What a couple of weeks we’ve had! Two hard won games of football, at home at St James Park and away at Oldham.
I think it was Matt who said, ‘it wasn’t pretty, but we got the job done’ - and he was right! And what an incredible penalty save from Cam, who’s kept an impressive number of clean sheets. He’s a keeper!
The away support has been phenomenal this season: the crowd at Oldham did not stop singing the whole game, lifting the boys throughout. Matt thought it might have been his parents or wife Sarah who were watching the game who started chanting his name, either way, it was great to hear!
It’s hard to think of anything else with the situation in Ukraine, so it was heartwarming to see the donations made by our fans at our last home game. We’ve raised more than £2,500 so far, which was boosted by Debbie Macey who gave the £475 winnings from the 50/50 competition. I should also mention Thrifty, who are another big supporter of the football club and donated £100,000 to the appeal.
We’re currently sitting nicely at second in the league, with two games in hand on the teams below us, but it is going to be a close-run thing as we go into the final 10 games with so many teams around the same number of points in the play-offs zone. Take a look around at any game and you’ll see fans checking the scores of the teams around us and sighs of relief when they go down a goal or two. I’m sure there will be much refreshing of screens throughout the games in the coming weeks.
Talking of screens, keep an eye on your inboxes as the Supporters’ Trust have put out a survey to collect your opinions on everything, from how you get to the game to any improvements that you’d like to see. As a supporter-owned club it’s really important to us to gather the thoughts and feelings of our fans, so do complete a survey; it doesn’t take long and will help us to improve everything we do. If you don’t use email, there are paper copies available in the club shop.
The output from our media team has been phenomenal this season and they are constantly producing new and innovative ideas. They’re a small team who travel to every away match and consistently punch above their weight in terms of quality of content.
Greeting the players as they arrived at St James Park last week with the question of ‘are there more wheels or doors in the world?’ was hilarious, and watching the team, especially goalkeeping coach Scott Brown, ponder that most random of questions was even better. Of course, the answer is doors, right?
It’s also been good to see the players out and about in the community recently. Scott was joined by his protégé Jack Arthur to take part in a charity shootout at one of our club partners, Oxygen House, raising money for Comic Relief and the Ukraine appeal. There was also a brilliant turnout of players at our Exeter City Community Trust holiday clubs, with seven members of the squad dropping into sessions in Exeter and Exmouth.
The team at Exeter City Community Trust has also been busy - they had more than 250 runners enter the Granite Way event, which took place at the weekend, and now they are planning for the River Run along the River Exe on May 6 and the Exeter Live Better Marathon on May 15. A full knee replacement and constantly swollen knee means I can’t take part, so take my advice, while you can…if you can…you should!
There are some big games coming up and we’re back at the Park for the match against Stevenage on Saturday. See you there - the future’s bright, the future’s red and white!
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here