Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale says he and his players will take no motivation from potentially spoiling a promotion party when they travel to the WHAM Stadium on Saturday.
Accrington Stanley can get promoted to League One if they beat the Grecians on Saturday and, having denied Doncaster Rovers the league title in a similar match at this stage last season, City could become the killjoys once more. So is that something Tis and his players will enjoy?
“Not at all and I am not just saying that to be sporting,” said Tis. “It is not a consideration for us. We have got our own three points and at this stage of the season, with where we are placed in the table, it is of the upmost importance. Their three points are no more important than our three points. I wish will John (Coleman) all the success but just not this Saturday.”
Stanley manager John Coleman and Tis are good friends off the pitch having met numerous times over the past 10 years and the Grecians boss has been impressed with Accrington’s recent form. They have won 15 out of the last 17 matches to go from play-off hopefuls to title favourites in the space of three months, but that is not a surprise to Tis.
“They have certainly found a rhythm to their performance that has been unstoppable,” said Tis. “However, that will be our aim for Saturday – to stop them to get our win.
“That is only for our benefit though, we have nothing against Accrington being successful other than for this weekend.
“They have done remarkably well under John Coleman. It is no flash in the pan. They did it two years ago and somehow managed not to finish third.
“I think they got 85 points that year. However, they have certainly found a rhythm and well done to John but this particular week we are hoping – for our own benefit – that we get the three points.”
A victory for the Grecians could see them move into the automatic promotion places if Wycombe lose away at Yeovil. However, while targeting third spot, Tis is reluctant to talk about automatic promotion with his side still needing other results to go their way between now and May 5 to achieve it.
“We are edging closer but we are still fourth,” said Tis. “There are three teams ahead of us and if they all win their games we won’t make it. We can only play the games that we have got coming up, look to gain all the points and if Wycombe and Luton gain all their points we won’t be in the automatic spots.
“We have not been in there for a while, we are not there now and until we are it is not really relevant. We aiming for it but it is the hands of Wycombe and Luton.”
Speaking about injuries, Tis added: “We have got nobody returning. We have got one or two who are still nursing bruises and bits and pieces from last week’s game against Cambridge United.
"So we are no stronger than we were last week and we may be a little bit weaker. It is amazing because five or six weeks ago we had the whole squad fit and now we have got six or seven players, who would be arguably featuring in the first XI, not fit. So it will be a rather challenging period for us.”