Western Morning News (Saturday)
Taylor warns City to be cautious of humbled Cheltenham
IT doesn’t take a genius to know that Cheltenham Town will head to St James Park to play Exeter City this afternoon with more than a point to prove.
Just 11 days ago, the Grecians ran out 7-0 winners against the Robins in a Carabao Cup first round clash at Whaddon Road. Cheltenham may have made eight changes that night, but it was still a humbling experience for the proud club.
Football always offers that opportunity for revenge and that comes today for Wade Elliott, who will revert to type and bring in many of those players that sat out the League Cup mauling – Exeter’s now record away win. “We expect them to have the group that have played the majority of their minutes in the league up to date on the pitch and I think that means eight or nine outfield changes to the team we played on that Tuesday night,” City boss Matt Taylor said.
“As much as it was a great victory for ourselves, it was very much a different Cheltenham team to the one we expect to face this weekend and they are coming to us on the back of their best performance of the season so far on Tuesday night away at Fleetwood (where they drew 0-0.)
“We are in good form ourselves on the back of our win against Wycombe, so it’s all to play for and another game at home which we are more comfortable with because it means we avoid the traffic on the M5, M4, M6 and so on and so forth and the players have that feeling towards the environment, which is a positive one at the moment.”
City head into the game off the back of a superb 3-1 win over Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday night where they even had the luxury of resting star striker Sam Nombe.
The Grecians are extremely cautious with the popular 23-year-old due to the hamstring issues he suffered last season, so Matt Jay got the chance to partner Jevani Brown in attack.
There will be more rotation of the front men today with Brown away on international duty – this is the first of three games that he will miss – so Jay should retain his place in the starting XI with Nombe leading the line.
It has been a frustrating season so far for Jay, who is by no means a guaranteed starter. “I trust MJ more than anyone else in our squad,” Taylor
said, giving a ringing endorsement of his skipper. “He’s our captain and as long as it’s the right type of game for him and Jevani (Brown) to play as a partnership, there is no reason why they can’t play together and be successful.
“Harry Kite is performing well and MJ is as close to that midfield group as he is to that forward line and Sam and Jevani have had a certain type of partnership to start the season, but football changes in an instant.
“MJ picked up a goal in the Carabao Cup win against Cheltenham a couple of weeks ago and has picked up game time since then, but we know what he’s all about and we are looking forward to seeing how he produces certain types of displays over the next couple pf games and moving forward.
“It’s always difficulty to leave your main men out – your captains, your leaders, your inspirational ones and ones that have been there throughout your time as manager – and they are never nice moments for a manager. If you could pick 12 players, it would make life a whole lot easier!
“MJ understood it, he’s worked harder than ever, he is naturally disappointed not to be getting the game time he warrants and deserves – and rightly so – but he has stayed ready and I am sure he will show that in the coming weeks.”
It has certainly been a good start to life in League One for the Grecians, who have collected seven points from their four games so far. Taylor suggested his young squad are playing above themselves right now, but they certainly don’t seem daunted by the step up in class.
“In context of that (Wycombe) game and where some of those players are in terms of their careers, there is a lot of young players with big futures ahead of them with ourselves and elsewhere and they are learning the level and finding out about themselves and they won’t be as consistent,” Taylor warned.
“I just felt it was a complete performance with Pierce Sweeney at his best and the two young centre halves to his left at their best. We had seven academy players on that pitch and that’s an incredible number for a game like that and a game of such intensity and physicality and I thought all of them performed fantastically well.
“I expect that some of the group will go on to different levels to what we’ll witness but in terms of producing performances at our best level as a team, Tuesday might wasn’t far off.
“We hope and we expect to have more consistency as the season goes on. There will be dips in form and dips in results, but one thing we must always have is that intent to aim for that sort of performance.”