half.

 

But ref Adam Herczeg declined to dismiss Mitchell – who went on to score the visitors’ second in their 2-0 win at Brunton Park.

“I’m not gonna lie, there was no malice in it but I think I was a lucky boy to get away with that one,” said Mitchell, who had earlier been cautioned for a foul on Jordan Gibson.

“I was fortunate to be on the pitch.

“But we got the win and I got the second goal. I’m sure they’ll be fuming with that but such is football.”

“We knew what they were gonna bring. They were a physical team and they play balls forward,” he said.

“We’ve got to compete first and foremost and the longer the game goes on we can show our qualities.”

Grecians manager Gary Caldwell admitted he was “worried” Mitchell would be sent off but suggested the referee got it right.

“You always worry – in the modern game it’s so easy to get booked but I felt it was an innocuous challenge,” he said.

“Thankfully he kept 11 on the pitch.”

The Exeter manager felt the whole club dug deep to win the game at Carlisle.

The visitors had set off from Devon on Thursday night, staying in Cheshire before travelling to Penrith on Friday, then completing the trip on Saturday.

“Big thanks to the club for backing the preparations – financially it’s a big cost but we got the win to repay everyone’s efforts,” said Caldwell.

“After the two goals we tried to see the game out with the substitutions we made.

“The whole team has stood up to set-pieces, to working off the ball. We look a much harder team to play against than we were last season.

“That allows you moments to go and win the game away from home. When we got our moments we took them. It was a classic away performance.”

RAED MORE

You can hear our post-match interview with the Blues manager by clicking the Play button below.

But the Blues boss conceded that his team must do better in the final third after their 2-0 home defeat to Exeter City.

Carlisle had good spells in the game but failed to score for the third time in five games so far in 2023/24.

Simpson, who remains on the hunt for new strikers, said United must be better at scoring when on top.

He said: “I can’t fault the effort the players are putting in, the way they’re trying to go about it.

“Unfortunately we’ve not finished things off when we’ve had the opportunities – when we’ve been in control of the game, we haven’t been able to take our chances.

“That’s something we’ve got to do better and improve on. Overall I don’t think we’re a million miles away, we’re not far off, and we have to get it to turn as quickly as possible.”

Carlisle started the game brightly with Sean Maguire and Fin Back going close.

Early in the second half Maguire again threatened while Paul Huntington also had a good chance later.

But the Blues were picked off when Ryan Trevitt and Demetri Mitchell scored for the Grecians.

“They were better than us in those moments,” Simpson said.

“We weren’t able to find the corners of the goals. I think we’ve worked the goalkeeper but a lot of it were comfortable saves, and we weren’t able to do what they did to us.

“I do think we had some real good passages of play, we were controlled in the way we had possession and kept switching play and getting into wide areas.

“We have to just improve on that quality. I suppose that’s been the thing I’ve said after every game so far this season.

“We’ve also been punished for a couple of lapses in concentration and that’s something we’ve got to learn from. The higher you go, you get punished for any little mistakes you make.”

Simpson, meanwhile, refused to blame ref Adam Herczeg’s controversial decision not to send off Mitchell in the first half for the defeat.

The Exeter winger, already booked, looked set to be dismissed when he hauled down Fin Back.

“I really don’t think that’s the reason we’ve lost the game – I really would be clutching at straws [if I said that],” Simpson said.

“I actually thought the referee was good today, the officials were good today. I thought the fourth official treated us with respect which I don’t think we’ve had in other games.

“Unfortunately it’s one of those things. He could have given a yellow, and I really do think he would [have] if Mitchell hadn’t had the first one.