Paul Tisdale has suggested that his side's FA Cup third-round tie with Liverpool could help his players over the next month rather than distract them.
The Grecians will play host to the Premier League big boys at St James Park in early January - their first appearance at this stage of the competition since 2005.
While the prospect of facing off against the seven-time winners could see some players take their eye off upcoming League Two fixtures, Tisdale hopes that each member of his squad will instead up their performance levels in order to nail down a starting spot.
"It would be ridiculous if this tie cost us the next two or three games because we're not focused," he told BBC Sport. "The players have got to work just as hard and motivate themselves in whatever way they can, as they always do, to train hard every single day.
"They have that focus now on the horizon which is six games away. It's the unusual nature of a long-term focus beyond the next couple of games. I'm certainly not going to mention it every day to them because they'll get sick of me, but I think we all know that they want to do their best to have a chance of being selected."
Exeter beat Port Vale 2-0 last weekend to secure their passage into the third round of the FA Cup.
Daniel Lewis
