Exeter City v Plymouth Argyle: Devon rivals ready for 'biggest game of the season'

Ryan Hardie's two goals helped Plymouth Argyle beat Exeter 4-2 at the end of October at Home Park

"It's the biggest game of the season," says Plymouth Argyle manager Steven Schumacher of his side's upcoming Devon derby with fierce rivals Exeter City.

Matches between the two sides are always fiercely contested affairs, but with Argyle aiming for automatic promotion from the third tier there is added spice.

Argyle go into the game after losing for the second time at home all season, following a 2-0 loss to Lincoln City on Easter Monday, having also been humbled 4-0 in the EFL Trophy final by Bolton Wanderers.

But having won seven of their past nine games the Pilgrims remain second in League One, a point behind leaders Sheffield Wednesday - with a game in hand - and one ahead of third-placed Ipswich Town with six matches to go.

"If we can stop them from getting the easy way up then we'll try and do that," Exeter City defender Josh Key tells BBC Sport.

The 23-year-old has come through the club's highly successful academy ranks and knows all about the rivalry with the Pilgrims, having played against Argyle at youth levels before finally playing a first-team derby last October.

"I've watched plenty in the past, so to actually take part in it as a player that's come up through the academy, it's a privilege and also very exciting.

"I don't want to big it up too much because I don't want to change how I feel about the game at all, but you can't deny how exciting it is to play in these games."

'They try to make it as intimidating as they can'

Exeter City will hope to repeat the 4-0 win over Plymouth Argyle when the sides last met at St James Park in 2019

These games have been few and far between in recent years.

The 4-2 win for Argyle in October was just the second league meeting between the sides since February 2017, and the first at St James Park since the Grecians drubbed Plymouth 4-0 on their own turf in October 2019.

"I remember the build-up," Argyle's Danny Mayor - one of just three players to have featured in that 4-0 defeat still in the squad - tells BBC Radio Devon.

"We'd only been here a couple of months and probably didn't realise the magnitude of the game.

"At the time Lowey [former Argyle manager Ryan Lowe] wanted to keep it as normal as possible, but it's not, it's a derby, it's a big derby and it's something the lads are really looking forward to.

"It's a bit different when you go with another team, when it's Plymouth it's massive," Mayor added.

"When you're an Argyle player and you go there they try and make it as intimidating as they can, but our fans are fantastic, they always sell it out."

Composure is key

The 4-2 derby loss at Plymouth in October was Gary Caldwell's second game in charge of Exeter City, having succeeded Matt Taylor as Grecians boss

So how do you go about winning such an important local derby, when there is also so much in the wider context of promotion riding on the game?

"I think there needs to be more composure, I think there needs to be more understanding of how you're going to win," Exeter manager Gary Caldwell tells BBC Sport.

Being a veteran of Old Frim derbies while at Celtic, and having scored the winner for Scotland against France in a Euro 2008 qualifier, the Grecians boss knows a thing or two about big games.

"There is pressure because it's a derby, but I don't want to build it up too much, the game itself is enough to motivate the players.

"I think it's my job to give them clarity on how they're going to win it and allow them to play with real composure and freedom.

"They're a good team, I think they're up the top of the league for a reason, I think they've got a clear way of playing that they haven't really changed from."

So will Argyle be able to show composure and get the job done against a mid-table side? Or will Exeter be able to put a spanner in the works and claim a victory that their fans might use to jibe their rivals for years to come, if it can stop them going up?

"We've had our eye on it for a little while, and now it's here we're looking forward to it," says Schumacher.

"We had a great game against them early on this season and hopefully we can get the same sort of result.

"We understand it's going to be a battle, it's going to be a good atmosphere, it'll be a few tackles going in I'm sure, so we need to make sure first and foremost that we compete and we're ready to fight with them.

"Once the game settles down it'll be the team that shows the most composure on the ball and keeps their heads and creates the most chances that'll go and win it probably, and hopefully that'll be us."