City man keenly anticipating clash with Luton
Grecians man David Wheeler feels that the Exeter City squad are relishing the prospect of every fixture at the moment, with the side in a rich vein of form.City have taken a whopping 19 points from the last 24 available in League 2, including seeing off then-league leaders Bury and Wycombe at St James Park on the way.
Only Saturday’s visitors Luton can boast a better record in that time with just one draw and seven wins in the same period.
However David feels that City’s ruthless streak has given the team plenty of momentum in recent weeks, and he is confident that they can derail Luton’s recent charge.
“At the moment especially we’re looking forward to every game,” he explained. “We always look like we’re going to score, which is great – as a forward player that’s all you can ask for really.
“Everyone is hunting for goals – there has been about 11 or 12 different goalscorers, so everyone wants to get on the scoresheet.
“The fans respond to it when the teams at the top of the league come to the Park, so hopefully it’ll be the same again.
“I’m sure Luton will be in a similar frame of mind to us, having been on such good form. But at the same time, if you look at Wycombe before they played us, they had been on very good form.
“It’s a cliché but it has to end at some point. It may be that they have run out of steam when they play us on Saturday.
“But if that’s not the case, I’m sure we’ll have enough anyway to give them more than a match.”
The recent turnaround in form has left City just a point shy of the play-off places going into this weekend’s round of matches.
And while Exeter were in fact better positioned at this point last season, the attacker is pleased to see that City have grown into the season in a healthy and organic manner and have eliminated their shortcomings.
“It’s a reverse of what happened last season really, where we started very well and it turned on its head,” he continued.
“I prefer the way we have done it this time – I feel like we have ironed out a lot of problems that we had at the start of the season.
“And I think there is generally a lot of confidence within the team, and that whoever comes into the team is going to do the job and be part of the success.
“The wins we have had recently have really helped with the mood and the morale of the team.”
Wheeler started in each of the last two games for the Grecians, as Exeter won at home against Wycombe and on the road at Morecambe.
His start against the Chairboys was the first time he had been named in the starting XI since the trip to Tranmere a month before, and he confirmed that he had been plagued with a pelvic injury in recent weeks.
However, after working with newly-appointed physio Graham McAnuff, Wheeler is much closer to full health again now.
“I’ve had a problem with my pelvis, which has been really long term – it’s been going on for probably two and a half months now,” explained David.
“It got to a point when it was too much, and that’s why I had to go on the bench for a few weeks because the pain was quite intense.
“Having managed it with Graham and managing it through the week with strengthening exercises, it seems to have made a massive difference. I can still feel it, but it’s nothing like how it had been.
“Graham is very good and very thorough. He works very hard and does a lot for the guys’ rehab. It’s so much better, even for peace of mind for the players as even if they don’t need to see the physio, it’s nice to have someone around that’s going to help out.”