Youngster beaming after making City debut against Southend
Exeter City youngster Jake Gosling was delighted to have made his Football League debut against Southend United, by replacing Steve Tully towards the end of the 3-0 victory at St James Park.
The Grecians were already looking comfortable by that point, but Gosling – who has already had one moment in the spotlight this season by scoring an FA Cup winner for his loan club Dorchester against Plymouth – was lively in the closing stages.
As well as showing for the ball and picking neat passes, he was also confident enough to pull the trigger when offered a sight on goal. Similarly to Jamie Reid, who also had a spell with the Magpies before making his debut against Oxford, the attacker was glowing after getting a first senior appearance under his belt. And gave his thanks to the Blue Square Bet South side for giving him opportunities to improve.
“I went to Dorchester and tried to improve the aspects of my game that weren’t the strongest,” said Gosling after the Southend game. “I’ve come back and managed to make my debut, and really enjoyed it.”
“I owe a lot to Dorchester really, and Phil Simkin and Stuart Heath – their manager and assistant manager – for putting their faith in me. I really improved there. It is a different standard of football, but it is men’s football and it’s a first-team standard. You get to play against some pretty good players so I feel I’ve really benefitted from that loan.
“In senior football, you’ve got more to aspire to, you’ve got a crowd to please and you’ve got to try and pick up three points as well. You get that extra buzz from playing in front of fans. Reserve football is good, and it is a good standard, but it’s not the same as first team football.”
With matches coming thick and fast again, Gosling is hopeful of getting more chances to impress in the coming weeks. After showing signs of intent from the bench, he’s confident that he can push on to be involved in Paul Tisdale’s squads more often in the near future.
“Paul comes to watch a lot of the reserve games, which gives you something to aspire to,” he continued. “Even when he’s not there, you still want to do well, but when he’s there it gives you that little extra incentive to do well and show him that I should be in the team.
“I was just pleased to get my Exeter debut today. I was positive, and hopefully did enough to be involved in the squad next week. The manager said ‘well done’ to me after the game, which was really nice to hear.
“It was 3-0 already when I came on, but for me it was massive – that’s my time to impress. There’s no other time I’ve had a chance to play first-team football with Tisdale watching, so it was a massive opportunity for me today.”