City midfielder previews the run-in
With just four games remaining in Sky Bet League 2, it’s all to play for at the foot of the table.
Luton Town were crowned Skrill Premier champions on Tuesday evening, guaranteeing their place in the Football League for 2014/15.
Whose place they will take, meanwhile, is still relatively unclear. Each team has 12 points still to play for, and just five points separate Northampton in 23rd from Portsmouth in 16th.
Grecians midfielder Liam Sercombe feels that the Exeter squad will be pushing until the final whistle on the final day, in order to ensure that the City retain their status as a Football League club – starting with a visit to Chesterfield on Good Friday.
“We’re going to give it our all – there are only four games left and we need to get over that line,” said the Exeter-born man.
“We’ve got two big games on Friday and Monday – we need to win as many of the four games as we can. The trip to Chesterfield will be a tough game, but those are the type of game that I prefer.
“They are going to want to play football, as do we – so it should be a good game for both sides. They’re up near the top of the table and they’re aiming to get promoted, and we need points to get ourselves over the line too.
“Chesterfield aren’t far off the top of the table and I’m sure they’ll want to be champions of this league. They are a good side and there’s no getting away from that, and they have a few individuals that will cause a threat. But we will go there with confidence and we need to push for the win.”
Just three days after the trip to Derbyshire, local rivals Torquay United arrive as our next guests at St James Park as we aim for a clean-sweep of Devon Derby wins in the 2013/14 season.
The chances of the Gulls clinging onto their League 2 place looks increasingly unlikely by the week – and they could even be relegated by the time they arrive at the Park, dependent on other results going against them.
But their plight is unlikely to affect their chances in the standalone fixture, and Sercs is conscious that Exeter will also need to earn anything they get from that derby fixture.
“Monday will be totally different,” continued Liam. “It’ll be a big crowd and a big atmosphere for a local derby game – Torquay will be pushing for everything now, and they need to win near enough all of the games they have left to stand any chance.
“Even if they are relegated before they come here, they’ll still be doing it for themselves and pushing hard and will happily try to put a dent into us.
“When you’re a footballer, you want to win every game – there’s no worse feeling than losing.
“It’s going to be a big test for us over the next few days, and it’ll show in the league table – hopefully we can make it go in our favour.”
Every fixture for every team in the run-in will have permutations on the league table, in particular when teams towards the lower echelons of League 2 collide. Wycombe and Northampton straddle either side of the drop-zone with only goal-difference currently leaving the Chairboys ahead; the two clubs clash at Adams Park on Friday.
The City midfielder revealed that the squad do take an element of interest in what else is going on around the division, but that their first priority will be to make sure they take advantage while their fate is still theirs to decide.
“We have to concentrate on our games firstly and go for the win in every game,” he explained. “We can’t rely on other teams, and we don’t want to be going into the last team relying on someone else to slip up.
“After our games, I do often check on other results because I’m interested to see how they have got on.
“A lot of teams around us are playing each other in the run-in – it’s hard to say whether that’s a good thing or not – but we’ve got to do it ourselves.
“It is in our hands – we’re ahead of a few teams at the moment, so we have to concentrate on our own job rather than hope that other teams slip up.”