Exeter City’s Jack Sparkes says he and his teammates will be aiming for a good run in the Leasing.com Trophy this season having secured a place in the knockout stages.
The Grecians face Oxford United in the last 32 of the competition on Wednesday evening, at St James Park, with the match kicking off at 7pm.
Oxford come into the match on good form, having not lost since September 7, but Jack says Exeter will be doing everything they can to win the match as they want an extended run in the competition this season.
“I am really looking forward to it. It is another competition which we are involved in and it is more game time for players and another chance for players to prove themselves to why they should be playing more regularly,” he said.
“I think every game is going to be a test. Different teams will use it for different things, but it is a competition we want to get as far as we can in and hopefully win, so we will play our best and do what we can to try and win the game.”
Last season Jack played all four of City’s games in the competition, which took them to the last 32 where they were beaten at home by Peterborough United.
However, this year, having broken into the first team for League Two games, he has only appeared once – against West Ham United under-21s. He adds though that it is a competition that has proved very useful in helping him show the manager that he was ready for the battles of league football.
“It was very important in terms of my breakthrough into the team this season,” He said. “I had been on loan and playing men’s football, which is a slightly different standard and then I was coming into games where I was playing better opponents that we do when we are out on loan.
"The whole thing is really beneficial because you can kind of see you development in those games and I think that is very important.”