Manager Matt Taylor says he and the Exeter City players want to leave Wembley Stadium with no regrets on Monday night and will go out to attack the Sky Bet League Two play-off final.
The preparation for the match will of course be different to that Exeter City experienced when they made the final in 2017 and 2018, due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, Matt said it was important the players felt relaxed ahead of the game and confident going into what is a great opportunity to get promoted to League One.
“I can only control so much, and I am going to have a big emphasis on what we do with the players over the next couple of days, to make them feel relaxed and positive about what is ahead of them,” said Matt. “Then it is going to be down to the players to go out and play a certain way. I am backing them. They are a great group.
“I have enjoyed working with them now for the best part of two years and hopefully they see it for what it is. It is another opportunity in terms of our progression, and it is a fantastic opportunity. We all know what the prize is at stake.
"I certainly don’t want to come away from Wembley with any regrets whatsoever and the players are in the same mindset. We are going to go and attack this game of football. And, hopefully, it is a good spectacle for both sets of fans and I’m sure it will be an exciting day.”
City certainly grasped the opportunity that was in front of them last Monday. Despite being 1-0 down from the first leg against Colchester United, the Grecians stormed back to win the second leg 3-1 after extra-time with goals from Aaron Martin, Jayden Richardson and Ryan Bowman. Matt was pleased that they have come off the back of that game without any fresh injury concerns as it was a monumental effort the players put in.
“It has been quite a quick turnaround since Monday evening and that fantastic result against Colchester,” said Matt. “The main port of call first was getting the player rested and recovered. To play 120 minutes after such a short period of training was incredible and was such a huge effort from that group of players.
"We had to look after them. We had to almost wrap them up in cotton wool for a couple of days and get them ready for what will be a good weekend’s training and then to travel up on Sunday. We want to go and play to the best of our ability on Monday, but we also know that we need speed in our game and to do that we need to be physically right.”