Port Vale developments may have Exeter City dreaming of Aberdeen repeat | OneFootball

Jayden Stockley remains Exeter City's record signing and the Grecians need to go out and smash that on a striker in January.

We need to talk about goals.

Goals are, really, the only things that matter in football and Exeter City have had a serious problem with them for a while now.

They’ve been pretty good at keeping them out this season, with just 10 conceded in 14 League One games before the 3-0 loss at Wrexham on Saturday. However, Birmingham City knocked two without reply in on Tuesday night at St James Park to make it 15 conceded in 16.

It’s still a good record but City's defence will be further put to the test over the coming weeks with three more of the top six on Gary Caldwell's agenda before Christmas.

By and large it’s been pretty impressive at the back but it’s up front where City’s biggest problem lies.

It's not really a new issue and, generally speaking, the Grecians haven’t often been blessed with free-scoring forwards.

In the past 20 years only one man has bagged 20 or more goals in a single season, the great Jamie Cureton in 2012/13.

Since Cureton, Jayden Stockley's stood head and shoulders above all other City forwards in terms of consistent output.

Exeter need to find their new Stockley

Across two spells he fired 51 goals in 98 games, first on loan and then permanently after joining from Aberdeen, including a monster 25 in 48 games in all competitions in the 2017/18 season.

The following year he quickly racked up 16 in 28 appearances before heading to Preston North End when his £750,000 release clause was triggered in January 2019.

Matt Jay had a couple of decent seasons with 18 and then 14 League Two goals in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons, but he wasn’t exactly an out-and-out striker and Caldwell clearly didn't fancy him, quickly moving him on after replacing Matt Taylor in the City dugout.

That was the exception rather than the rule and the diminutive attacker scored the same total goals as Stockley in just over double the number of appearances for City.

This year it's been slim pickings with 14 goals scored in 16 games with Kamari Doyle topping the league charts on three, while Josh Magennis has the same number with all of them coming in a single FA Cup match against Barnet.

Since the start of last season City have scored 60 goals in 62 League One games. An average that simply has to improve.

Exeter are looking for strikers

Goalscoring forwards don't come cheap at League One level and, given the whispers of interest in Will Evans and Brad Young, added to the fact City's No.9 shirt remains unassigned, you suspect Caldwell is still looking for a main man up top.

Magennis has been excellent in leading the line and his game is about plenty of other things than goals but Exeter really do need someone younger who can go on and hit double figures in the second half of the season.

We've also seen what happens when Magennis is absent and, at 34, it's quite a burden to be expected to play the vast majority of matches while still flying across the continent representing Northern Ireland.

Maybe that man will take a similar route as what Stockley, who's now at Port Vale, did on his way to the South West.

Caldwell likes to shop in Scotland and there may be a hidden gem north of the border, just like Stockley.

Exeter need to break their transfer record

It doesn't seem like the Vale forward is the answer these days, with the 31-year-old striker getting just 13 goals in 59 appearances for Fleetwood Town before hitting four in 19 League Two games this year up at Vale Park.

Maybe he can't do it at League One level anymore, but he's still pretty useful for Vale and he's a big part of their side who are flying high at the top of the fourth tier at the moment, scoring important goals in the process.

It's the profile that should be appealing and, given how City's main route to goal seems to be down the flanks, you'd fancy potential targets to be around Stockley's 6'3" stature.

Just like when Stockley arrived on a permanent deal in 2017, City should have a bit of cash to splash.

The sale of Ollie Watkins to Brentford that summer enabled City to break their transfer record to sign Stockley and, with the sell-on funds from Jay Stansfield's move to Birmingham City in the last window, Caldwell's coffers will have been given an unexpected but significant boost heading into the January window.

If City are serious about pushing on and establishing a top-half League One side smashing that record, which still stands at around £100,000, feels like a must sooner rather than later.