Exeter City FC

Exeter City manager Matt Taylor said his squad is looking healthy going into Saturday’s match with Mansfield Town, following a hectic August fixture schedule.

The Grecians had travelled to Birmingham, to face Coventry City in the EFL Cup on Tuesday, August 13, before then going to Oldham Athletic and Morecambe in the space of five days.

However, this week they had no Tuesday night game which has helped the squad going into a tough match against Mansfield Town at home on Saturday.

“The fact that there were no midweek games meant there was a couple with little niggles that we could look after at the start of the week in terms of Monday and Tuesday training and just a bit of a bit of rest and recuperation for a couple,” explained Matt.

“The ones who needed the work, got the work in. Sometimes as a manager you want a free week where you can concentrate on training but when you are in good form you want the games to keep coming. It is about trying to find the right balance. Hopefully, we have done that this week and we are ready for another big week for us in terms of the three games coming up.”

Mansfield, who won 4-1 on their last visit to St James Park, have picked up an impressive win at Carlisle United and drawn away at last season play-off rivals Newport County. However, they have also drawn to Stevenage and Morecambe at home and lost on their own patch to Leyton Orient.

Matt though isn’t reading too much into that. He says they are a good side and, regardless of them so far being better on the road than at their own stadium, they will be a force to be reckoned with this campaign.

“They are a good team,” he said. “I don’t think in is a home and away split. I think they have been a bit unfortunate in a couple of home games, but they have got some top, top players at this level.

“They got into the play-offs last year and I fully expect them to be challenging up the top end of the table this season, despite the start they have had, and that is not a poor start it is just a difficult league to pick up points in.

“They have had a few injuries, we understand that, but I fully expect Mansfield to be towards the top end of this table and rightly so in terms of the size of the club and the size of the budget and the players they have got at the club.

"Hopefully, we are trying to get them at a good time. We are in good form and we want to win our home games, we want to give our fans something to shout about. I feel it will be two good teams going at it. Who comes out on top will be based and dependent on the performance.”