It’s derby day for Exeter City. Well, sort of. Once Saturday’s trip to Bournemouth is behind us, our next closest away game is a 278 mile round trip to Aldershot.
Vital Quotes:
Former City defender Kevin Bond – one of a select band of players so fat he had to wear special shorts during his Exeter days – is now in charge at Dean Court.
Bondy told the Daily Echo: ‘Exeter are a good footballing side and have got a lot of belief in their team.
‘Like we found last week against Aldershot, the sides who come up have got a lot going for them. They work really, really hard and I think they will be a good side this season.’
Ahh, nice comments eh? We feel a bit bad about mentioning those shorts now.
Another former City player, Lee Bradbury, said: ‘We haven’t lost yet and are looking to get a win against Exeter at home.’
It’s not a very interesting quote, but we like Lee a lot, so anything he says is good enough for us. Apart from ‘looking to get a win at Exeter’ obviously, which we think is scandalous talk.
Meanwhile, back in Devon, Paul Tisdale knows that his City side have just missed out on the wins their performances have deserved.
‘We’ve not won the games that we’ve played in the last two weeks’, he told the BBC, ‘But based on the performances I’m very pleased’.
‘You need to maintain your belief and faith in what you’re trying to do. We’ll be doing our utmost to do that’, says the City boss.
AFC Bournemouth Team News:
Bond’s BoMo boys have a mini-injury crisis in defence, with doubts over Ward, Garry and Pearce. That means that Lee Bradbury is likely to start at the back for Bournemouth.
Darren Anderton is, naturally, fighting fit and raring to go.
And so are this lot…
Player to watch: The Loan Rangers
Big Liverpool striker Craig Lindfield joined AFCB on Friday, becoming Bond’s fifth loan signing.
Accident prone former Woking keeper Shwan Jalal (Peterborough),
Scott Wagstaff (Charlton), Joel Ward (Portsmouth) and Reneil Sappleton (Leicester) could also feature.
Given their Summer of turmoil, it`s easy to see why Big Kevin has turned to the loan market, but we`re still a bit sniffy about borrowing half a team.
Isn’t it all a bit, well, tinpot? Or are we just bitter after being denied last week by the brilliance of Shrewsbury’s on-loan West Brom keeper?
Exeter City Team News:
Sorry to be boring, but we think City will be unchanged from the side on Saturday that ‘cheating’ Shrewsbury beat with their combination of stunning goalkeeping, an evil long range shot and crossbar related witchcraft.
Player to watch: Adam Stansfield
With the home side having to reshuffle at the back, this could be the day for Adam Stansfield’s insane running to create merry hell for the Cherries.
Match Facts & Stats
= Bournemouth haven’t lost any of their last nine League games (seven at the end of last season, two at the start of this).
= City last won at Dean Court in March 1993, with future boss Eamonn Dolan scoring in a 3-1 triumph.
= The last City player to score at Dean Court was Ronnie Jepson, who netted City’s goal in a 1-1 draw in the 93/94 season.
Match Prediction:
The tea-leaves suggest a 3-2 win for City, possibly with a fairly high scoring first half.
Next Fixtures:
Next up for City are Luton – another club with a minus in the points column – at St James Park on Saturday 30 August.
