Exeter City manager looks ahead to Accrington trip
EXETER CITY manager Paul Tisdale has called on his players to match Accrington Stanley's work ethic and energy ahead of the Grecians' trip to the Wham Stadium this weekend.John Coleman's Stanley have, like the Grecians, impressed so far at this early stage of the season, taking ten points from their opening seven fixtures. But City travel to the north-west hoping to continue a run of three successive wins.
"Fitness-wise, the squad isn't looking too bad," Tis said. "We have a deeper squad than we have had in recent years, and that means that most weeks we have plenty of options. We'll be as close to the team that played last week as we can, and pending one or two fitness tests, we'll go with a good enough squad.
"Joel Grant has been back with us for a week now after returning from international duty, but if you were to judge his performance off the bench against Hartlepool, you'd be forgiven for thinking that he'd been here for a while then. He immediately contributed, and was very comfortable with his role in the team. Other than the accustomisation to this team, he's now just ready and waiting for his opportunity to play.
"What will give me confidence this weekend is the way that my team approaches the game. What I do know about Accrington is that they always seem to overperform and overachieve, and they have a level of work ethic and energy that you wouldn't think they were capable of. Every time I've played a John Coleman team, I've seen that. It's been numerous times.
"We certainly won't underestimate them; John has been at Accrington for a long time, albeit with a break in-between, but he knows the club and the club knows him. It's our job to be ready for him, because you do know the good qualities that his teams will offer. There's always been goals in this fixture in recent years, and we'll have to be at our best again."
For the match report of Exeter City's last visit to the Crown Ground, click here.