The art of promotion is keeping your head when all about you are losing theirs
The arrival of February in the English Football League marks the start of the final leg of the season. Indeed, the winter transfer window has come and gone and from here on in, teams are on their own in their bid to achieve their goal for the campaign. In essence, it’s all about grinding through the back-end of winter and arriving in spring in good enough shape to put the icing on the season, a task that is, admittedly, far easier said than done on paper when you consider the accompanying weight of expectation.
Furthermore, in some instances, whether it be promotion or relegation, there are grave consequences on the line if a team fails to set out what aim to do. This is especially true in the second tier of English football when you consider the financial peril that teams find themselves in during the pursuit of the riches of the Premier League. As ever with this box office league, the latest English Championship betting odds don’t give anything away with ten teams priced at odds of 10/1 or less for promotion, an indication of just how competitive this division is.
The Championship outright tips are a bit more conclusive though with Fulham predicted to storm to the Premier League at odds of 2/9 to win the title. But for those teams who have financially thrown everything at promotion, like West Brom and Middlesbrough, the pressure couldn't be any greater.
Closer to home in Exeter, it is a similar set of circumstances albeit with less financial ramifications if the Grecians don’t go up to League One in May. Encouragingly, however, Matt Taylor’s men are perfectly placed to make an assault on the top six as they've kept pace with the promotion pack for the majority of the season.
As the title of this article suggests though, Exeter will have to keep their heads when everyone is losing theirs to make the transition from play-off chasing hopefuls to top-six established a reality. Now, the form table suggests that Exeter are in fact doing the opposite after a run of poor results in December and the first of January, which is in stark contrast to the team above them Mansfield Town, who have registered five straight wins after beating Walsall.
There is cause for some optimism though after Taylor’s men were able to beat Scunthorpe in their home game at St James Park on 15 January, which could suggest a change in the direction of travel over the next few months.
Arresting a bad run of form when the finishing line is coming into view is far from easy but Exeter have demonstrated the character needed to get promoted by stopping the recent run of season derailing results.
The long and short of it is that if Exeter City are to go up then they will need to dig even deeper over the winter and spring in order to give themselves a chance. It could quite realistically turn into a campaign that peters out and ends in disappointment, or it could be an enthralling journey that ends in euphoria under the Wembley arch.
