Grecians boss looks ahead to televised Stevenage match
EXETER CITY manager Paul Tisdale has revealed that a large number of his players will be subject to late fitness tests as the Grecians prepare meet Stevenage at St James Park on Sunday (kick-off 12:15pm)."We've been fairly productive at home, so we're looking forward to returning to St James Park. The fact that the match is being shown live on Sky Sports will have no impact on our preparations, with the exception of the match now being on Sunday. Other than that, it'll be business as usual.
"It's been a turbulent week in terms of players in the injury room, but they're mostly short-term injuries. We'll have a fitness test with Jamie McAllister after his three weeks out; Jordan Moore-Taylor took a nasty bruise on Tuesday so will be subject to a fitness test, as will Lee Holmes, who missed Tuesday. David Noble is another, and he hadn't trained by Friday, while Manny Oyeleke will probably miss the game. Will Hoskins is nearly ready for a return, so he'll get a late fitness test, while Ryan Harley is a major doubt after aggravating his injury on Tuesday. It won't be that easy a selection this week."
Former Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United legend Teddy Sheringham will occupy the opposition dugout at St James Park on Sunday, and the City manager was positive on the impact that the 1999 UEFA Champions League winner will have on the worldwide interest in the fixture.
"There will certainly be an interest in Teddy being involved - I've written about this in my programme notes. People will talk about and look for this particular match in our fixture list, but I think it's admirable that people like Teddy have so much desire to be in management that they'll take on a challenge like this.
"Stevenage are a different side to what they were last year - a quarter of the season has gone already, and by now the manager will have started to inject himself upon the team. I'm expecting a team that has just lost a run of games to come here desperate for the points, and very resilient and determined in doing so.
"It's just business for us - it's eleven against eleven, and it won't be about whether we want to win, it'll be about whether we know how to win. We'll be trying our very best on Sunday to be efficient."