Grecians boss looks ahead to trip to Adams Park
EXETER CITY manager Paul Tisdale predicted an end-to-end game of football as the Grecians prepare to return to Sky Bet League 2 action at Wycombe Wanderers this weekend.The Chairboys were 2-0 winners at St James Park in the reverse fixture early on this season, but the City boss insisted that he knew exactly what to expect from Gareth Ainsworth's side.
"You look forward to every game, and as a manager, I've been in enough games now to know that you must continually have a positive view of every game, no matter who you're playing," he said. "When you've been to the number of grounds that I have on numerous occasions, you're going to have wins and losses; that's just the way it is. I can't tell you how many games I've had at Wycombe, but you always have a quick game of football.
"They no longer have rugby there, and it was a very good pitch when I went to see them this week. I don't think they get as much credit for their football as they should do, but they have been successful. They missed out on promotion due to a late, late equaliser at Wembley last season, and you just have to look at what Gareth [Ainsworth] has managed to produce since they stayed up against Torquay in 2014."
With City midfielder Ryan Harley nearing a first-team return, Paul gave an update on his fitness.
"Ryan Harley is getting fitter," he said. "He played half a game for the reserves this week, and he's been back in training for two weeks now. We're very keen to get him back involved, and we're very happy that he's recovered. Touch wood, he's come through everything fine, and we have to be very careful that we don't rush things and put him back in too soon, but if we get that balance right, it's another good player coming back available for selection for us.
"I'd imagine that he'd be available pretty soon; he's coming back into a squad that has just won three games in a row, but if you look ahead, we have games on Saturday-Tuesday for three weeks in a row. That's a lot of games, and we've got a largely healthy squad.
"The chances of the same eleven playing the next six or seven games are highly unlikely. Even if they're all fit, it would be a likely scenario that there would be some changes anyway. I would say that I'd be highly surprised if he doesn't feature very soon."
Finally, with a positive outcome to the Council vote on the development of St James Park earlier in the week, Paul described just how important it would be to the club and the fans.
"The key to any group of people working together over a long period of time is continual signs of progress," he said. "Whatever it might be, to see development and progress just keeps everyone enthusiastic and motivated. This is another big, big step for the club, so in years to come, this development will help the next generations of supporters, Trust and players to move forward. In the meantime, it's a nice sign that the club is still looking to promote itself and be purposeful. When you're involved with the club like I am, you feel the emotion, so this is big boost for the likes of Julian Tagg and Chris Gill, and there's a knock-on right through the club. We're very, very pleased."