Changing face of Exeter

PARK LIFE: EXETER arrive at Boundary Park this weekend with the promise that they will play football that is easy on the eye.

With a home ground at St James's Park that currently resembles a quagmire, manager Paul Tisdale has spoken recently about the need to adopt a Jekyll-and-Hyde approach: long-ball tactics at home and passing football on better playing surfaces.

"There is no possibility of investing in a new pitch," said Tisdale, who has taken up Exeter from the Conference to League One with successive promotions.

"So we are going to have to be a team with two personalities — play football away from home and thud it at home."

Life in League One has not been a stroll for the side from the south.

A run of three successive defeats against MK Dons, Bristol Rovers and Brighton has seen former Southampton midfielder Tisdale's team fall to 17th in the League One table, a point and three places above Athletic.

The 1-0 loss to a Brighton team now managed by Gus Poyet featured an Exeter side containing some familiar names.

Scott Golbourne, who played eight matches at left-back for Athletic in a two-month loan spell from Reading last season, goalkeeper Andy Marriott — 39 years old and with his 17th professional club — and former Huddersfield, Ipswich and Sunderland striker Marcus Stewart, now 39 and a player who has had just under £7million spent on him during his career, could all play at Boundary Park on Saturday.