Exeter City FC

Exeter City manager Matt Taylor believes the opening of the new Stagecoach Adam Stansfield Stand is an example of how the club is moving forward.

The City boss, who attended the opening of the stand alongside sponsors, said he is pleased with how the ground is looking as the stand is set to be used for the first time in this weekend’s clash with Forest Green Rovers.

Matt said: “The stand looks fantastic. It’s been a long time coming, I think everyone is looking forward to getting bums on seats and watching football.

“Facilities like this help the club along and it shows the way we are going. The club is moving forward, the away stand will be open at some stage in the next month or two then all of a sudden, we’ve got a ground we can be proud of.”

Matt also revealed that the Grecians are struggling from a few “little knocks and niggles” ahead of the match with Mark Cooper’s side, as the Grecians take on an opponent who have lost just once in the league this season.

Matt continued: “Hiram (Boateng) had a scan today, so we will get those results over the next couple of days, but he’s definitely out of this weekend. It could be a substantial period of time, so we’ll wait on the results of the injury.

“Jayden (Stockley) is getting closer to full fitness after a bit of an illness. There are a few tired bodies and a few under the weather off the back of playing on Saturday then Tuesday.

“We’ll see how they are over the next 24-48 hours going into the weekend. We need as many bodies fit as we possibly can, but anyone that we put out on the pitch this weekend will represent the club in the right manner and attack the game.”

The City manager was also keen to highlight the threat that Rovers will pose to City on Saturday as they look to maintain their push within the play-off positions. 

“They’ve made a good start having only been beaten once,” explained Matt.  “They’ve improved upon some of the fragilities that they may have had last season and they have some good attacking players as well.

“We’ve watched the footage as we always do, and they are a good attacking team who could threaten us on the counter-attack and in certain areas of the pitch, so we have to be right at it come Saturday.

“I was pleased with the performance on Tuesday (vs Crawley Town), to get a point against a team in form that really flew at us for the first 70 minutes or so. It was pleasing, we have to take those performances from the last couple of away games into the home form and hopefully we can pick up a result.”

With the draw for the first round of the FA Cup made earlier in the week, as City were confirmed to be hosting Blackpool in November, Matt believes it’s a difficult match to begin with but is targeting a positive performance to progress into the next round.

He said: “It’s a tough draw, it’s difficult because you want, not an easy tie, but one you can qualify in a straight forward manner in the first couple of rounds, and then get a big club in the third round.

“It’s a tough one, but the bonus is that it’s at home, so we’ll fly into that game and it will be a good opportunity for the players to showcase their abilities against a team in a higher league. We’re looking forward to that, but we’ll take one game at a time and that’s this weekend in what is a tough game.”