Express & Echo (City & East Devon Edition)
It was entirely fitting that Gary gave departing player Alex the captaincy
AS I write, a fourth win in five games has propelled us to the heady heights of 12th in the League One table. Here’s hoping by the time you read this, we’ll have put Leyton Orient to the sword and made it five in six.
Unfortunately, my little man was suffering with tonsillitis over the weekend, as a result of which I wasn’t able to travel up to London with everyone else on Monday, but, having polished off this column, had to make my own way up the M5 the following morning.
While our 1-0 victory at home to Stevenage on Saturday was hardfought, I thought we just about shaded it and, ultimately, were good value for all three points.
As was the case against Charlton seven days earlier, we began the game really well, although on this occasion we didn’t get the early goal our performance probably warranted. Indeed, it looked as if we were heading for a goalless first half until the industrious Sonny Cox charged down a clearance from Stevenage keeper Taye Ashby-Hammond, allowing Reece Cole to sweep the ball into an empty net from just outside the penalty area.
Former Grecian Jamie Reid almost equalised at the start of the second half only for Vil Sinisalo to make a brilliant double save but, truth be told, from thereon in I thought we saw the game out without too much difficulty.
I enjoyed the opportunity to play a slightly different role to my normal one against Steve Evans’ side, operating as a right-back stepping into midfield when the ball was on the opposite side of the pitch – much like Zak Jules and Ben Purrington often look to do on the left.
As you’ll appreciate, it’s something new for me and I don’t pretend I’ve got it down to a fine art quite yet – I probably got forward a bit too much and it’s going to take me a little while to adjust to playing the ball through the middle having spent pretty much all my career playing it down the outside – but I really enjoyed it and am hoping it’s something I might be asked to do a bit more in the 2024-25 campaign.
As I’m sure you’ll have heard by now, Alex Hartridge will be moving on to pastures new at the end of the season and, this being the case, I thought it was entirely fitting that Gary Caldwell handed him the captain’s armband on Saturday.
Having come up through the academy, Alex has played more than 150 games for the club and was an integral part of our 2021-22 promotion-winning squad. What’s more, he is one of the loveliest guys you could ever wish to meet and is going to be much missed.
If I was to be so bold as to offer Alex one piece of advice, it would be to invest in a new wardrobe before he rocks up somewhere else or he’s going to get absolute pelters from his new teammates.
That said, along with everyone else at the Cliff Hill Training Ground, I’ve been giving him grief for his choice of gear for as long as I can remember and he’s never taken a blind bit of notice so I don’t suppose that’s going to change now.
Like Alex, Will Aimson barely put a foot wrong at the weekend. Will has been great since winning back his place in the starting line-up at the beginning of March and I thought he was a thoroughly deserving recipient of the club’s latest player of the month award.
For what it’s worth, I think Will has come in for some unwarranted criticism at times this season – he had a bit of a sticky patch at one point but so has everyone else and on the whole I think he’s been excellent. Certainly, he’s adept at cleaning up behind me and alongside him.
As you may have gathered, Saturday’s goalscorer Reece Cole shares a house in the city with fellow midfielders Tom Carroll and Ryan Woods.
While I haven’t been invited around for some time now, I did visit to watch a few Champions League games while Jonathan Grounds was living there.
Fortunately, the house is owned by a lovely lady called Julie who has somehow managed to keep the
I enjoy playing
Three Amigos in check and prevent their cohabitation from descending into the chaos you might imagine.
I’m thoroughly enjoying the Premier League title race. I don’t think there’s much more than a hair’s breadth between Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester City at the minute, but if you held a gun to my head and asked me who was going to win it, I’d go for Jurgen Klopp’s side.
While they’ll have been disappointed to have dropped two points at Old Trafford at the weekend, they play some fantastic football and, Sunday’s result aside, have been exceptional at digging out results. And with Klopp leaving at the end of the season, I can’t help thinking they have that extra incentive which, ultimately, might make all the difference.
Closer to home, we travel to Port Vale on Saturday for the second of three successive away games. The Potteries side, who have lost just one of their last four games under new manager Darren Moore, were only outside the relegation zone on goal difference after Saturday’s games and, with their place in League One hanging in the balance, have everything to play for.
While I’m not entirely sure what the manager’s plans are for the rest of the season, plainly, we still want to win games and finish as high up the table as possible.
However, now our League One status is all but guaranteed, I imagine he might take the opportunity to blood a few of the younger lads, as well as those who’ve been on the periphery of late but may well have a bigger role to play next season, over the course of our final six games.
For sure, it ain’t gonna be easy at Vale Park, but if we can match the levels we have been hitting fairly routinely over recent weeks then we must have every chance of bagging a ninth away win off the season.