Exeter City striker Adam Stansfield will play through the pain in his knee for the final 12 games of the season in a bid to keep his club in League One.

Stansfield missed just three games after minor surgery before playing for 82 minutes on Saturday as he returned to the side.

And he explained that despite the pain he will endure nothing will stop him pulling on a red and white shirt in the coming months.

"I would play with a broken leg if I could, even if it was all floppy!," he joked.

"They said there is a bit of cartilage missing so it is going to be bone-on-bone.

"You are going to get a sharp pain now and again, especially when the leg hyper-extends or the knee jars into the ground.

"It is going to swell up for the rest of the season and I just have to keep on top of it with the exercises, the ice and the anti-inflamatories.

"I just have to get through, it is there yes but there are more important and bigger things."

Stanno in action on the weekend

These pressing issue that Stansfield speaks is the perilous position City find themselves in, four points from safety with 12 games remaining.

But Exeter's top scorer this season is determined not to have relegation on his CV come May.

"We have to be confident," he said.

"Success this season will be staying up, whether we do it on the last day of the season or we get enough points in the next six or seven games.

"All the changing room and all the members of staff will do everything we can to stay up."

The next game in the battle for survival sees City travel to Southend, currently just below the Grecians in League One, on Saturday (3pm).