Exeter City players urged to grab chance from international call-ups

ONE person’s misfortune is another man’s gain – and that is the message Gary Caldwell is telling his exeter-city-fc>Exeter City players ahead of Saturday's Sky televised League One clash with Lincoln City.

The lunchtime kick-off, at 12.30pm, is the main fixture in a reduced League One programme due to international call-ups and it is for that reason that the Grecians will be without three key players today, much to their annoyance.

Josh Magennis, Ilmari Niskanen and Kamari Doyle have been called up by Northern Ireland, Finland and England Under-20s respectively. Magennis and Niskanen have been in outstanding form of late, while Doyle has been making quite an impact off the bench, so all three will be missed. But their absence opens the door for others to come in and stake a claim for a regular place in the first XI.

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“Football players are football players,” Caldwell said. “There will be players that will get an opportunity this weekend. If Josh, Ilmari and Kami were here, then they might not have, so they should be delighted that they’re away with their country and they should take that opportunity.

“In football, you have to be ready for that opportunity whether it’s an injury or whether it’s a situation like this. You never know when your opportunities come into play and that’s why we demand every day that people train at the right intensity, with the right focus, so that when called upon, they are ready.”

City had asked the EFL for the game to be called off as they met the threshold of having three players away on international duty, but as Doyle’s call-up only came about at roughly 2pm on Monday, they had missed the deadline of Sunday evening.

It led to some pretty strong but understandable views from Caldwell and the club after the EFl insisted the game had to be played regardless.

“I don’t think the players really read too much into this,” Caldwell added. “I think they should be ready and excited for a big game of football where if we win we can potentially go into play-off positions and that should be more than enough motivation for Saturday.”