Pierce Sweeney talks the aims for the end of the season, his new role he played in Saturday’s win, and Will Aimson’s form in his latest column
PIERCE SWEENEY IS THE CLUB CAPTAIN OF EXETER CITY FC
We are now sitting in 12th place in League One after winning four out of the last five games. Hopefully, by the time you read this, we’ll have eliminated Leyton Orient and made it five wins in a row (Editor’s note: City added two goals late to draw 2-2 to extend their undefeated streak to seven).
Sadly, my little man had tonsillitis over the weekend, so I was unable to go up to London on Monday with everyone else. Instead, after finishing this piece, I had to drive myself up the M5 the next morning. Although we battled hard to win 1-0 against Stevenage at home on Saturday, I felt we just barely
Similar to our match against Charlton seven days prior, we had a great start to the game, even though we didn’t score the early goal that our play most likely deserved. Before the tireless Sonny Cox charged down a clearing from Stevenage goalie Taye Ashby-Hammond, it appeared as though the first half would end goalless. This opened the door for Reece Cole, who swept the ball into an empty net from just beyond the penalty area.
To be honest, Vil Sinisalo’s outstanding double save kept former Grecian Jamie Reid from tying the score early in the second half. Other than that, I thought we handled the remainder of the game with ease. Against Steve Evans’ team, I relished the chance to take on a little different role from my typical one. I played as a right-back, stepping into midfield when the ball was on the other side of the pitch, much like Ben Purrington and Zak Jules frequently do on the left.
I know it’s something new for me, and I don’t pretend to have it down to a fine art just yet—I think I played the ball through the middle a bit too much, and it will take some getting used to after spending my entire career playing it down the outside—but I really enjoyed it and am hoping that I’ll be asked to do it more in the 2024–2025 campaign.
Since Alex Hartridge will be leaving for fresh pastures at the end of the season, as you have probably already heard, I felt it was only appropriate that Gary Caldwell gave him the captain’s armband on Saturday. Having progressed through the academy, Alex has participated in over 150 club games and was a key member of our 2021–22 team that won promotion. In addition, he is one of the most charming men you will ever meet and will be sadly missed.
If I were to venture to give Alex any advise, it would be to get a new clothing before moving to a new place because he will receive a lot of criticism from his new teammates. Nevertheless, I’ve been criticising him for his gear selection for as long as I can remember, along with everyone else at the Cliff Hill Training Ground, and he has never paid any attention, so I doubt that will change now.
Will Aimson had an almost flawless weekend, just like Alex. Since regaining his starting spot at the beginning of March, Will has performed admirably, and I believed he was a very worthy winner of the club’s most recent player of the month award.
For the record, I believe that Will has received unfair criticism on occasion this season. Sure, he went through a difficult moment, but so did everyone else, and overall, I think he’s done a fantastic job. He’s certainly good at tidying up after me, and I like to play with him.
Reece Cole, the goal scorer on Saturday, lives in the same city as Ryan Woods and Tom Carroll, two other midfielders. Although I haven’t been invited around in a while, I did come in while Jonathan Grounds was residing there to watch a couple Champions League matches. Luckily, the property is owned by Julie, a nice woman who has managed to keep the Three Amigos under control and stop their cohabitation from devolving into mayhem.
I’m having a great time watching the Premier League title fight. Although I don’t think there is much separating Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester City right now, if you put a gun to my head and asked me who I thought would win, I would pick Jurgen Klopp’s team.
Even though they lost two points at Old Trafford on the weekend, they play amazing football and, despite the outcome on Sunday, have been quite good at getting results. Additionally, I can’t help but believe they have an added motive now that Klopp is going at the end of the season, which might potentially make all the difference.
Nearer to home, on Saturday we go to Port Vale for the second of three straight away games. With their spot in League One up for grabs, the Potteries team, who have only dropped one of their past four games under new manager Darren Moore, had everything to play for following Saturday’s games. They were only outside the relegation zone on goal differential.
We obviously still want to win games and place as high as possible in the standings, even though I’m not fully sure what the manager has planned for the remainder of the campaign. But because our place in League One is now virtually certain, I suppose he could seize the chance to acquaint himself with a couple of the younger guys as well as those who’ve been on the periphery of late but may well have a bigger role to play next season, over the course of our final six games
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