Exeter City hoping lessons learned and Grecians can earn another win
AFTER the frustration of seeing his side snatch defeat from the jaws of a potential victory last weekend, Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell hopes his players can show they have learned lessons from that defeat at Blackpool.
When Ed Francis curled a pearler of a free kick in off the post with just two minutes remaining at Bloomfield Road, it looked as though Caldwell’s charges, who were on top in the game at that time after a poor first half, were the most likely team to go on and find a winner.
Instead, Blackpool found a second wind and laid siege to the City goal with the Grecians finally cracking deep into stoppage time as the Seasiders capitalised on some fragile set piece defending to record a 2-1 win.
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Today, the Grecians welcome Stevenage to St James Park with Caldwell hoping to see a reaction from his players after not just the frustration of that late goal, but the way in which his team started the game as well.
“I think the big thing – and the positive thing – is the way the players have reacted to it,” Caldwell said, reflecting on last week’s loss. “They were very open to the learning that we had on Tuesday, we discussed the start of the game, we discussed the end of the game and the behaviours we need to show to be better in those moments.
“We have a great group of players who, win lose or draw, they are always open to improving, to getting better and considering we had such a disappointing result, losing in the 94th minute, we have had a really positive week and we are ready to show that learning on Saturday.”
It will be the first time in 28 days that City will be back at St James Park where they have won one and lost one of their two League One fixtures to date. Supporters are also reminded that kick-off is at 12.30pm, a further frustration/annoyance/inconvenience matchgoing fans continue to face as part of Sky TV’s mega bucks TV deal with the EFL.
“I think it is difficult for everyone,” Caldwell said, speaking of the impact an early start has. “The changing of start times throughout football makes it harder for players and it definitely makes it harder for supporters; I understand how difficult it will be for them and that it is easier to sit in the house and watch it but, for me, there is no better place to watch a football match than SJP.
“Hopefully we get a result and that feeling (of winning) you can’t get that anywhere else unless you are at the stadium, so hopefully we can get as many supporters in as we can and they get behind us to get a victory.”
Caldwell added: “It will be a really difficult game, I know (Stevenage manager) Alex Revell well and I signed him at Wigan many years ago on loan. He is a brilliant character and was an excellent player and he is having an excellent start to his management career.
“I think this is the second time he has been at the club, but he is someone that wants to win. His teams are aggressive and we have to be ready for that, we have to start the game much better than we did last Saturday and with a full house behind us, then hopefully we can put in a performance that can win us the game.
“They are different to before, Alex came in over the summer, but he was part of the backroom staff before, but any manager will make changes to what was being done before and Alex has done that.
“It will be a different test to the one we faced last year against Stevenage. They have started the season very well, they come with confidence, but we have to make sure that we are at our best and I think that if we are, then we can win the game.
“They have a lot of quality, not just in the starting XI, but on the bench as well. It is not going to be easy, but the big thing for me is that we are at home, we have to focus on ourselves and we have to play on the front foot, dominate the game and play it the way we want it to be played. If we do that, then I am sure we can win.”