Kevin Nicholson enjoys Jay Stansfield’s sentimental double

Posted Sunday, October 09, 2022 by PA

Caretaker manager Kevin Nicholson said watching Jay Stansfield celebrate his brace for Exeter sent a shiver down his spine.

The Fulham loanee scored both goals in a 2-0 win at Barnsley – his first league goals coming in the number nine shirt Exeter retired following the death of its former incumbent, Jay’s father, Adam.

Adam Stansfield is back at his dad’s old club now and this telling contribution made Nicholson a happy man.

“I’m so happy for him. He’s a positive, sharp player,” he said.

“He’s desperate to run and desperate to help the team. Seeing him celebrate in front of the fans sends a shiver down your spine. I couldn’t be happier for him.

“I think he’s capable of going on to have a successful career higher up. He’s only going to get better.”

Stand-in Nicholson, taking the team after Matt Taylor went to Rotherham, praised Exeter’s preparation when assessing their win.

He said: “I’m really pleased for the lads; they’ve put in the preparation. They’re probably one of the best prepared set of lads you could come across.

“They’ve gone out and done the club proud and themselves proud.

“In the first half we played some really good football at times. In the second half they ramped up the pressure, but we reacted well.

“It’s another positive day for the club. The lads have shown how desperate they are to win and how worthy they are of playing in League One.

“I want them to enjoy tonight. Normally these long journeys hurt a little bit but we can have some fun.”

Barnsley head coach Michael Duff admitted his side were rarely in the game.

He said: “We never got going; conceded from the first shot inside a minute and we never looked like getting back into the game.

“We never got close to the levels we’re used to. We had no hunger, energy or quality. But we need to be careful not to over-react too much.
“If we’d have shown any sort of quality, we could’ve nicked a point. But we were miles off the standard that we’ve set.

“You can get beat, but it’s the manner of the defeat that’s the most disappointing thing today.”

On the absence of Luke Thomas, Duff offered up bad news, saying: “He injured himself in training yesterday.

“There was no-one near him but he slid in, caught his legs underneath him with his studs in the ground and ended up breaking his leg and damaging a lot of ligaments in his ankle.

“He’ll have surgery on Tuesday and we’re looking at four months.”