Dave and Grecians in seventh heaven

PAUL TISDALE resisted the temptation to celebrate David Wheeler’s historic goal as Exeter remained in the promotion hunt with a seventh straight win.

Wheeler became the first Grecians player to score in seven successive games when he struck on 58 minutes.

Exeter’s 12-game unbeaten run has thrust them right into automatic promotion contention, despite being rock bottom in November.

But boss Tisdale did not read too much into Wheeler’s landmark goal and instead turned his attention to next week’s Devon derby at promotionchasing Plymouth.

He said: “I am delighted for him but it is certainly not high on our list of priorities.

“It is for the supporters to enjoy and David has to think about the next game.

“I made sure no-one talked about it before the game. It is not important to me.

“It is a great thing for everyone else to talk about and celebrate but not in our dressing room.

“Our dressing room is about winning, keeping a clean sheet and whoever will score, will score.

“It was a very good win and our form is very good right now.”

Jordan Moore-Taylor kick-started the rout in the eighth minute when he scrambled home from close-range after Crewe failed to clear Lloyd James’ free-kick.

The hosts doubled their lead on 58 minutes as Wheeler broke new ground with a powerful header from Ryan Harley’s cross.

The winger was at it again ten minutes later, drilling the ball into the bottom corner from 20 yards to make it 14 goals this season.

Crewe were reduced to ten men on 82 minutes as Charlie Kirk got a straight red for a late tackle on Jake Taylor.

James heaped further misery on Crewe on 85 minutes with a sweet strike from the edge of the box.

The defeat leaves the Railwaymen just four points above the relegation zone.

Manager David Artell admitted: “There is no getting around the fact that we are in a right dogfight.

“It is my job to make the players understand where we are and the positon we are in.

“The situation needs to improve quickly.

“Individual errors have cost us and we have to start cutting these out.

“The first goal was horrific and these kind of goals can’t happen.

“Maybe it was our naivety to come and chase the game at 2-0 down which has cost us as well.

“We can’t keep saying the same things though, especially when you lose 4-0.”