Matt Jay: Ollie Watkins’ former Weston-super-Mare strike partner making his own headlines

Much has been made of Ollie Watkins remarkable rise from playing in the National League South to scoring on his England debut against San Marino last week, yet the Aston Villa striker is not the only former Weston-super-Mare loanee making a name for himself this season.

Matt Jay was also borrowed from Exeter City by Weston in 2014, starting upfront with Watkins on five occasions as both made their first steps in the men’s game, and his game-clinching goal in the Grecians 1-0 win against Salford City on Saturday took him to 18 for the season to keep Matt Taylor’s side well in the hunt for a play-off place.

Watkins and Jay are close friends after coming through the Exeter youth system at the same time. Said youth system has rightfully received plenty of plaudits in recent years after helping to launch the careers of the likes of Ethan Ampadu, Matt Grimes and Jordan Storey, however Jay would have been unlikely to be grouped with these familiar names just a few months ago.

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While Watkins went on to win EFL young player of the season after returning to St.James Park before eviscerating the Championship with Brentford and now holding his own in the Premier League in the claret and blue of Aston Villa, Jay has gone under the radar for much of his career until the beginning of this season.

Despite making his first team debut at the age of only 17, he never managed more than 20 league appearances for Exeter in a single season before the current campaign, following up his temporary spell at Weston-super-Mare with loans at Hayes and Yeading United and Truro City.

Jay clearly had enormous potential thanks to his ability to float past players and link play with intelligent passes, but his lack of height meant he was unlikely ever to be used as a lone striker and he never had the requisite pace to play as a winger.

Following the appointment of former club captain Taylor as Exeter manager in 2018, Jay became a more regular part of the first team picture. Taylor had previously been a youth coach at St.James Park and was therefore well aware of the talent that the forward possessed, although there was still uncertainty about what his best position was.

Last season, he started just ten league games as Exeter reached the League Two play-off final – a game in which Jay spent the entire 90 minutes on the bench as the Grecians went down 4-0 to Northampton at Wembley.

It took until the start of this season to find a way to best utilise him.

In a similar way to how Watkins became a far greater goal threat after moving from his position on the wing to leading the line at Brentford, Jay has benefited from an adaptation of his role in this Exeter team.

Played as a second striker behind the more physical presence of either Ryan Bowman or Ben Seymour, Jay has become one of the most effective players in the fourth tier. His ability to find space out of nowhere has allowed him to consistently ghost into dangerous areas before producing a clinical finish, ensuring his side have remained in and around the top seven all season long in the process.

His performance against Salford was by no means as eye-catching as the one he provided three weeks ago in scoring a hat-trick against Leyton Orient, but he took the one chance that came his way to ultimately decide the game and he was Exeter’s most lively creative presence in a game where little attacking threat was offered from either side.

He also did plenty of dirty work in second half as the Grecians became content to hold their lead with Salford rarely looking threatening in their first game under the management of Gary Bowyer. The regular shouts of “great work MJ” emanating from the home dugout an indication that Exeter’s top-scorer was not satisfied with the goal being his only contribution of the afternoon.

“He’s (Jay) been our star man really, that’s 18 goals for the season.

“He got caught up in a messy game, he prefers a clean game, he prefers the ball on the floor because he’s a very technical player but he did a fantastic job for the team today and he got his reward with that first half goal.

“We’ll see a lot more from MJ when there’s more space on the pitch and there’s better surfaces and we’re a bit cleaner with our play but he keeps getting in the right places at the right times.

“If you want a chance to fall to anyone in the box then MJ’s the one.”

– Exeter City Manager Matt Taylor

Whilst Jay is well on the way to becoming another shining example of how productive the Exeter academy is, he was not the only former youth team starlet on the field against Salford.

Josh Key was outstanding at right-back, Alex Hartridge continued to look solid in the centre of defence in what is his first full season playing in the EFL, Archie Collins was a busy presence in the middle of the park, and Jack Sparkes provided thrust down one flank from an unfamiliar left midfield position.

Taylor deserves a great deal of credit for the development of these home-grown youngsters. Salford’s decision to part company with Richie Wellens on Monday after just five months in the job was a stark reminder of how insecure the EFL management game is, and even though Exeter operate in a very different way, allowing these young players time to make mistakes and develop as players has always been put ahead of results on the field.

After the game he was full of praise for his young side as they managed to bring a three game losing run to an end against a side that has considerably more financial might.

“I’m really pleased in terms of the headlines for Ollie Watkins, they are rightly deserved and we were so pleased to see him score on Thursday night.

“You’ve got to take inspiration from what’s around you as well. That was a young (Exeter) team today against the might and strength of Salford. We had six academy products (on the field), and physically we were dominated at times but we stood up to it and the win was built on pure honesty and endeavour.

“This has to be a start for a lot of young players as they try to make their way in the game.”

– Exeter City Manager Matt Taylor

Watkins’ success appears to have given the club a lift after poor recent form threatened to de-rail their hopes of making up for last season’s Wembley heartbreak, perhaps due to the fact they will receive £75,000 as part of the deal that took him to Brentford after he made his England debut, although the inspiration provided by his story has provided even greater belief that St.James Park is one of the country’s premium producers of talent.

If Jay can continue his fine form this season and lead Exeter to promotion in what is effectively the season he came of age, he will be remembered as much more than his close friend’s former team-mate.

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