Western Morning News (Saturday)
Grecians know they must be on form to win at Hartlepool
EXETER City will have to be at their very best of they are to take anything form their long trip to Hartlepool United today, according to manager Matt Taylor.
Last season’s National League play-off winners have one of the best home records in English football having won all four of their home games so far this season in League Two. Add to that the fact they have lost only once at Victoria Park since December 5, 2020 and you can understand why Taylor feels that way.
However, City aren’t in bad form themselves. After a slow start to the season, they are unbeaten in seven games in all competitions with that 3-0 loss at Leyton orient back in August still their only loss of the campaign.
“We are eight games in, so it has barely even started yet. But everyone judges it differently,” Taylor said. “When we hadn’t won any of the first three games and hadn’t scored a goal, all the doomers and gloomers were questioning what we were doing, but we remained pretty level.
“Then you win a couple of games, you are unbeaten in however many and people give you praise but, for us, we are no different.
“It’s just who we have available, how the team is functioning and – let’s be honest – last week could have been very different if Sutton had taken their chances in the first hour of the game.
“I’d like to think, as manager and a group of staff, we understand where this group of players are at this moment in time. We are pleased with where we are after eight games, considering after those first three games, we didn’t win and we didn’t score and we are in amongst a competitive group on a similar number of points.
“The fact we are pushing towards the top of the table is where we want to be. We always want to be competitive, first and foremost, but we also want to be challenging as well. This weekend will give me a better idea of what the group can achieve.
“I learnt a lot last weekend and I will learn a lot this weekend when we go to a club whose home form has been outstanding for a long period of time. But we have to be different to what has happened before in relation to their home form.
“They have started their league campaign very well, especially at home, so we know how difficult it will be and what an effort it will take, but we are capable of doing it. We have shown enough times on the road and in our game that we are capable of beating good teams and there is no doubt that Hartlepool are a good team, just like Sutton were last week.”
The reason for City’s early season struggles was simple: player availability. Too many picked up injuries at the very end of pre-season, while the club were also hit by a Covid outbreak. Now things have settled down on both those fronts, they are looking strong.
In fact, they are so strong that Taylor has a problem he has rarely faced in his time as Exeter manager – just who to leave out of his matchday squad. It is a welcome headache to have, that’s for sure.
“Jonathan Grounds picked up a calf injury, but he has trained and it’s the first time he has trained in about ten days, so we will assess him in relation to making the journey,” Taylor added. “There is no point in taking players all the way up to Hartlepool if we are not going to use them.
“The rest of the group aren’t in a bad position. Josh Coley is now classed as fully fit, we just need to get him more and more game time and Sam Stubbs and Jack Sparkes are still the longer-term absentees.
“Archie is ready for selection. We had an in-house game on Tuesday where the lads played a nine-v-nine and the lads got some intense, valuable work in that, so we are in a good place on the injury front.”