IT’S not so much a case of gaining revenge, but showing their true selves for Exeter City this weekend, when they welcome Blackpool to St James Park in League One.

Earlier in the season, City looked to have salvaged a point when Ed Francis curled home a sublime free kick in the 88th minute at Bloomfield Road. But as the Seasiders poured forward looking for a winner, their pressure paid off when James Husband headed in from a corner deep into stoppage time to deny City a point.

Fast forward four months and that performance is not forgotten by assistant manager Kevin Nicholson, who has called on the Grecians to be themselves for the return match in Devon today.

READ MORE: All banks offering savings rates higher than Bank of England interest

READ MORE: Deceptively spacious Devon cottage up for sale

“There’s been a lot of travel there,” Nicholson said, reflecting on away days at Birmingham City and Peterborough United this past week. “There’s been some big games and Blackpool’s another one.

“Obviously, they have a high profile manager (Steve Bruce) and they gave us a bit of a lesson for the most part at their place, albeit we got back in it right at the end and then it got taken away again.

“They were aggressive, they were front foot, they were powerful, they were direct, they put us under pressure with and without the ball a lot, but this is us now, back at home. It’s up to us to kind of go and show them what we’re about and kind of build on that point from Peterborough.”

Millenic Alli’s stoppage time strike – following up on his saved penalty kick – is what rescued a point for City at London Road, but it was a strange performance. Strange in that they didn’t play well, but neither did Peterborough, which is why it all felt like a missed opportunity for City to register a first win at a ground they have not won at since 1989.

“We didn’t play forward enough,” Nicholson said, when asked for his thoughts on that display. “We didn’t break lines quick enough, we weren’t intense enough in the areas that we should be.

“This is where stats can be misleading, we were at 60% possession and you could argue had control, but it felt like it was two teams and they were both there to be beat.

“The way that we were playing I think we ended up almost giving them confidence, the way they were playing they looked vulnerable and that we could really go for them and we didn’t. It wasn’t through design, we just - for whatever reason - didn’t get on the front foot, didn’t really take it to them.

“I imagine both benches were saying the same thing that half-time: this lot are there to be beat, get on the front foot, be more aggressive, risk the ball a little bit more in areas you know, not in your own back third, but get it into their half with quality and risk the ball in the final third.

“If we’d have gone ahead in that game, easy to say now, I’d have been really confident we’d have gone on and won it. The second half better, better performance, a little bit more intensity and the finishers that came on, I thought, brought a little bit more energy and a little bit more life, but still not to the level that we’d expect ourselves to play and what we’re capable of.

“But the lads showed great character and personality to hang in there long enough to take the point at the end, so an odd game. You can break it down any which way you want, it’s still not a bad point for us it’s something for us to build on, but we expect better and we’ll be working on that ready for the weekend.”

Jack McMillan returns after a one-match suspension, while Vince Harper will undergo more concussion protocol before a decision is made on him and Jack Richards should be over the sickness bug that forced him to miss out in midweek.

Pierce Sweeney, Reece Cole, Johnly Yfeko and Caleb Watts are all injured.