“The mentality at the club needs to be more than 50 points. It needs to be a team that is competitive whoever we are playing.”
With seven “massive” games remaining, Exeter City can ensure that their League One campaign is truly successful. After defeating Burton Albion 1-0 on Saturday, the Grecians are currently 12 points clear of the relegation zone, all realistic fears of dropping out were dashed.
After drawing with Bolton Wanderers and winning 3-0 away from Shrewsbury Town the previous week, City achieved seven points in seven days and made significant progress towards guaranteeing another season of football in the third division. The victory on Saturday came after a fierce tussle, with Reece Cole’s goal in the first half deciding the outcome.
City would reach 50 points with one more victory, which is typically sufficient to guarantee survival. Not that manager Gary Caldwell has that as his goal; the boss freely acknowledges that he despises the idea of “the 50 points mark.”
Having been in the relegation zone on New Year’s Day, that City are now looking up the table and are lying 15th is already a success the manager feels. Last season Exeter finished 14th with 56 points, so if the Grecians can climb one point and pick up nine points from the last seven games, they will match last season’s tally despite the challenges of this campaign and the dreadful run pre-Christmas.
“We are a good team and have been a good team all season,” Caldwell said. “We have had difficult moments but we have seen a team that has learnt, our resilience and togetherness and understanding has grown and we have seven massive games left where we want to pick up as many points as we can and finish as positively as we can. To where we were at Christmas to where we can see, it can still be a fantastic season
“I have just challenged the players. Last week I told them this was a seven point week, and challenged them again that with seven games to go, we want to pick up as many points as we can and that will start again. Seven games to go, win as many points as we can, this can be successful, we don’t look further than that.”
It is not the first time in recent weeks the manager has said that this can be a successful season still. When asked what a successful season would be, Caldwell there wasn’t any specific target but to do as best as they can and continually strive to improve.
“Where we are now is a success from our budget, the level we are playing at, and the run we went on pre-Christmas, so where we are now is an incredible success,” he said. “But as a group and a staff and players, we don’t want that to be the end, we want to do more, keep pushing to finish higher in the league.
“When you see the quality and fighting spirit we have, hopefully we can pick up a lot of points. There is no target, we just want to finish as high as we can.
“I hate the 50 point mark. We want to get points, are in a good position, we are not safe yet, but the mentality at the club needs to be more than 50 points. It needs to be a team that is competitive whoever we are playing.
“When we are at our best, we can win a lot of football matches. Staying in the division is an incredible achievement but the mentality needs to be more than just looking at safety every year. After the run we had pre-Christmas, there was a lot of negativity, but we didn’t ever waver from the plan we wanted and we have to show that in the next seven games.”
