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Humble Brown paid homeage to the fans, while questioning the commitment of his players, following an inept Shots display which saw them slump to their biggest defeat of the season, thus handing first blood to the Grecians in the Christmas double header.
With the ever-loyal travelling support cheering right to the end and even dancing the conga with the Shots 4-0 down, proud Brown paid justifiable tribute, while taking the flack for his lacklustre players.
He said: “I would say thank you for your support as always, I just hope that my players feel as humble as I do working for a team with such support. We need to get our act together.
“I'm very disappointed with the performance and the result although I thought that four flattered us. We were very, very poor and we let the travelling supporters down.
“Before the players start moaning about their team-mates, I've asked them to go home, look at themselves and what they gave me and the travelling support, because there wasn't one of them that came out with any credit, any more than I have.”
Two goals in each half killed off the weak Shots challenge, while Brown's Boxing Day disaster was complete by the sight of his former players — ex-captain Paul Buckle and midfielder Jon Challinor — both finding the target.
The only plus point for Brown was the fact that keeper Nikki Bull escaped a near certain red card for kicking out at Lee Phillips in the build-up to the second goal — something the boss was all too aware of.
“I wasn't looking but the referee said that Bully kicked out,” he explained wearily.
“He could have sent him off but I'm grateful he didn't. Discipline cost us that goal but it didn't cost us the game, as we were not at the races today.
“We've got some characters in the dressing room and when things aren't going their way they step over the line. Nobody got sent off, and we just got away with that.”
Granted, the Shots were without influential centre back Greg Heald, out suspended, but in truth he would have made little difference to a side which lacked invention or anything near the sort of passion shown by their hosts, who, driven by man-of-the-match Challinor,
demonstrated their title credentials.
Unsurprisngly given the rivalry between these two promotion hopefuls, this was a feisty affair with tackles flying in right from the off.
Bull was called into action after 16 minutes when a cross from Andy Taylor was nodded on by Phillips for Craig Farrell to shoot, only for Bull to parry.
The Shots too though were not without chances, and but for a goalbound clearance from Buckle, on-loan John Turner would have netted the opener with a header from Brian Tinnion's corner.
The Shots were then nearly made to pay for some naive defending when makeshift centre back Matt Somner gave the ball away to Farrell. His cross, intended for Phillips, brought panic to Hassan Sulaiman, who almost gift-wrapped the Grecians striker his eighth goal of the campaign.
It was clear though that a goal would not be long coming and, indeed, on 33 minutes it duly arrived with both former Shots in the thick of the action.
The static Shots defence failed to clear Challinor's notorious long throw into the box, and it fell to Buckle who made no mistake in pinging a shot past Bull.
Phillips shot wide as Exeter turned up the heat and within just five minutes of breaking the deadlock the Grecians netted again — albeit in controversial circumstances.
Sulaiman's poor back pass to Bull gave Phillips a one-on-one with Bull, who raced off his line with his studs up.
Although he didn't make contact, Bull took a swipe at the former Aldershot transfer target leaving referee Roger East with no hesitation but to reach to his pocket and point to the spot.
Brown breathed a sigh of relief to see the sight of a yellow card instead of red but his luck soon ran out as Billy Jones stepped up to despatch the penalty and double the Exeter lead going into the break.
The boss responded by replaced an unusually quiet Tinnion with Steve Watson at the break, but again it was the home side who took control.
Bull was called into making a great save to deny Farrell from close range before another defensive slip-up saw Challinor's effort kept out by the body off his colleague Phillips.
Exeter were now looking comfortable and just after the hour mark they all but killed the game off with a third.
Taylor set it up by crashing a shot against the crossbar with an incredible 35-yard effort. The ricochet fell to Sulaiman, but due to pressure from Farrell, Challinor was able to steal in to fire past Bull into the top corner of the net from a tight angle.
Ten minutes later the rout was complete as a neat one-two between Buckle and Phillips led to the latter beating the offside trap to perfection and slotting home.
Overall, this was a Christmas performance Brown would rather forget leaving him to question whether his men had enjoyed too much Christmas cheer on their festive day off.
He added: “I have to ask how they prepared themselves because we didn't look up for it mentally. We were second best in every department and made Exeter look like world beaters. There wasn't a department that we were any good, from my goalkeeper through to the forward, we didn't win any battles.”
Attention now though turns to another tough trip — this time at Forest Green Rovers on Saturday (ko 3pm).
The Shots will be looking to do the double over Gary Owers' men after beating them 2-1 at the Recreation Ground last month.
From then, revenge will be on Brown's men's minds as Exeter make the return trip to the Rec on Bank Holiday Monday.
“Hand on heart, Exeter is next year and I'm looking at Forest Green first and a proper performance of character, pride and discipline.
“Forest Green is a difficult place to go and if we play like that we'll get spanked again,” added Brown.
And with the transfer window opening again in the new year, the boss is also acutely aware of how this result will affect any comings or goings.
“If anyone was watching that they wouldn't want to come and join us,” he continued.
“I was looking for a couple of games to steady the ship and stay in touch with the big boys until we can strengthen the squad, but we let a lot of people down.
“We also have to think about outgoings, but there's a few people out there who have not done themselves any favours.”
With thanks to the Aldershot News.