McArdle knows it is now crunch time for Exeter
Defender targets three points as City head into a massive week in their season
EXETER City defender Rory McArdle says it is important that evgeryone digs in and helps get the Grecians where they want to be as they head into the defining week of their season.
The Grecians head to Forest Green Rovers tonight, who are two places and four points better off than the eighth-placed Grecians.
Then, they welcome Newport County to St James Park on SAturday with the Exiles currently seventh and a point ahead of the Grecians, having played one game more.
With five games of the season remaining - and a host of teams hot on the heels of Exeter - this certainly feels like make or break time after the Grecians failed to overcome struggling Southend United on Saturday and had to settle for a point from a goalless draw.
“Whenever you see them games where you are not scoring goals, generally the forward lads who get it in the neck, but it is important when you are struggling everyone has to try and contribute,” said McArdle, who sent a good chance wide in the dying embers of Saturday’s game. “I’ve got to chip in there, and there was the great save from Nigel (Atangana), and it is moments like that.
“We knew how they would approach the game and we knew what was going to come and how to combat that and it was nice to get a clean sheet and a platform to build on, but a shame we couldn’t get one at the other end.
“The clean sheets are something we pride ourselves on but it is disappointing when we don’t get the three points. Alex (Hartridge) had a chance, I had a chance, so we could have chipped in. I’ve got to do better with mine, and these are the fine lines in games like that.”
The positive for City was that it was a fifth clean sheet in six games, but for a side that has a record of 65 goals in 41 games so far - the best in League Two - goals have been at a premium in recent weeks.
Perhaps playing sides at the top end of the table will suit City, as their recent 4-1 win at Cambridge suggests. Either way, McArdle knows that this is a huge week in City’s season.
“Tuesday is a massive game,” McArdle added. “We got a point and it is one more than we had at the start of the day and one point closer, but it is a big game on Tuesday and one we are looking forward to and hope to come away with the three points.
“We know it is still in our own hands and the results have gone our way again which is a good thing and we are a point better off going into a big week, so we can take the positives out of it.”