Anthony Scully's Impact at Exeter City: A New Beginning

Anthony Scully walked into Exeter City a free agent. A month later, he sounds like a man who has found his footballing home.

The 27-year-old Irish forward has hit the ground running at St James Park, and he is in no mood for this to be a short stay.

“I want to hopefully stay here for many more years to be honest because I absolutely love it,” he told BBC Radio Devon. “I've only been here a month but, I couldn't be happier.”

From relegation hangover to resurgence

Exeter’s season did not begin with this kind of optimism. Relegated and reeling, they took just one win from their opening eight League Two games. Confidence sagged. The table made grim reading.

Then Scully arrived.

Signed on a deal that runs until next summer after leaving Shrewsbury Town, the former Lincoln City forward needed just one game to make his mark. His debut goal sealed a 1-0 win over Rotherham United and snapped Exeter out of their early-season torpor.

The mood shifted. So did the results.

Exeter edged past League One side Oxford United on penalties in the Jersey Mike's Trophy. They then claimed a first away league win since January, and did it on Scully’s old patch at Shrewsbury. A draw at Colchester United kept the momentum ticking over.

On Tuesday night, the run gathered real weight: a 2-0 victory over previously unbeaten Crewe Alexandra, with Scully again on the scoresheet. Five games unbeaten in all competitions. A team that had been stumbling is suddenly striding.

Standards, not luck

Scully is not dressing it up as a fairy tale or a lucky bounce.

“From what I see each day in training, the way the lads train, how hard the staff work in terms of putting sessions on, the detail that goes into everything, these results aren't a fluke,” he said.

This is the part supporters rarely see. The repetition. The detail. The sessions that shape a side’s identity long before a ball is kicked on a Saturday.

“At the end you can only control what you can control, and if we keep keeping our standards high and the detail is there and the application is there, there's no reason why this run can't continue.

“Football changes all the time, so all we can control is how we act every day in training, and since I've come in the standards have been brilliant, really, really high.

“So it's no surprise why we've gone on the run we have.”

The message is clear: this is not a hot streak, it is the product of work.

A short deal, a long view

For now, Scully is tied to Exeter only until next summer. On this form, that contract end date will not stay in the background for long.

He, at least, has already nailed his colours to the mast. He wants to stay. He believes in the project, the dressing room, the staff, the standards.

Exeter, once stuck in a post-relegation fog, suddenly have a forward who scores, presses, talks like a leader and sees no ceiling on what this group can do.

The contract might say “until next summer”. The way Scully is playing, and the way Exeter are responding, the real question now is whether club and player can turn this bright first month into the start of something lasting.