During their first season back in the Football League, The Imps faced Exeter on four occasions. The first meeting between the two sides was at St James’ Park on Saturday 19th August in front of a crowd of 3,980. This match finished 1-0 to The Grecians, with Reuben Reid scoring the only goal of the match in the 42nd minute.
The second meeting between the two sides was played at Sincil Bank on Friday 30th March in front of a crowd of 9,785. The Imps won 3-2 on this occasion. Jayden Stockley put Exeter ahead in the 10th minute and that is how it remained until the 60th minute when Danny Rowe made it 1-1. Just two minutes later Matt Green put The Imps ahead. Jake Taylor made it 2-2 in the 78th minute. Ollie Palmer scored the winning goal for The Imps in the 86th minute.
The two sides met again in the playoffs. The first match, which was played at Sincil Bank on Saturday 12th May in front of a crowd of 9,509, finished 0-0.
The Imps were outclassed in the second leg at St James’ Park on Tuesday 17th May, in front of a crowd of 5,645. The Grecians were 3-1 winners that night. Jayden Stockley put Exeter ahead in the 27th minute, Hiram Boateng made it 2-0 just two minutes into the second half and Ryan Harley made it 3-0 in the 69th minute. Matt Green gave the away following something to cheer about with 12 minutes to go, but there were to be no more goals.
Anyway, time for the Q&As! Thank you to Exeter City supporters Chris and David for answering our questions! You can get to the second set of answers by clicking “click here for the next set of answers!” at the bottom right of the page, or by clicking HERE!
First up, the answers provided by Chris!
How long have you supported Exeter City?
Since 1989. My family’s move to Exeter coincided with the start of the greatest season in the club’s history; we were living 10 minutes walk from the ground and I was hooked.
Where did you finish last season?
Fourth, and for the second season in the row we won the play-off semi-final in glorious fashion (sorry, Lincoln fans) before failing to turn up at Wembley. Still can’t work out whether the season was a success or a missed opportunity. On the one hand, we did well to recover from selling two twenty goals strikers, Watkins and Wheeler, and finished one position higher than the previous season. On the other hand, two of the teams who finished above us, Accrington and Wycombe, had smaller budgets; Accrington got lucky with injuries and were able to field a settled team but I’m still not sure how Wycombe finished third.
What do you think of your Manager?
Matt Taylor was an impressive player for us and an impressive under-23’s manager and he seems to have been preparing for this job for a while. His appointment was slightly controversial because it happened very quickly without anyone else being interviewed; however; I think most people have come to accept the club did the right thing and City fans are now pretty much united in their admiration for Matt Taylor.
The messy end to Paul Tisdale’s time at the club created a lot of acrimony amongst the fans, not helped by the fact the football last season was often attritional and hard to watch. From the start, Matt Taylor has been honest and straightforward in interviews and committed to playing positive, attacking football. While we haven’t always managed that, many fans have felt that supporting Exeter has become fun and enjoyable again this season. More than that he just seems very, very good at the job. One of the reasons for appointing Matt Taylor was because of his record developing young players and that has continued this season. The players also clearly love playing for him and several experienced players have commented on how impressive his training sessions are. As well as this he has been able to attract some very good players to the club and his tactical awareness seems to have improved over the season.
What were your hopes and expectations at the start of the season?
This was expected to be a season of transition. We lost 2 key defenders over the summer, Storey and Moore-Taylor, and most fans were prepared to give Matt Taylor a season to get used to being a manager and felt that even reaching the playoffs was unlikely and the best we could hope for. Then it became clear that we had signed some pretty good players; Nicky Law and Aaron Martin impressed straight away while Lee Martin took longer to settle but arrived with a good reputation. Finally, we thrashed Bristol Rovers in our final pre-season game and beat Carlisle comfortably on the first day and we started to think we might do a little better than we previously thought.
One(s) to watch?
Unfortunately several of the big-name players; (Dean Moxey, Nicky Law and Hiram Boateng), who Lincoln fans are likely to have heard of will probably not be fit for this game. Therefore, keep an eye out on our trio of very impressive teenagers. Dara O’Shea was a low-key loan signing from West Brom who we assumed was just signed to add depth to the squad but has turned out to already be an outstanding centre-half and he is now keeping more experienced players out of the team. Kane Wilson is also from West Brom and is now in his second loan spell with the club; he can play left-back, right-back and right wing and is just an absolute class act. Finally, Archie Collins is the latest cab off the rank from our academy; at the moment he plays as a very disciplined holding midfielder but still manages to pop up with an outrageous pass or two most games.
Who do you think will finish in the top 7?
Bury look strong and Lincoln should have enough about them to go up automatically. After that, I’ve no idea who else will be promoted. I personally dislike both Milton Keynes Dons and Forest Green Rovers so hope they drop out of the playoffs to be replaced by Carlisle United and possibly Swindon Town.
Who do you think will finish in the bottom 2?
Yeovil Town and Port Vale seem to the clubs most in disarray at the moment.
What are your thoughts on Lincoln City?
I think both the city and the football club are quite similar to Exeter so it’s a club I’ve always had a soft spot for. I visited several times in the ’90s and it was a trip I always looked forward to. Looking at the club from afar it seemed a surprise you were stuck in non-league for so long and the revival under the Cowleys and the growth in your attendances has been quite remarkable. You do seem to have done a great job engaging the local community and making the club a central part of the city.
Lincoln are well-known for playing direct football but I was surprised when we played you last season by the gamesmanship and the constant harassing of the referee and the fourth official. It just seems so unnecessary when you have such a good squad of players. I have noticed that refs are starting to wake up to this, though, and you are starting to pick up a few red cards; I wonder whether your poor disciplinary record might prove costly at the end of the season.
What do you think the score will be?
0-0. You have been tough to beat recently and our defence has been playing well.
Random fact about your Club?
I think most people probably know this by now but we are still proud of the fact we were the first team to play the Brazil national team.
If you could steal one Lincoln City player for your own team, who would it be and why?
John Akinde has always been a handful when he’s played against us and I’m amazed he’s still in League 2.
What are your proudest and most embarrassing moments as an Exeter City Supporter?
The fact that there are 4 former academy players, all of them local kids, now playing regularly in the Championship, and one more doing ok for Chelsea; is a source of great pride for all City fans. Anytime Uri Geller or Michael Jackson are mentioned, and it still happens, I want to scream.
Who would you say is your most underrated player?
Craig Woodman is a deliberately undemonstrative player which has meant he has never become or wanted to be. a fans’ favourite. He struggled for his first season or two at the club but has now played over 200 games for the club at left-back; at 36 he remains very solid defensively and still contributes going forward. His refusal to celebrate goals has also become something of a meme amongst fans.
Do you have a Supporters Trust and what role do they play at the Club?
Yes, and they have owned the club for well over a decade. There have been some rocky times but the club is now in an incredibly strong position both financially and in terms of off-the-pitch infrastructure. I am mystified as to why this model has worked so well for us but been a failure pretty much everywhere else.
Which was your favourite match involving Exeter City?
The 3-0 win away at Plymouth in April 1993. It completed the double over them in the first season we had played them in nearly a decade. The goals are on Youtube and I still watch them quite often; if only for the scenes in the away end.
Which was your least favourite match involving Exeter City?
All three of our Wembley play-off final defeats were hard to take as we didn’t really turn up or do ourselves justice in any of them Last seasons was particularly painful, though, as we had finished above Coventry during the season and let them comprehensively outplay us.
Do you have a Former Players Association at Exeter City?
No idea, but lots of former players are still involved with the club and are often prominent on match days.
What’s the best thing about Exeter?
The location; 20 minutes from the sea and half an hour from Dartmoor. Topsham is on the outskirts of the city and is absolutely delightful; it’s only 4 steps from St James’ Park on the train so would definitely recommend away fans check it out.
If a player left and then rejoined, would they be ex-ex-Exeter?
Paul Tisdale had a penchant for signing former players and we had about 7 on the books last season but thankfully we never referred to them that way.
Having lost your long-time manager, Paul Tisdale, to fellow League 2 Club MK Dons, how do you feel the transition has been and would you rewind a whole year or stay as you are?
Paul Tisdale was a brilliant manager but it was the right time for him to move on. The club handled the transition brilliantly and the future is looking very positive.
Seth Conway, do you have an opinion?
No opinion on Seth Conway but his dad didn’t cover himself in glory when he was on the board of the Supporter’s Trust.
Are you missing Jayden Stockley? Will that money be reinvested into your youth system? How did you build such a good youth system and is it something you think Lincoln could replicate?
Any club would miss a player like Jayden and when we failed to sign a big-name replacement our prospects for the rest of the season looked bleak. However, after the nadir of failing to score at home to Morecambe, we have found a system that suits the players we now have and the midfield has started chipping in with more goals.
We have a long-standing policy for transfer income that I assume is still in place. One-third goes to the playing budget, one-third to the general club budget and one-third to the academy. We now have a completely modern stadium, training facilities as good as anybody’s and the infrastructure to support a league one club, if only we could find a way to get out of league 2.
The success of the youth system is down to the long-term vision of those involved with the club when the Trust took over, the patience to persevere when the players coming through were not quite so good, and having first-team managers who are not only prepared to play youngsters but know how to do it well and don’t just throw kids in the team before they are ready.
Since we last visited St James’ Park you have opened the new stand and the new covered Away terrace. What are your thoughts of the improvements, how were they funded?
The club and the local council did a brilliant job of funding the new stand through the sale of car parking space behind the big bank, even if the student accommodation that is paying for the development is something of an eyesore. As an exile, I haven’t seen the new stands in person yet but the feedback has been very positive.
How has the success of Exeter Chiefs in recent years affected support for Exeter City?
The rise of the Chiefs should have been positive for the whole City but as a football fan, it doesn’t feel like that. It’s hard to put numbers on it but the gut feeling is that the Chiefs have attracted fans and sponsor’s money away from City and it is crazy that home games regularly kick-off at the same time.
"His appointment was slightly controversial because it happened very quickly without anyone else being interviewed."https://t.co/nxfHTwrAeP#ImpsAsOne #ECFC #Exeter
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) February 26, 2019
https://www.facebook.com/VitalLincolnCity/posts/2078011998901701
