Goalscorer looks back at a job well done and forward to a bright future
Jimmy Keohane, scorer of Exeter City’s second against Scunthorpe United in a 2-0 win, hopes that Football League survival this season will act as a springboard for the forthcoming season.
The Grecians left it to the penultimate game to guarantee a place in Sky Bet League 2 for the 2014/15 season, but the Irishman feels that the City side can carry the experiences of this campaign forward and make next year one to remember.
The Iron were on a 28-game unbeaten streak and top of the table when they arrived at the Park, but were made to look truly average by a City team that produced a quite sublime display from front to back.
“It was a really good team performance today – we’ve done that a few times this year,” said Jimmy. “All that has really been lacking is a bit of consistency this season. Luckily we did it today and got the three points.
“Our home form hasn’t been too good, but it’s nice to get a win against a team that is top of the league. We got a great win against Fleetwood recently as well – hopefully we can carry that into next season.
“We have to find that cutting edge against teams that are lower down – we’ll have to work on that.
“But there are a lot of players that have come on this season, and we’ll only go from strength to strength in the coming years.”
On paper, the formation might have appeared quite conservative. Scot Bennett became a third centre-half in a five-man defence for the Grecians, who soaked up a lot of pressure.
But that extra defender allowed more liberty to the creative talents in the midfield, which seemed to work to a tee against Scunthorpe.
It also means that the Grecians have a chance to go to safely to Hartlepool on the final day of the season and can express themselves without having to worry themselves too keenly on the results in other matches.
“We’re all quite relieved that we got the win that we needed,” he continued. “We just concentrated on our performance today and building ourselves into the game, and luckily we got a good result against a team that is top of the league and who also got promoted today.
“We were really good defensively today – the formation suited us and we were really difficult to break down. And we did really well on the counter-attack and managed to support Flynny and Eliot Richards as well.
“It’s definitely a relief that we’re safe and that we’re not going into that last game needing to win or needing a point. We can go up to Hartlepool and just enjoy that game now.”
The selection of the 23-year-old in the starting XI came as something of a surprise, given that his last start was almost two months away at York for the Grecians.
But he felt that his efforts on the Cat & Fiddle training ground had never depleted and that he had kept himself ready to take his chance when it came about – as well as his goal, which had a touch of fortune as Sam Slocombe spilled the attacker’s punt into the bottom corner.
He continued: “I was pleased to get back in the team – I think I’ve been training quite well recently and I was just ready for an opportunity.
“I felt like it went well today – I got a bit of a lucky goal, but I’ll take that. It bobbled up in front of me, but I was glad that it squirmed in – a goal is a goal.
“I like running at defences, getting forward and trying to score goals – that’s my game and I try to contribute that to the team.”