Written by Mark Denn

For the first time since 16th September, Exeter City’s players, staff and supporters were able to celebrate a League One victory on Boxing Day. The 1-0 win over Wycombe Wanderers means that 6 of our 22 points and 4 of our 14 goals in the league have come against the Chairboys.

After the encouraging display against Stevenage Borough, normal service resumed on the Friday before Christmas with City putting in a very disappointing display at the Abbey Stadium, which they ended up losing 2-0 to Cambridge Utd. All the talk of using the Stevenage performance as a springboard for better things was soon forgotten.

There was more bad news to come from that game, after it emerged that Ryan Trevitt might require surgery for the injury he sustained when colliding with the U’s goalkeeper. If the injury is as bad as feared, we might not get to see Trevitt in a City shirt again, which will be a huge shame. He clearly has bags of talent and it will be difficult to replace someone of his quality. We should hear some more news on this in the next week or so according to Caldwell.

With Wycombe on a run of 10 league games without a win, and sitting 5 points ahead of the Grecians, it really did feel like this was a must win for City & Caldwell. With Portsmouth to follow, it was vital 3 points was picked up, and City duly obliged. As ever, it was not without incident and was certainly not an easy 3 points.

The heroes of the day ended up being Sonny Cox & Vil Sinisalo, but there were strong performances throughout the team, particularly from Will Aimson, Chieck Diabate, Zak Jules & Reece Cole.

Cox had his best game in a City shirt. He worked tirelessly leading the line and also held the ball up with much more effect. Sonny appears to have come back from Yeovil a different player, slightly more physical, and you can see that he has regained some confidence. His goal in the 65th minute will be a huge relief to him. While slightly fortuitous, due to the deflection that lifted the ball onto Cox’s head, the City academy graduate was in the right place at the right time to give City the lead. He was replaced in the 73rd minute after running himself into the ground for the City cause.

A pre game talking point was the fact that Will Aimson returned to the starting line up, but was not wearing the captain’s armband, with that honour being bestowed upon Reece Cole. Aimson has been a victim of our recent poor form and has been unfairly targeted by some, and Caldwell’s post match interview appears to suggest that the captaincy might be passed on. Aimson went onto have a terrific game, playing in the unconventional position of right back. I hope that Will can concentrate on his game without having the added focus and pressure of being captain. There is no doubt that Aimson is a very capable defender, and an in form Will Aimson can only be a good thing for Exeter City.

Reece Cole took on the mantle of captain with all the enthusiasm and passion that you would expect of him. Reece is one of those players that always give 100%, and I wasn’t averse to him being given the armband. His work rate is second to none, and is also technically very good. He has undoubtedly been one of our best signings of the summer.

Chieck Diabate, playing again at centre back, was superb alongside Alex Hartridge. Diabate has now put in a string of impressive performances and deserves a prolonged run in the side. Chieck seems to be relishing the opportunity and is showing his passion, orchestrating the crowd on a few occasions.

Sinisalo saved City with a stoppage time penalty save after one of the worst refereeing decisions I have seen for some time. Ref Charles Breakspear adjudged that Harry Kite fouled a Wycombe player in the box and pointed to the spot. The fact that I could clearly see from the Big Bank that Kite got his foot on the ball makes the decision all the more infuriating. While it’s not always the best view of the bottom end of the pitch, there was not a doubt in mind that Kite played the ball.

It seemed like City were going to be struck with another sickening blow, but thankfully, Sinisalo guessed the right way and made a vital penalty save. Finally, City get some luck. The outpouring of relief from the stands was palpable.

City held on for another couple of minutes and the full time whistle was finally blown. Diabate was straight over to the Adam Stansfield Stand, fists clenched, punching the air. Chieck then pushed Sinisalo towards the Big Bank and he received a great reception, along with Sonny Cox.

I have seen much already made of City’s post game celebrations and the suggestion that the the players and supporters should for some reason be embarrassed for the exuberant celebrations. I do not blame anyone at all for celebrating like they did. Yes, it’s only 1 game, it’s only 3 points, but after the horrific run of results the club has been on, everyone was entitled to enjoy this victory. The players, like us supporters, will have been suffering in recent months, and the celebrations just showed an outpouring of relief and joy.

Another positive to take from those post match scenes was the apparent togetherness of the squad still. They very much looked together as a group and all the City squad gave Vil a rendition of “Super Sinisalo in goal”. The team spirit still looked good, despite the testing recent times.

The next few weeks will no doubt be huge for our season. While yesterday’s result was a positive one, Wycombe were poor (not to discredit City) and still had a few chances that they probably should have done better with. A better team would most likely have converted at least one of the chances. The visit of Pompey on Friday night will obviously be a tough game, and one I don’t expect to gain any points from. However, a positive performance is required to keep heads up. We then have a run of games against Reading, Carlisle, Blackpool & Cambridge. Reading & Carlisle are currently in the bottom four, and clearly these will be huge matches. It’s worth pointing out that without the 4 point deduction Reading have incurred, City would be sat inside the bottom four themselves.

We also have the January transfer window on the horizon and it will be interesting to see what that brings. We clearly need to try and sign a striker who can regularly convert chances, but we won’t be the only club after that player and it remains to be seen whether we can obtain the sufficient quality to help us push up the table and away from those relegation places. City are currently underperforming their xG by 9.5, which tells you all you need to know. City’s xG of 23.5 is currently 19th in the league, which also shows that City need to create more clear cut chances as well, the loss of Trevitt will not help in this regard.

I feel like City need a few signings this window. A striker, a holding midfielder, a creative playmaker/no 10 and possibly more cover in the wing back and wide positions, to try and negate the huge loss of Demetri Mitchell. It will also be interesting to see if City get any offers for any of our upcoming out of contract players, such as Alex Hartridge.

As well as signings, City need to be thinking about contracts of our current players and trying to extend those that we wish too, to try and avoid another mass exodus in the summer.

Onto Friday and Portsmouth, come on you reds!