Taylor ready to ring the changes
FRINGE players will get their chance to press their case for first team action when Exeter City take on Swindon Town in the EFL Trophy tonight.
The trip to the League One outfit is the second of eight games that the Grecians have in October, and manager Matt Taylor said that with the volume of the games, he will have to chop and change his line-ups.
Having won their opening group game, victory tonight will almost certainly see City reach the knockout stages of a competition they reached the semi-finals of last season, and Taylor said they will travel to the County Ground aiming to win.
“It will be a different team on Tuesday night,” Taylor said, after the 2-0 League Two win over Cambridge United on Saturday. “But we have been stronger each week on the bench, and whatever team we pick will be strong enough to compete, and if we win then that should be good enough for us to qualify.
“We want to keep moving forward.
We have two good results on the bounce against two good teams. We have to stick within the rules but the bench players today will get game time. Eight games in a month is a lot so have to look after some, but the lads on the fringes have to come in and perform well.
“The lads on the pitch have set a certain standard, and my hardest job to tell someone not in the team, but they need to keep putting their hand up for selection.”
Nicky Law and Nigel Atangana will both start on Tuesday night, Taylor said, while he indicated that both Jack Sparkes and Jake Caprice would replace Lewis Page and Josh Key in the full-back positions, given Page’s previous injury record and Key having featured in every fixture so far.
Jonny Maxted is expected to replace Lewis Ward in goal, while Will Dean, Ben Seymour, Alex Fisher are also among the names likely to start tonight, with Taylor adding: “It is a tough team to get into, but with eight fixtures in October, we will have to keep changing, and these players are ready to play.”
On transfer news, Taylor said that while the club are always in discussions to see how they can improve the squad, as things stand, there are no incomings or outgoings planned, and that he was far more excited about the youngsters in his squad that any new signings.
“If you bring players in, whose pathway do I block?” Taylor said. “The likes of Matt Jay, Joel Randall, Josh Key at the moment, I’m more excited about the players we have here than bringing any in. The club is renowned for young players and I just want players to be successful and perform well.
“Our academy is our foundation and it has been time and time again, and there’s no better marker than to see young players playing in the first team. That’s what they are judged on and long may it continue.”