Lincoln’s win over us on Saturday means that they move above us to the top of the home section of the League One table. They have twenty five points to our twenty four, but have played at home eleven times to our ten. Therefore, a win for us on Boxing Day might move us back to the top of that table (Bolton would probably go top if they were to beat Rotherham in front of their own fans mind) and, more importantly, maintain our position at the top of the table which really counts.
Our opponents at Cardiff City Stadium on Friday are the team who sit at the bottom of the away league table, Exeter City. The team with one of the most unusual nicknames, the Grecians, in the EFL have won two and lost eight of their ten away matches which is a complete mirror image of our home record.
However, a few words of warning to those predicting a big home win, there are three reasons I can think of to be wary of believing we are home bankers against Exeter. The first is that one of Exeter’s away wins came at Sincil Bank when they inflicted Lincoln’s one home defeat of the season on them.
Secondly, despite being bottom of the away league table, Exeter have only conceded twelve goals in their ten away games – as BBM said in his pre game media conference yesterday, they’ve been in contention right up to the final whistle in all of their away defeats so far.
However, the biggest reason why Exeter can travel to Cardiff hopeful of springing a shock is our truly abysmal recent record in Boxing Day fixtures. I say recent because when you reach my age, twenty five years doesn’t seem that long, but it is a very long time really. Anyway, the fact of the matter is that we have only won two Boxing Day games this century! Both of them have been at home – by 2-0 against Coventry in 2010 and 2-1 against Palace in 2012, so I suppose you can say we’re due a win on 26 December!
On a more optimistic note, the last time we faced Exeter at home, it was on a Bank Holiday and we came out on top by 6-1 on New Year’s Day 2001. I was going to say there were two unusual things about the scorers in that game, but, thinking about it, the first one hardly was unusual in that we scored all seven goals as Andy Jordan contributed his usual own goal. The other one definitely qualifies as a bit strange though in that our goals were scored by six different players and Earnie, who played the full ninety minutes, wasn’t one of them.
Before going on to the quiz, can I wish all readers of this blog, which will soon be entering its seventeenth year, a very Merry Christmas.
Now on to the quiz, I’ll post the answers to the seven questions on Saturday.
60s. Unusually, this Devon born defender’s career represented a journey from west to east along England’s south coast (okay, I accept Exeter might not be on the coast exactly, but you have a look at a map and that’s an awful wide river – anyway I need it to be for this question, and the next one, to work!) before he finished up playing for three clubs in America. Exeter were his first club as he spent four years with them around the middle of this decade before moving on to the team he was best known for representing I’d say. In contrast to Exeter, the other three Football League sides he played for all had predominantly blue kits. He went into coaching after retirement with most of his jobs being in the USA, but he did return to England when he ended his coastal tour with a spell as a youth coach at Luton, can you name him?
70s. A player with an unusual surname and, possibly, a unique entry into the professional game. A Devonian raised in an area called Barbican, he worked in Devonport Dockyards and was a member of a very popular, to quote Wikipedia, local band called the Hoe Nuts. Signing for Torquay, first as an amateur, he had trouble breaking into the first team, but he did well during a loan spell with Exeter and this prompted them to pay what was a pretty large fee at the time for a club of their size for his services. There were parallels with the player in the sixties question in that he favoured south coast clubs as he also turned out for four of them, although he did have a spell inland with bovine animals at the end of his career. He did very well at Exeter and he was signed for one of the blue teams the 60s player turned out for by one of the icons of the game at the time. Again, he did the business for his new club and he earned himself a lucrative move to Missouri before a return to England to play for the team representing the area he grew up in – was it a coincidence that the only Football League team he played for where it could be said his figures were disappointing was the one that was not on the coast? Who am I describing?
80s. He had a fifty per cent scoring record for his country, he also had a 100 per cent losing record when managing his country and he played for Exeter City during this decade. Who is he?
90s. E’s a good carpenter now based in South London, but he had a short spell at Exeter during this decade.
00s. Take axe to demon at beginning of year? (4,5)
10s. Joke with pitch maybe?
20s. Penetrate fifty year old drama.
Answers
60s. George Ley played for Exeter from 1963 to 1967 before moving to Portsmouth for six years and then he had shorter spells at Brighton and Gillingham.
70s. Fred Binney was a prolific scorer in the lower leagues but is best remembered for his time with Exeter. Actually, his goalscoring record at Brighton, he was signed by Brian Clough during his short time at that club, was better than it was at Exeter and this helped get him a move to St Louis Stars before he returned to England to play for Plymouth, where his scoring rate was better than a goal every other game, and, finally, Hereford.
80s. Peter Taylor played for England while representing Crystal Palace in what is now called League One. Taylor scored twice in his four games for England and was appointed on a caretaker basis as England manager for a game against Italy in November 2000 which was lost 1-0. He played, briefly, for Exeter City during the 83/84 season.
90s. Bromley manager, (H)Andy Woodman.
00s. Dean Moxey.
10s. Josh Key.
20s. Pierce Sweeney.
