Defender looks ahead to trip to Newport
Ahead of the trip to Newport County AFC on Sunday, Grecians defender Scot Bennett feels that the team’s fate remains in their own hands with 10 games to play.
A barren run of results has seen Exeter fall to 22nd in the Sky Bet League 2 table but Scot feels the team still have good cause to feel confident that they will have a strong end to the campaign to retain their League status.
For Bennett, who reached a century of appearances as a senior Exeter City player against Northampton, it is these games in particular against other teams in the bottom half that take on an added significance during the run-in.
“We have a lot of six-pointers coming up – we’re playing a lot of the teams around us and it’s all in our hands,” said Scot. “If we can get the win at Newport, we can kick on from there and use that confidence to go into the games against the likes of Accrington and Bury and make sure we pick up points in those games.
“They are the games that we need to be winning and start picking up points so that we can stay away from the drop-zone. If we can dominate teams like we did against Northampton in the first 50 minutes and then also put the ball in the net, then I don’t think we’ll struggle.
“But we need to make sure we can score those goals and keep the goals out too – again against Northampton it was a silly goal to concede and they only had two or three chances. From there they could afford to just put people behind the ball.
“Points that we can pick up against teams like Scunthorpe and Hartlepool will be a bit of a bonus but it’s these games against teams that are down and around us that are six-pointers, and we need to beat those teams to climb back up the table. We need to make sure we’re going in the right direction.”
Each of City’s last seven defeats have been by a single-goal margin and particularly frustrating was missing chances to win against Dagenham and Northampton recently, two teams that are also scrapping at the foot of the table.
Bennett feels that the potential is there to turn the formbook on its head – and that the team would take a result any which way just to get things rolling.
“With 10 games to go, we look at the league table and we don’t believe that we should be where we are,” continued Scot. “We believe that we are a better club than that and that we have better players than the league position suggests. But our performances and results have gotten us where we are and we need to change that as a group.
“We would take a win through a shot that comes off the crossbar and goes in off the goalkeeper’s head at the minute, just to make sure we get the right result. Whether it’s a good game or a bad one, we need to make sure that we win and that’s the only thing that matters.”