Exeter City travel to league leaders Cambridge United in the next chapter of the League Two season.
Ahead of the encounter Jed Penberthy looks at three U’s players who have driven their side to the top of the table.
Paul Mullin
Paul Mullin has smashed the club record of number of goals in a single season. Mullin has ten more than any other player and a staggering 28 goals this campaign.
Born on Merseyside, the 26-year-old striker played for both Liverpool and Everton development squads before he moved to Huddersfield. Though he never featured for the Terriers, his Football League breakthrough came at Morecambe in 2014. He made 122 appearences for the Shrimps scoring 25 times.
Spells at Swindon and Tranmere followed before joining the U’s permanently this summer. He’d be the first to tell you his surprise of his form which has seen him net thirty goals in all competitions this season.
Wes Hoolahan
They call him the ‘Irish Messi’. Most known for his time at Norwich in the Premier League, Wes Hoolahan has found himself at the Abbey Stadium at the twilight of his career. The former Republic of Ireland international has 43 caps for his country including scoring in Euro 2016.
He began his career in his homeland with Belvedere FC before moving to Blackpool in 2006. He soon switched to Carrow Road where he became a household name in Yellow and Green. He featured over 300 times for the Canaries. In 2015 he was named in the Football Manager Team of the Decade despite Norwich’s relegation from the Premier League.
This season, Hoolahan is terrorising the fourth tier midfields and is the real driving force behind Mark Bonner’s plans. He has five goals and six assists across League Two and sits comfortably as the life-force in the heart of the pitch.
Joe Ironside
It’s very surprising to suggest a man with eleven goals and four assists in the League is playing second fiddle but such is the quality of the Cambridge attacking force, Ironside has gone under the radar.
A product of the Sheffield United academy, the 27-year-old had a heap of non-league loan spells in his time at Bramall Lane. He did make a couple of appearances for the Blades before moving permanently to Alfreton in 2015.
Ironside refound his Football League fire at Macclesfield in 2019 but after the sudden demise of the Silkmen, joined Cambridge in the summer. He is having his finest Football League season this year and the Grecians defence must not put all their eggs in the Mullin and Hoolahan basket, if we’re going to halt the leaders title charge.