The Glovers fought hard for a point at play-off chasing Mansfield Town, and could have won the match if not for the woodwork and some fine goalkeeping.

Paul Tisdale’s third-placed Grecians head to Huish Park for the final game in Somerset of 2017 and Way wants his squad to maintain their good standards.

He told iFollow Glovers: “Mansfield was a really good, committed performance and if we drop short of that now on in then I’ll be really disappointed because the players have shown me they can do that.

“It doesn’t matter how you gain a result but sometimes you have to gain a result through your character and personality, and sometimes by doing things you don’t want to do.

“The level of League Two has gone up a level; it’s not like when I first took over when you had Dagenham and York competing with us. Now we have good teams with good budgets like Chesterfield, Port Vale and Forest Green so it’s hard.

“However, we’ve lost two in eight or nine games (in all competitions) and we’ve played some good teams.

“The group are showing they’re getting a lot stronger with experience and last Saturday it all came together.”