Morecambe boss Derek Adams enjoyed his return to the west country as his side picked up a well-deserved three points with a 2-0 win at Exeter

Adams was manager of Exeter’s rivals Plymouth but saw his new side seal a superb win with an Adam Phillips penalty and Cole Stockton’s second-half strike on the counter-attack.

It was no more than the Shrimps deserved and Adams said: “We played really well and got off to a fantastic start and Phillips does really well with the penalty.

“Then we have some really good opportunities and I thought we dealt well with the threat of Exeter on the night. Then Phillips puts the ball through to Cole Stockton to finish.

“We played the counter-attack a few times but, in general play, we do cause teams problems because we have got runners from behind, we have got off the sides and it was a really good night for us.

“They started off as a 3-4-1-2 and then went 4-2-3-1. They changed us and it helped them.

“But we dealt with the threat. Matt Jay coming in to pockets is always a handful, and Nicky Law is one of the best players in the league. But in saying I thought our players coped well with it and created some really good openings.

“Adam has been brilliant for me since I came to the football club.”

Exeter manager Matt Taylor could not hide his disappointment having made a double change midway through the first half, so poor were his side.

“We were poor. We came up against a good team but we gave in to them with our poor start to the game,” he said.

“I had to change the shape and the personnel very early, which I have not had to do too often and it showed us up and made us a better team.

“Ironically, our instructions at half-time were to keep things simple, keep the ball moving, but the one moment we tried to force it and left ourselves open at the back, we didn’t have the mobility to cover the counter-attack and it was too easy to score the second goal.

“We huffed and puffed, but it is the hardest thing to do to play against a block, but we gave them the right to defend like that and get bodies behind the ball.

“It didn’t quite fall for us and we had good moments without getting a shot off around the box, or a clear shot at goal, but it is difficult when it goes like that.

“I am really disappointed with certain aspects of that, but the group pushed and pushed and pushed and the mire they gave, the harder it got. We didn’t have it in us to break them down.”