Taylor ends season with another manager’s gong
Exeter boss lands Sky Bet Manager of the Month award after winning promotion
THE accolades just keep coming for Exeter City and their boss Matt Taylor, who has been named the Sky Bet League Two Manager of the month for April – a month that ended in promotion to League One for the Grecians.
It is the second time this season that the Exeter chief has won the award after he also claimed the February honour, while he has had several other nominations in what has been a superb season at St James Park.
Defender and vice-captain Pierce Sweeney missed out in the players’ award, though, with that prize going to Elliot Anderson of Bristol Rovers, who played such a key role in the Gas taking automatic promotion and finishing third in League Two.
“I have them in my office,” Taylor said of his award. “There is not much room at the training ground, so those shelves are a little fuller, but I am really pleased to win that award in the most important month.
“April was the month where we knew, if we got it right in terms of results and points gained, we would put ourselves in a fantastic position and that obviously happened.”
The Grecians picked up a superb hail of 16 points from seven games in the month, which started with a 1-0 win at Newport County. City backed that up with a dramatic last minute 1-0 win at Carlisle United seven days later, before they overcame Colchester United 2-0 on Good Friday.
Their only defeat that month came at Tranmere Rovers on Easter Monday, where they lost 2-0, but the Grecians were quickly back to winning ways by beating Rochdale 2-0 on April 23.
That set them up for the chance to win promotion when they hosted Barrow at St James Park three days later and goals from Kieran Phillips and captain Matt Jay saw them overcome a 1-0 deficit to win 2-1 and claim their place in League One for next season.
The month ended with a 1-1 draw away to Northampton Town, which put Exeter top of the table for the first time all season, but their championship hopes were ended by Port Vale at the start of May, losing 1-0 which, coupled with Forest Green’s 2-2 draw at Mansfield saw the Green Devils crowned champions by virtue of goal difference.
“It’s a reflection on April and the game against Port Vale was a separate game,” Taylor added. “It was an opportunity where we just fell short, but I have no qualms in relation to that.
“I would have snapped your hand off at the start of the season in relation to where we are sat right now, but it was good to have a focus for the last two games of the season. It was just a shame it didn’t quite work out in terms of the title.
“We only lost out on the title on goal difference – same wins, same draws, same number of losses and points as Forest Green, it was only six goals difference in the end.”
Since inning League Two, Forest Green boss Rob Edwards has left the New Lawn and taken up the managerial role with relegated Premier League side Watford.
Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper took the Championship award and Wycombe Wanderers boss Gareth Ainsworth the League One gong.
Forest’s Brennan Johnson won the Championship player of the month award with the League One prize going to Lee Gregory of Sheffield Wednesday.