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The following article appears in today's Exeter Express and Echo:
Hereford full-back Alex Jeannin wants to celebrate his birthday by sinking his former Exeter City team-mates live on Sky tomorrow night. The Frenchman, who swapped Devon for Edgar Street in the summer, is set to make his first return to St James's Park on the day of his 28th birthday.
And Jeannin, who has been a fixture in the Bulls' starting line-up this season, says taking all three points in front of the Sky TV cameras would be the best present he could ask for:
"It is my birthday tomorrow and, with the game being shown on Sky, it will be a very special day for me," Jeannin told Echo Sport."And the best present I could hope for would be three points against my old team."Jeannin left St James's Park in the summer when his hopes of landing a new contract were dashed following cuts to Alex Inglethorpe's playing budget. He made more than 80 appearances for the club following a switch from Darlington in July 2003, including starts in both of City's famous FA Cup ties against Manchester United
The Frenchman revealed he hoped his two years' of service would be enough to secure a good reception tomorrow night.But after being barracked by a section of the City fans when the sides clashed at Edgar Street last month, he wasn't too hopeful of a warm welcome."I am looking forward to coming back, I had two very good years at St James's Park and it will be nice to play there again," Jeannin added."It would be nice if I got a good reception but I am not sure I will. At Hereford the Exeter fans didn't react well to me when I ran out onto the pitch - maybe they were just trying to wind me up."I played more than 80 games in two years at Exeter and always gave 100 per cent so I'd hope I'd have left a good impression.But I am not too concerned about it, I have to be focussed on doing my job for Hereford."
Jeannin's first reunion with his former team-mates ended in defeat with City recording an excellent 2-0 away win.But the French defender says he wasn't impressed with City's style of play, and remains confident the Bulls can reverse the result tomorrow."I wasn't that impressed with them when we played at Hereford," he said. "They don't play football like we like to, but they are a very physical and fit side and are tough to play against."There have been a lot of changes at Exeter since I left and when we played at Hereford probably half the team was different to when I was there."But we know what to expect, they won 4-0 on Boxing Day so the team will probably be much the same."We dropped two points against Forest Green in our last game, so it is even more important we get three points at Exeter."We have been playing well and playing good football, so there is a lot of confidence in our squad at the moment."Our league form has been very good and we had a great result in the LDV Vans Trophy against Scunthorpe."We know we need to start picking up more points though and get ourselves into the top five as quickly as possible."I don't think we have had much luck so far, so hopefully things will turn around for us in the second half of the season."We all believe we can still win the league if we put a good run together."Exeter and Hereford have developed something of a rivalry over the years, and last month's Edgar Street clash was marred by crowd trouble.
Jeannin insists such rivalry is confined to the fans and is not something the players pay attention to."There is rivalry between the fans, but it is not something the players are too aware of," the Frenchman said."There were riots when the teams played at Hereford so hopefully there won't be anything like that and everyone can enjoy a good game of football tomorrow.
