Let's hope back-to-back cup wins set Exeter City back on course

PIERCE SWEENEY IS THE CLUB CAPTAIN OF EXETER CITY FC

While we’ve enjoyed decidedly mixed fortunes since my last column, I’m hoping back-to-back wins in our last two games – against Bristol Rovers in the Football League Trophy and Barnet in the FA Cup – have put us firmly back on course.

Prior to those cup victories, we went down 2-1 at home to Reading on the final Tuesday in October and lost 2-0 at Huddersfield the following Saturday.

Come the end of our game against the Royals, I thought we could count ourselves extremely unfortunate not to have bagged at least a point, if not all three.

We battered the visitors’ goal for pretty much the entirety of the second half but, unfortunately, Ilmari Niskanen’s 58th-minute strike was all we had to show for our efforts.

While it was desperately disappointing that we couldn’t find the equaliser or efforts deserved, we had only ourselves to blame after a sub-standard first-half performance which had seen us go in at half-time two goals down.

At least, there were plenty of positives to take from our performance after the break when we produced what I thought was one of our best halves of football attacking the big bank for some considerable time.

I don’t think even the most ardent of Royals fans could have disputed we did more than enough to earn at least a point and, with just a little bit of good fortune in front of goal, might easily have claimed all three.

In any case, I was delighted to see Imi score his first goal for the club; he got into some great positions throughout the evening, and I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that on another day he might have had a hat-trick.

Having lost at home to Reading, it was disappointing to succumb to a second successive defeat when we travelled to Huddersfield four days later.

Admittedly, we weren’t at our best at the Alfred McAlpine Stadium, but I didn’t think we were as far off it as a few people seemed to suggest. Certainly, I didn’t think it was a 2-0 game; I thought the two sides were pretty evenly matched and had we avoided conceding from an early corner, and gone in at the break level, I reckon we might well have got something from it.

I think it’s a measure of how far we’ve come over the last couple of years that people expect us to go to a club such as Huddersfield, who were in the Championship last year, and dominate the game for long periods.

That’s sometimes a tough ask, but I thought we matched a side who are likely to be challenging for automatic promotion for long periods of the game, only to be undone by two soft goals.

We were in action again last Tuesday when we travelled to Bristol Rovers for our final group game in the Football League Trophy.

And while we’d already secured our place in the knockout stages, it was a great opportunity to get back to winning ways and, in so doing, ensure a home tie in the next round.

Fortunately, we did exactly that – emerging victorious by the odd goal in five, having led three times. Better still, Demetri Mitchell bagged the all-important fifth goal having come off the bench to feature for the first time since injuring his anterior cruciate ligament against Middlesborough in the Carabao Cup 364 days earlier.

In addition, it was great to see Reece Cole getting some more minutes off the bench as he continues his return from a niggling injury, while Jay Bird marked his first start for the club since his move from Arbroath in the summer by scoring our opening goal.

And, while it didn’t look likely for much of the game, we made it back-to-back cup victories with a 5-3 win over Barnet in the FA Cup first round on Saturday.

Josh Magennis fired us ahead in the 13th minute, at which point you might have thought we’d go on to put our National League opponents to the sword without too much difficulty.

However, Barnet had other ideas – the impressive Ryan Glover equalised with a peach of a strike just before half time and then Zak Brunt fired them ahead on the hour mark.

Demi came off the bench to win us a penalty in the 76th minute and after Josh converted the spot kick, you’d have thought it might have taken the wind out of the Bees’ sails. However, not a bit of it – they went pretty much straight down the other end and Nicke Kabamba restored their advantage.

At that point, I think we’d probably have taken extra time. However, Josh demonstrated nerves of steel to convert a second penalty and make it 3-3 in the 85th-minute before injury time goals from Jay and Kamari Doyle made it 5-3.

I don’t doubt it was a great watch but, believe you me, I hated every minute of it! We’d have been slaughtered if we’d lost – all the more so as we conceded some more soft goals – so I was as relieved as I was ecstatic when the referee finally blew his whistle after 100-plus minutes.

Be that as it may, I’m sure it’s a game which will live long in the memory – especially for Jay, who made a big impression coming off the bench and scored our all-important fourth goal. It’s unfortunate Jay picked up an injury shortly after moving down from Scotland, but, with two goals in two games, he’s making up for lost time now.

I’m not sure anyone knew quite what to expect from him when he first arrived here. However, on the evidence of the last couple of weeks, he can play a big role between now and the end of the season.

As you may have noticed when we played Barnet, a good few of the players are sporting taches for Movember.

Growing a tache is easier said than done for one or two of the boys so we agreed, rather than start afresh, any players who habitually have a bit of a beard could shave the rest of their face and leave a tache.

I’m not a huge fan of Ryan Woods’ dark ginger effort and while Ilmari deserves credit for entering into the spirit of things, I think he realises his tache, which can’t be seen from more than a couple of feet away, isn’t the best.

Conversely, Josh Magennis rocks a tache for most of the year so should be in his element, and I’m sure we’ll see a few more naughty moustaches before the month is out.

Having been drawn at home to Chesterfield in the cup, five of our next six games are at SJP, beginning with the visit of Charlton this weekend.

The Addicks are the only side to have beaten league leaders Birmingham this season and having invested a lot of money in their squad will be targeting a play-off spot at the very least.

That said, Nathan Jones’ team have drawn all three of their league games since beating the blues and needed extra time to scrape past non-league Southend in the FA Cup on Saturday, so there’s no reason why we can’t get a result.