Exeter City FC

Exeter City manager Matt Taylor says that he’s looking forward to this weekend’s top of the table clash away to Crewe Alexandra, and that there is little to separate the two teams.

The Grecians travel to Crewe on Saturday, who sit level on points with Exeter. It is the highlight Sky Bet League Two fixture of the weekend, and the City boss is relishing the challenge.  

“It should be a good game between two teams at the top of the table," he said. "They’ve started well and so have we, same points, not much between the teams. Hopefully it will be a good day for football in terms of the pitch and weather conditions, two good footballing teams as well, so it’s certainly a game you’ve got to look forward to.”

With both sides tied at the summit of the league, Matt knows that while Crewe will be an obvious test, his side have to just focus on themselves.

The boss said: “It’s down to the players reacting to how the opposition play on Saturday. I’ve said time and time again that if our performances are where they need to be then we’ve got a chance of winning any game of football, as we’re a good footballing team.

“But, they’re in good form, of course they are. They’re a strong team at home who have got some good young English players, and it’s a club in which we can identify with to a certain extent in terms of the way they promote their young players, and it’s fantastic to see them young English players getting a good opportunity at this level, hopefully going onto bigger and better things. Crewe are at the top of the table for a reason but so are we.”

Matt acknowledged that if City are to come away with a positive result, then they’ll have to be clinical in front of goal, unlike last weekend against Grimsby Town.

“Taking your chances is always important, staying in the game is always important," he said. "Obviously Saturday had disappointing aspects of the game in terms of the goals we conceded, but also not taking those opportunities.

“It was a combination of a few factors, but that’s behind us now and we are looking forward to the game this weekend. Hopefully it is one where the Crewe fans turn up in their numbers, but also we’ll travel in good numbers as well.”

The manager was also keen to stress that, while the Grecians suffered defeat last weekend, it was only one game and so there isn’t a need for sporadic team selection changes.

“It’s one game. It’s the first game we’ve lost in 14 games! So I’ve got to be fully respectful of the players and what they’ve done for me this season. We didn’t start well, and that went into our all-round game. In terms of the actual amount of chances we created I think we still were on top by seventeen to three, so to lose a game 3-1 doesn’t paint a fair reflection of the overall outcome of the game.

“But we weren’t quite good enough all-round the pitch on Saturday and we hold our hands up. I’ve not been able to say that too many times this season, and I’ve got to trust the players. Hopefully Saturday was a bit of a blip and we get back to our normal selves this weekend.”