Tisdale has taken Exeter to two successive promotions

Exeter City boss Paul Tisdale believes his side showed great promise for the season ahead despite suffering a 2-1 defeat at Leeds.

The game was Exeter's first in League One for 15 years, following promotion last term.

"It was a fantastic performance and a great day in terms of the event," Tisdale told BBC Devon.

"I'm very proud of the players, you could clearly see that there was a team there," he added.

The Exeter boss also paid tribute to the way his side approached the game at Elland Road.

The fixture attracted 28,000 supporters, but the Grecians were not overawed by the occasion.

"We showed a lot of spirit today, both players and supporters," said Tisdale. "We played really well and I guess the better you do the more disappointing it is when you don't get a result."

Exeter had to play the final third of the game a man down after striker Barry Corr was sent off in the 59th minute.

And Tisdale reserved praise for the players who came on in the subsequent re-shuffle.

Craig McAllister replaced Rob Edwards after 60 minutes with James Norwood coming on for Marcus Stewart 10 minutes later.

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Tisdale said: "They both did very well and it's remarkable that James should be on the field after only joining us a few weeks ago.

"He put in a really good 20 minutes and he showed some real touches of know-how, there's a bright future for him.

"I think the way both of them played really shows the strength in depth in our squad."

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