Western Morning News (Saturday)
Grecians aiming to make ‘a statement’ against leaders
EXETER City fancy their chances of making a statement when they face early League Two leaders Forest Green Rovers at St James Park this afternoon (KO 3pm).
Like the Grecians, the Green Devils are regulars in the promotion shake-up but have failed to take the final step to get into League One.
City have lost three play-off finals and finished 9 th in the past five seasons, while Rovers, in the four seasons since promotion from the National League have twice lost in the play-off semi-finals and just outside the top seven when the 2019/20 season was curtailed.
Rob Edwards was appointed Head Coach at the New Lawn in the summer and his reign began with four wins in a row in the league and knocking Bristol City out of the Carabao Cup.
But they will travel to Devon on the back of a loss to Brentford in the cup, a surprise 2-0 reverse at home to Port Vale on Saturday, and then a penalty shootout loss in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday – and while still top of the table, City are confident of claiming all three points.
“They won their first four and scored a lot of goals, they are a powerful team but had added some guile and presence in attack,” Grecians’ boss Matt Taylor said of the opponents.
“They have some good players but we want to measure up against the best and they are top of the league.
But as we sensed with Bradford and Bristol Rovers, we expect the atmosphere to be similar and a performance to say we can compete with these teams and push them and overtake them.
“Everyone knows the importance of this weekend and even more so because of last week where we were so pleased with large parts of the performance and came away with a point, and when you’ve gone in 1-0 down and reduced to ten men, often it can be 2-0, 3-0 to the opposition, so players deserve credit, but the league is about getting three points and winning games and want to start doing it this weekend.
“We saw the Port Vale game, saw the Crawley game which could have been 9-6 [FGR won 6-3], but there are areas to expose in their set up, and they will think the same of us.
“We know when we are at our best when we play on the front foot and get at the opposition and we will look to do that. With home fixtures there is simplicity to the approach but feels like a slightly bigger game as they are top of the table.”
Dating back to last season, City have only lost once in their last 13 games – the 3-0 loss at Leyton Orient – and at St James Park, the stoppage time loss to Cheltenham Town in March is their only defeat in 14.
While most of those games were played behind closed doors, the home record stands out particularly given the lack of ‘home advantage’ without crowds and the record number of away wins seen last season.
“I haven’t got all the answers,” Taylor said, when asked if he could pinpoint why City’s home record stayed so strong.
“It is not easy to travel a long distance and then play a game – we have it every away game – but preparation is key and things like sleeping in your own bed and it is important to be comfortable in your own environment.
“We want our home stadium to be a fortress but also somewhere where you enjoy coming to and enjoy performing in front of your own fans, and the fans so far have been fantastic so that adds an extra edge to the performance.”
On the pitch, Harry Kite will miss out through suspension after his red card at Harrogate Town, but Tim Dieng is likely to be fit after going off injured in that draw, while Nigel Atangana is back in training after a hamstring injury. New signing Kyle Taylor is likely to be involved in some way after his arrival from Bournemouth.
“He could make his debut,” Taylor said of the 22-year-old midfielder. “He has trained with the group today so has only had a couple of days but needs must and we are a bit short in midfield, so he has every chance to be involved and from the start.
“He has done a pre-season and had some game time, so he is not unfit and should be ready for football, so it depends on how body hardened he is, but he has experience at this level he knows what to expect as he has been there and done it before.”
Defender Alex Hartridge added: “We have played against Forest Green Rovers before and we know what they can do and their strengths. They score goals but they concede a lot, and we play our best football against attacking sides, so hopefully it will be the same this weekend.”