PIERCE SWEENEY IS THE CLUB CAPTAIN OF EXETER CITY FC
While we’re still looking for our first win since beating Cheltenham Town back in September, I’d like to think our 1-1 draw at Stevenage on Saturday will prove a turning point.
I appreciate that, having lost nine and drawn two of the 11 league games we’ve played since beating the Robins, it’s wins we need. However, Saturday’s point felt much bigger than those we picked up against Lincoln and Shrewsbury and has provided us with a real shot in the arm.
Given the run we’re on, it would have been all too easy for us to feel sorry for ourselves after Jack Aitchison was shown a red card in the 43rd minute, and to have concluded it wasn’t going to be our day, again, when Carl Piergianni headed the home side in front just before half-time.
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However, not a bit of it. The Gaffer switched things around at half-time and it produced an almost-instant return when second-half substitute Yanic Wilsdchut got on the end of a scintillating move, involving Reece Cole, Harry Kite, and Dion Rankine, to fire us level just after the restart.
As you’d expect, from thereon in the home side put us under some concerted pressure which required some real backs-to-the-wall defending. At the same time, such was our commitment and resolve, it always felt as if we could defy the odds and take something from the game. Indeed, even with just 10 men, we managed to create one or two chances to nick all three points.
What’s more, I think the 300-plus City fans, who gave us fantastic backing throughout, really appreciated our efforts and, come the end of the game, the interaction between us and them was much more akin to how it was before our downturn in form. With regard to Jack’s sending-off, I thought he was a bit unlucky. I asked the referee why he’d shown him a second yellow card and he told me that it was because Jack had raised his hands in too close proximity to him.
That’s as maybe, and I’m not condoning Jack’s actions, but I’m reasonably sure that when the ref pulled that second yellow out of his pocket, he didn’t realise that Jack had already been booked and had he done Jack might well have escaped with a telling-off.
For sure, I feel for Jack. Believe you me, he’s a real talent but, with us lacking a genuine No 9 at the minute, is being asked to play slightly out of position and, while he’s making a more than decent stab at it, we’re not seeing the very best of him.
Mark my words, if the manager gets the players he wants in the January transfer window and Jack can revert to playing in his best position, just off a central striker, we’ll see an altogether different player in the second half of the season.
On that note, I sense the Sonny Cox who came off the bench for the final few minutes of Saturday’s game is a different Sonny Cox to the one who went on loan to Yeovil five or six weeks ago. Sonny got plenty of game time at the Glovers and, on the basis of what we saw in training last week and in his brief cameo at the Lamex Stadium, it appears to have done him the world of good.
While Sonny may not be ready to fill the awfully big boots vacated by Sam Nombe quite yet, I’m in no doubt that he has what it takes to claim the club’s hallowed No. 9 shirt as his own over the course of the next couple of years.
Talking of goalscorers, It’s great that Ollie Watkins continues to bang ‘em in for Aston Villa. Ollie bagged his 15th goal of the season as Villa came from behind to beat his former club Brentford at the weekend but sparked controversy with a goal celebration which appeared to contribute to tensions boiling over in the final stages of the game.
As you may have seen, having given his side the lead, Ollie made a point of goading a Brentford fan behind the goal. You won’t need me to tell you that’s not Ollie’s normal style but if, as has been suggested, this particular fan was persistently abusing him and his family then I think he’s entirely within his rights to give a bit back. As an aside, wouldn’t it be fantastic if a former Grecian were to become a Premier League title winner!
I appreciate it will be a huge ask but, with almost half the season gone, Villa are just a point behind leaders Arsenal and I reckon they have more strength in depth than the Leicester side which provided such a shock in 2015-16.
If you haven’t yet caught up with the video of club and Trust chair Nick Hawker being interviewed about everything that has gone on over the past few months then I’d encourage you to do so. I’ve a lot of time for Nick, or ‘Mr Chairman’ as he hates me to call him, and I think it’s to his immense credit that he fronts up to some searching questions. I appreciate that some people will take issue with his responses but, for what it’s worth, I think he provides a real insight into some of the issues the club has had to overcome.
Looking ahead, we travel to Cambridge City on Friday night, have back-to-back home games against Wycombe on Boxing Day and league leaders Portsmouth on the evening of Friday, December 29, and then travel to Reading on New Year’s Day.
While it was great to take a point off Stevenage, it will count for very little if we can’t build on it over the course of our four festive fixtures. Certainly, we must take something from the games against Cambridge and Wycombe and a win in one, or both, of those matches would be the perfect Christmas present.
Plainly, runaway league leaders Portsmouth will present us with an altogether different challenge, but some of our best performances this season have come under the floodlights at SJP and, as you might imagine, it’s a game we’re really looking forward to. That aside, it will be great to welcome Jack Sparkes back to his old stomping ground.
Jack and I remain good pals – indeed we were meant to be meeting up for a game of snooker a few weeks back until he cried off with illness. In any case, I’m delighted that things have gone as well as they have for Sparkesy at Pompey – he’s starting regularly and seems to chip in with an assist pretty much every other week – but we’ll be looking to derail his new side’s promotion push when we square up next Friday.
In the meantime, with Taggy in the hotseat next week, it only remains for me to wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!
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