Exeter City: Picking team 'like solving Rubik's cube' - Tisdale

Exeter boss Paul Tisdale says his side's injury problems mean selecting a team is like solving a Rubik's cube.

City lost 2-1 to Hartlepool with Pat Baldwin, Jordan Moore-Taylor and Liam Sercombe all injured and several other players needing fitness tests.

"I've got my captain and centre-half playing up front, my right-back in midfield, my central midfielder at centre-back and my left-back at centre-half," he told BBC Radio Devon.

"It's like a Rubik's cube."

Graham Cummins and Craig Woodman, who both started the game, and David Wheeler and David Noble, who came off the bench, all had fitness tests just before kick-off having missed much of the build-up to the match.

"We've had all kinds of issues leading up to the game, it's been a very disrupted week." Tisdale said.

"The players are tired and playing half-injured.

"We haven't got the capacity to respond to these problems and had no opportunity to go into the game with some kind of energy and fluidity."

Tisdale was forced to give teenager Connor Riley-Lowe a debut at full-back, while there were five former youth-team players on the bench.

The club have been only able to sign two players, Christian Ribeiro and Graham Cummins, after financial problems during the summer.

The Grecians had to , external to help pay wages, forcing them into a transfer embargo.

"We don't have the capacity to sign loan players, it's not something we can do," Tisdale said.

"We'll continue to play young players. Connor Riley-Lowe was fantastic, for a league debut he was really good.

"But the difference is I'm playing an 18-year-old debutant and other teams in our league that need a left-back will go out and sign someone from a Premier League club. That's how it is."