Paul Tisdale said Exeter City were just unable to finish things off in their 1-0 defeat away to bottom side Chesterfield.

The Grecians went down to defeat with Kristian Dennis' goal from a corner five minutes after half-time proving the difference between the sides, although City hit the bar and had three penalty appeals turned down.

Tisdale was left with little to criticise about his side's performance post-match but said they could not turn their promising positions into goals.

He said: "Disappointed to lose, delighted with the performance.

"The discipline, the positional play, the attitude of the players and the details were pretty, pretty good, not perfect but pretty good.

"I had very, very little to moan about other than that we conceded a goal from a set piece and didn't take our chances - you don't always get what you want, or you deserve, against a team who wanted their win, every team we play against, it's not about whether you want to, it's about whether you know how to and whether you can.

"I think we showed we know how to, we just didn't finish things off and conceded a corner that suddenly changed the game - I thought we were nicely placed in the game, most of the players looked really comfortable and disciplined in their positions and how they acted with each other.

"I had very little to moan about, we just move onto the next game and continue with the same."

Despite the Spireites being bottom, Tisdale had warned pre-match that this would be a tough game, but he said he felt his side did enough to build themselves a platform to take something from the game.

He said: "I don't think we go into any game hoping and we don't go into any game expecting anything other than a very hard game, so as much as that was a compliment to Chesterfield that we've seen their recent games and know they're picking their form up, you probably haven't found me in the last 600 games saying I think any game will be an easy one.

"Everyone we play against, managers, coaches, kit men and players are professional people and want to win, it's their livelihood, so you'll never get anything other than a hard game but it's how you go about it.

"We've done enough to be well and truly in control of that game, it's not about the goals, it's about where you are on the pitch - we did enough to put ourselves on a really good platform to win it and we conceded a really poorly-timed goal for us, just after half-time, the pressure mounts and I think we had picked up our play quite well in the second half, picked up the rhythm of our passing and got into positions but didn't quite take those positions."

There was controversy late on when Reuben Reid was convinced he had a header blocked by a hand in the box and Liam McAlinden went down under pressure from Ian Evatt when clean through, but Tisdale was unsurprised that referee Martin Coy did not give either as spot kicks.

On the McAlinden appeals, Tisdale said: "Was I surprised the referee didn't give that one? No because it's a big call to make - I don't think the player went for the ball, he probably leaned on Liam and stopped him shooting.

"The Reuben Reid header, some of our players were claiming it was handball, if it hits his hand, it's a penalty, there's no doubt about it - it obviously didn't hit his hand, because the referee didn't give it.

"Whether it's intentional or not, when the ball's flying at goal, if it hits his hand, it's a penalty - we've had three or four handballs in the game where the ball has bounced up, hit someone's hand right by their thigh, and it's not intentional but it's a free-kick, fine, no problem.

"The ball's flying into the back of the net and it hits someone's hand, then that's a penalty, so obviously it didn't hit his hand and that's fine.

"So it wasn't a penalty because it didn't hit his hand, because there's no way the referee could not have given it if it hit his hand."