Paul looks forward to Bury visit
Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale is expecting a tough challenge when Bury come to the Park on Saturday in Sky Bet League 2.
The Shakers have taken their relegation form of last season into the current campaign, and lie just three points above the drop. However they defeated a Hartlepool team in a good run of form in midweek, which tidily sums up how difficult it has been to call a result in the division this year.
“It’s a very tight league as we’ve seen – everyone seems to be beating each other,” said Tis. “I think it will stretch out in time when teams become more consistent and some will drop away. Others will find their form, and unusually I don’t think we’ve quite got to that point yet, but I don’t think anyone has quite nailed it yet or discovered the secret to their success this year.
“Bury seem to be a team that are going through a few changes in their team. Daniel Nardiello is back there, having been on loan there before, and he’s always likely to score a goal. We’ll have to keep our wits about us with Daniel around – we know him too well not to.
“It’s going to be another competitive game at the Park – we haven’t been in the best of form at home, so I don’t think it’s a dead cert either way on Saturday. We have to be on our game.
“We had a very good game at Wycombe on Tuesday and arguably could have won it; I’m really pleased with how we played and hopefully we can take that into Saturday.”
With City out of the FA Cup for this season, the following Saturday is a blank – meaning a fortnight away from football after the Bury fixture.
Tis feels that the prolonged period away from a pitch will be made all the more enjoyable should they take the three points from the Shakers.
“It would be very nice to have two weeks of feeling happy,” he continued. “It’s a very reactive type of industry – you feel happy, sad, gloomy or frustrated off the back of the last week’s result. It does play a large part in the way people feel and think and the decisions we all make.
“When you have a gap of two weeks, it’s nice to enter it with a win. It’s much worse to enter it with a loss because you’ve got two weeks to feel gloomy about.
“Even without the recent run of form, it’d be good for everyone to get a win. But adding in the fact that we’ve not won for a month, it’s even more important.”
Tickets for this fixture are available in advance or on the day of the game. Click here for ticket prices and how to buy.