Top scorer praises team spirit in Grecians camp
David Wheeler is confident Exeter City have enough in them to clinch a play-off spot come the end of the season with three games remaining.
Six points separate Luton Town in fourth and Wycombe Wanderers in 13th and League Two is as tight as any previous season heading into the last three games. Exeter City took a dent in confidence losing 1-0 to Cambridge but are looking to come back against Morecambe on Saturday.
“It (the Cambridge United loss) has made it a lot closer,” said David. “It’s brought a lot of teams into contention now.
“It is literally going to be who’s got the best form going into the last three games. Anything can happen. If we lose on the weekend, we’ve still got two games left and it could all change again the following week. When we won at home against Barnet, everyone was thinking it’s comfortable, we’re happy that we’re going to be in a play-off place at the end of the season. Then we lose again and it’s all back to being really close and really tight. It’s going to be up and down but, hopefully, we can do enough.
“I think that the gap has narrowed. I think in the first half of the season, had we managed to replicate our second half in the first half then we probably would have been promoted already. It’s just a case of being consistent enough and I don’t think there’s been enough teams that have the consistency to have gained promotion already or to be comfortable in the play-offs.”
The Grecians face a Morecambe side who are marooned in a lower/mid-table position with little to play for in terms of promotion or relegation.
“I would say it’s a similar scenario to the Barnet game,” said David. “Barnet didn’t have anything of note to play for. But we saw in the second half once they were 2-0 down that they were very relaxed and very comfortable and played a lot of really good football and caused us some problems. So however the game is thrown up it’s going to be a game where we are more likely to be in a more anxious or stressful situation than they are and that proves challenging in itself.”
David is Exeter’s top scorer so far this season with 15 goals in the league and has had his best scoring campaign since joining Exeter almost four years ago.
“I think it’s partly that I’ve been on the pitch longer this season than any other,” explained David when asked what the key to his success this season was.
“I’ve played more minutes and have had more chances. We’ve got a lot of very talented players and a lot of young players that have a lot of running in them and you’re always going to have chances when that’s the case. It’s always helpful when you’re in a winning team there’s always more chances and things seem to fall your way.
“I think the team is probably the most tight-knit off the pitch as well as on it that I’ve been involved with and that helps a lot.
“We’re all on a similar wavelength, none of us are too confident and most of us are very professional and I think that professionalism shows. Every game we try and tough it out to the final minute and I think we have got enough fight in us to make the play-offs but you just don’t know what’s going to happen between now and the end of the season. So hopefully we have enough.”