Wins, clean sheets, community runs and a new bike at Exeter City

January delivered some excellent football, both home and away, earning us valuable points and helping us climb the table.

Our fantastic unbeaten league run came to an end with the match at SJP against Rotherham, which brought us back down to earth, but we responded well with a solid away performance at Mansfield this weekend.

A clean sheet and a goalless draw against the in-form hosts - themselves eight games unbeaten - was a strong result on the road and leaves us with the second-best defensive record in the league.

A big shout-out to the nearly 300 travelling supporters who sang loud and proud throughout, your backing means everything to the lads.

We now head into two home fixtures in quick succession against Northampton and then Wycombe. The Northampton match falls on Valentine’s Day and I see our commercial team have put together a ‘not to be missed offer’.

Yes, you can skip the garage forecourt flowers this year and treat your loved one to a romantic meal for two followed by the match – what’s not to like about that?

Visitors to the Heritage Lounge also get to, er, ‘enjoy’ some pre-match banter with Gary and yours truly – again a treat for any Exeter City fan…

Talking of our manager, Gary, some of you may know that he had his bike nicked from outside the bank a week or so ago. We thought, therefore, that we should make him a presentation in the Heritage Lounge at the last match and a new bike lock was graciously received.

After that we actually presented him with a new bike, kindly subsidised by Partridge Cycles (thanks Mark) just to show our gratitude for what he’s done for our Club.

On the business side, the commercial team has recently relaunched the events and conference facilities at the stadium and they are planning a series of events, including an evening with former Forest goalkeeper Mark Crossley, which takes place on February 21.

Expect plenty of laughs as Mark shares stories from his football career spanning over two decades, with insights into the legendary Brian Clough, his manager during his Nottingham Forest days.

The commercial team also has plans for a beer festival and screenings and events during the World Cup, so keep an eye on social media for updates.

I braved the rain for a trip to Exeter Quay this weekend for the Exeter City Community Trust Half Marathon, held across two days. Running shoes may have been optimistic – wellies might have been more appropriate.

As ever, the charity’s running team and staff put on a brilliant event, which was attended by record numbers, with 1,400 entrants. Pete Ferlie, our new Supporters’ Trust chair was out and about early on the Saturday doing a final survey the course, as he has always done, supporting our community.

The route needed a little amending when some of it was discovered to be underwater…the free snorkel and flippers were well received! To the runners I saw ploughing up the course, from the bottom of my coffee cup, I say ‘very well done’ to the record number of finishers.

Back at SJP, the pitch has been holding up well, thanks to some steady work by Chaz and his team. The stadium was the location for the most recent Exeter City Women’s match, who won in some style, beating Billericay Town 6-0.

The Women head to Home Park for their next game against Argyle Women on February 18. And tickets are free for this one as Argyle are staging a half term event to celebrate women and girls in sport, and as part of this, attendees can watch the match for free! Visit the Club website for more information – www.exetercityfc.co.uk

So, the next men’s matches at SJP are Northampton on Saturday and Wycombe under the lights on Tuesday. This is followed by an away trip to Peterborough on Saturday, February 21. See you there – up the City!

By Julian Tagg
Exeter City Club President