Pierce Sweeney: Exeter City captain on 300 games and Grecians' ambitions

Pierce Sweeney has scored 20 goals in his 300 Exeter City appearances since 2016

"When I first flew over to Exeter I never really thought I'd be here seven years later," Exeter City skipper Pierce Sweeney says.

But the popular Irishman has just clocked up his 300th game for the Devon side and is relishing his chance to prove himself in League One for the first time, having been a key part of the Grecians' promotion-winning team last season.

"I'm pretty proud of what I've done so far," he told BBC Sport.

"At 28 I think I've got another good few years ahead of me, and hopefully it's at this football club in League One or if not above.

"I'm looking to build on 300, and the next one is to get to 400, so hopefully in the next couple of seasons, if I'm still here, I can get to there."

Now the club's longest-serving senior player, Sweeney joined Exeter in the summer of 2016, and aside from a month in the summer of 2021 when he briefly joined financially-troubled Swindon Town, has been at St James Park ever since.

He was brought to the club by then-manager Paul Tisdale, having been at the academy at Championship side Reading, and has seen his fair share of ups and downs in a red and white shirt.

Sweeney was on the losing side in three League Two play-off finals at Wembley between 2017 and 2020 - before finally securing promotion last April with a 2-1 win over Barrow as Exeter ended the season in second place.

"The final whistle against Barrow was a fantastic feeling, it was more relief than excitement," said Sweeney.

"When you go to Wembley three times and lose you think it's never going to happen for you, but I think we put ourselves in a really good position.

"We were unfortunate not to win the league, and I think if we look back now we probably missed a really good opportunity to win the league and it wasn't our year to win the league, but Barrow will always stand out to me."

Play-off ambition

Pierce Sweeney has become a fan favourite at Exeter City

Having seen close friend and fellow long-serving City player Matt Jay leave earlier this month, Sweeney was given the captaincy on a full-time basis, having stood in for much of this season when Jay was out of favour.

The current Exeter boss Gary Caldwell says he has been impressed with Sweeney's influence since he joined the club in October.

"Three hundred games for any football club at any level is a fantastic achievement, and since I've come in he's been great, not just on the training pitch but off the training pitch," said Caldwell.

"He's someone that I can speak to and use him to get amongst the lads and get a feel for how the group is, so I've been delighted with him and what he's done so far.

"He's a player that has been used to wearing the armband when MJ (Matt Jay) wasn't there and he will wear it for the foreseeable future as well."

Exeter have adapted to life in League One pretty well. They are 10th in the table and five points off a play-off place having lost just once since the start of December.

Recent away wins at Bristol Rovers and Oxford United, as well as wins over relegated Championship sides Peterborough and Barnsley earlier in the season showed that the club can mix it with the more fancied sides in the division.

So what is Sweeney's ambition for this season?

"I don't think we kind of understand that we are a good team yet," he said.

"I think a few of us do understand that, but I think for us to try and get into the play-offs, because we're not far away, that's a realistic achievement for us.

"We all need to believe in ourselves a bit more, be more confident. We're in the same league as Derby County, Sheffield Wednesday, we're in the same league as Bolton and Ipswich, we're here on merit and we need to believe that.

"We can beat these teams, we've proved that we can beat these teams and we need to push as far as we can go.

"I don't see why we can't surprise a few people and make it into the play-offs."