Another Long Trip!
This week, Saturday 16th November sees Blues another long journey, this time to Devon to take on Exeter City in SkyBet League 2. Blues and the travelling fans will accumulate 502 miles travelling. (251 there, and the same in return of course). This means that fans who went to Morecambe who are also going to Exeter will have clocked up a total of 1064 miles in 1 week. Well done to you all!
We seem to have a habit of beating Exeter at home and losing to them away. We haven't managed to win there since 1999, so lets hope we end this small hoodoo this week. That being said, we have only played them at St.James' Park 6 times since that win. Last season, at Roots Hall, Scott Bennett put Exeter in front just after half time but Blues came from behind to wi 2-1. Goals came from Barry Corr, who returned from 17 months out with injury, who scored the equaliser and the winner came from a certain Freddy Eastwood. In the reverse fixture at St.James' Park, we sadly lost 3-0. Exeter's goals were scored by John O'Flynn (2), and Scott Bennett was also once again on the scoresheet against us.
Earlier this season, Blues slumped to a disappoiting 3-1 home defeat to The Shrimps.
Exeter's Last 5 Results:
Peterborough United (A) - L 0-2
Portsmouth (A) - L 2-3 - Coles, O'Flynn
Burton Albion (H) - L 0-1
Oxford United (A) - D 0-0
Scunthorpe United (A) - W 4-0 - Sercombe (2), Davies, Parkin
Out of 7 home games they have played this season Morecambe have:
Won: 4
Drawn: 0
Lost: 3
Home Form - Extras
Exeter are one of only 3 teams who are yet to draw a home this season. The other two teams are Hartlepool & Portsmouth.
How the teams lined up (Last Meeting) - Exeter City 3-0 Blues:
Exeter City: Krysiak, Tully (Gosling '89), Baldwin, Coles, Woodman, Bennett, Oakley, Davies (Doherty '74), Keohane, Gow (Amankwaah '78), O'Flynn
Subs Not Used: Evans, Anderson, Reid, Moore-Taylor
Southend United: Smith, Clohessy, Cresswell, Phillips, Barker, Hurst, Woodyard (Benyon '68), Laird (Martin '29), Timlin, Corr (Harris '89), Tomlin
Subs Not Used: Bentley, Straker, Prosser, Leonard
How the teams lined up in both their last league games:
Southend United: Bentley, Leonard, Coker, Clifford, White, Prosser (Kiernan - '78), Atkinson, Timlin, Corr, Hurst, Straker (Laird - '80)
Subs Not Used: Smith, Reid, Payne, Auger, Woodrow
Exeter City: Krysiak; Bennett, Coles, Moore-Taylor (O’Flynn '73), Woodman; Sercombe; Doherty (Gill '75), Grimes; Davies, Gow (Nichols '83); Parkin
Subs Not Used: Pym, Keohane, Tillson, Wheeler
Exeter's Likely Line Up:
Artur Krysiak - Polish 'keeper joined The Grecians in 2010 following loan spells at Gretna, York City, Swansea City, Motherwell & Burton Albion; all from parent club Birmingham City. He has played in all of Exeter's 18 games this season, 15 league games, 2 League Cup games & 1 FA Cup game. He featured 42 times for Exeter in 2011/12 season, and 45 times for them last season.He picked up no less than 4 awards at the End Of Season ceremony for his consistant displays.
Craig Woodman - Defender who started his career at Bristol City, where he spent 7 years, making 90 appearances and scoring once. He failed to establish himself at City and went out on loan to Mansfield Town, where he made 8 appearanded and scored once. Following that, came 2 loan spells, this time at Torquay. In total, Woodman made 24 appearances for the Gulls, and scored once. In May 2007, he was released by Bristol City and was snapped up by Wycombe Wanderers 2 weeks later. He spent 3 seasons there, appearing 127 times (2 substitute appearances) and scored 2 goals. He won Supporters' Player of the Year and the Players' Player of the Year awards at the end of the 2008/09 season, missing just 10 minutes of league action all season. Woodman moved to Brentford for a undisclosed fee, where he spent 2 seasons (2010/2011 & 2011/2012), scoring 2 goals in 70 appearances. Woodman signed for Exeter before the start of last season, in which he made 46 appearances, scoring none. Like Krysiak, he has appeared in all of The Grecians' games so far this season.
Pat Baldwin - A familiar face to us Blues fans, Baldwin begun his career at Colchester, making 207 appearances between 2002-2012. He scored a total of 2 goals in this time. Baldwin joined St.Albans City on loan from our rivals in 2003 but didn't make a single appearance for them. He was then loaned out again 2 years running, when he joined Bristol Rovers in 2009, making 6 appearances, scoring none. Then in 2010, Blues temporarily secured his services. He made 18 appearances for Blues, scoring a solitary goal. After somehow impressing, we signed him permanently, and he only made 2 starts in the 2011/2012 season. We loaned him out to Exeter, where he appeared 9 times. scoring none. Baldwin then signed permanently for The Grecians and has since made 60 appearances, scoring once. He has missed 2 games this season.
Danny Coles - Exeter City captain Coles joined them from Bristol Rovers in June 2011. Coles started his career at Bristol City in 1999 where he made a total of 154 appearances, scoring 6 goals before leaving to sign for Hull City in 2005, under then-manager Peter Taylor. He made 9 appearances in the 2005-2006 season, before suffering a knee injury which forced him to miss the rest of he season. He then returned to full fitness for the 2006-2007 season, in which he made 20 starts under Phil Parkinson before being loaned out to Hartlepool in Octobver 2007 by a certian Phil Brown. At Hartlepool, Coles played 3 times and didn't score. On return to Hull, Brown only named Coles in the starting XI once, and so loaned him out again, this time to Bristol Rovers where he made5 appearances before moving there permanently, making 110 appearances between 2009-2011. He was then snapped up by Exeter, where so far he has played 101 times (17 this season), scoring 8 goals (2 this season)
Jordan Moore-Taylor - 19 year-old defender who has only made 17 appearances & 7 substitute appearances. for Exeter since coming through the youth ranks. 8 of those appearances have come this season. He is yet to score for them.
Scot Bennett - Previously mentioned Bennett has been at Exeter since 2008 but didn't make his first appearance until 2010. He has made a total of 95 starts and 6 substitute appearances for The Grecians, scoring 13 goals in total for them. Has scored against us in our last 2 meetings.
Matt Oakley - Known as a veteran outside of Devon, Oakley started his career at Southampton in 1994 where he stayed until 2006. He made a total of 261 appearances for the Saints, scoring 14 goals. He then moved to Derby in 2006 where he made a solid 40 appearances, 2 against Blues, one of which was a substitute appearance. We lost on both occasions.(3-0 at Pride Park & 1-0 at Roots Hall). The season after, he signed for Leicester, where he made 20 appearances and scored none. The foxes loaned him back to Derby, where he scored 3 in 19 appearances. Following this loan spell, he became a regular starter at Leicester, making 123 appearances in 3 seasons, scoring 10 times. Exeter signed Oakley on loan soon after, and he made 7 appearances, scoring none. When he returned to Leicester, he had all but lost his place in the side and only played twice before re-joining Exeter, this time permanently before the start of last season. He has since made 45 appearances (8 this season) for The Grecians and is also yet to score for them.
Liam Sercombe - Born and bred in Exeter, Sercombe is classed as a local hero after scoring the winning goal against rivals Plymouth in December 2012, however, things soon took a dip as Sercombe broke his ankle Against Barnet 2 weeks later. He didn't make an appearance again that season, although he took part in the warm up on the final day of last season against Chesterfield. He has made a total of 192 Exeter appearances, 17 of those coming this season.
Aaron Davies - Welshman Davies, who has been capped only once by Wales joined Exeter in 2012. Having previously been a trainee at Southampton with now-team mate Matt Oakley, his career kicked off when he signed for Yeovil Town, after being unable to break into the Saints first team. He scored a total of 27 goals from midfield in 101 games for the Glovers. He was then transferred to Nottingham Forest, where he made 13 appearances and didn't score. Brighton soon snapped him up but ot long after, he returned to Yeovil via a loan spell from The Seagulls. A single season at both Northampton & Peterborough followed before moving to Devon to sign for The Grecians. Has scored 2 goals in 17 starts and 1 substitute appearance so far this season.
Alan Gow - Scotsman who joined Exeter from a surprising source. Indian club East Bengal. He is a huge asset to The Exeter squad, due to his ability to turn defences inside-out. However, his Exeter career has been somewhat affected by injury. Despite playing for Plymouth in the 2010/2011 season, he is a firm fan-favourite at Exeter. His time at Plymouth was virtually ended when ex-Blues boss Paul Sturrock left the club to join Blues. He has played for Clydebank, Airdrie United, Falkirk, Rangers, Blackpool, Norwich, Plymouth (as mentioned), Hibernian and Notts County. He moved to East Bengal not long after joining County.
John O'Flynn - Blonde striker from Ireland, O'Flynn is also one of the fans favourites. He initially joined Exeter from Barnet in 2010, where he was a popular figure in his 2 year spell at Underhill. Previously a trainee at Peterborough, he had been a first choice striker at hometown Cork City for 6 years, where he scoed 68 times in 136 appearances. Joined English professional football when he joined Barnet aged 25.
