Manager Matt Taylor says he is looking forward to a good game of football on Saturday as the Grecians travel to Stevenage in Sky Bet League Two.
City began the season with a 1-0 home win over Macclesfield Town, while Stevenage fell to an opening day loss at Salford.
However, despite Ryan Bowman’s winning goal at St James Park, Matt knows there is plenty of room for improvement in terms of the performance his side put in and is confident his players can put that right on Saturday.
“There were first day nerves and it was a difficult game in terms of the actual performance, but it was important to get the three points and we move on now to Stevenage,” he said.
“We gave the lads some downtime in terms of the start of this week on the back of a tough pre-season schedule. So hopefully, they will be well-rested and be fresh in terms of their mind and bodies going into the game at Stevenage.”
Matt Taylor’s side came close to getting the three points last time they visited the Lamex Stadium with Ryan Bowman having a goal disallowed and Randell Williams hitting the crossbar in a match that ended all square.
“I don’t think our record at Stevenage recently has been too good and it is up to us to put that right,” said Matt.
“We came agonizingly close to three points there towards the end of last season and that was on the back of a pretty good performance.
“We know we are going to have to withstand a certain amount of pressure. We know how they play and they will be full of energy and intent. We have got to match that and show a little bit of quality when we do retain the ball.
“It will be a good game of football. We are always well supported at Stevenage. We always travel well in numbers, certainly to the games in and around the London area. So, hopefully, the boys can get that support from the fans and they will get right behind us. They will want to see a performance. They will want to see improvements on last week and improvements on what they saw in pre-season and that is what we are striving for.
“I am sure the players will be raring to go come the weekend. We have got a hungry group of players and they show it on a daily basis in terms of the way they train. So, I am looking forward to a good game of football against a team that, hopefully, will be in and around us.”
Another plus point on Saturday was the performance of Randell Williams, who picked up the man-of-the-match award. So is Matt pleased with how the 22-year-old is developing?
“He has got to keep playing well,” said Matt. “There is so much, in terms of areas to improve for Randell. His performance, second half against Macclesfield, showed what he has got when he gets the ball in a bit of space but he has got to affect the game when his natural game and his one v one attacking play is not an option for him and the game is in a different part of the pitch.
“So, there is lots of work to do in terms of Randell. He is a young player and we brought him in for the right reasons and we will keep developing him and, as long as he stays on honest, with his work-rate then he will get his rewards off the back of that.”