EXETER City's position in Coca-Cola League One may be precarious, but manager Paul Tisdale is refusing to panic.

The Grecians are four points adrift of safety following Oldham Athletic's midweek win over Leyton Orient and they badly need a win.

Today, they travel to Southend United, who are one place and just one goal worse off then the Grecians at the wrong end of the table. The last thing Exeter want is for that four-point gap between them and safety to start growing.

"I think we just have to keep eking out results if we can. If we go to Southend and get a good draw and Oldham win, then we can't feel sorry for ourselves," Tisdale said. "We can't predict every game between now and the end of the season, we have to be better than we have done.

"We have to know that there is enough opportunity between now and the end of the year for us to get the points we need. As we saw in the promotion runs, you can easily go from six points behind a team to six points in front of them. It can happen and we have done that in the last couple of years. We shouldn't focus on the table too much at this stage."

With just 12 games in which to secure their League One status for at least another season though, time is beginning to run out for the Devon side. And Tisdale admits that it is hard not to not keep an eye on the league table as the season reaches a climax.

"It's human nature, isn't it? We are getting to the stage of the season where we need to know where we sit and we are looking at other teams' results, of course we are, but not in a time consuming, energy sapping kind of way," he admitted. "We like to know how other teams are getting on, but it is still very much in our own hands what we do this season."

The Exeter boss is likely to welcome Rob Edwards and Joe Burnell back into the squad for today's game, while youngster James Norwood could come in from the cold to play a vital role in Exeter's finish to the season.

Norwood spent three months on loan at Sutton United, something Tisdale feels was hugely beneficial to the youngster, who is said to have come back hungrier and stronger than before.

"He is someone that has really benefited from his three months he had on loan. It goes to show that regardless of the level you go to, playing and being in that matchday situation, making decisions is really important," Tisdale added.

"He is stronger than he once was and he is now in a situation where we are looking at him seriously for a position on the bench. He had a chance to go out somewhere else, but we have asked him to stay and decided not to make him available (for loan.)

"We think he could have an impact on the rest of the season and he is also getting the benefit of playing a few reserve games over the last few weeks."

Quite where Norwood will play remains to be seen. The Grecians certainly have enough strikers at their disposal and Norwood has caught the eye playing as a right winger for the second string.

While City's position may be perilous though, spare a thought for Southend. The Essex side have already achieved one great result this week – they were granted a 35-day extension by the High Court to repay outstanding debts – and there are genuine fears that the Shrimpers could go the way of Chester City, who were wound-up by the High Court on the same day.

Their players went through January and February without being paid, although they have since received their wages courtesy of the PFA. Exeter's position may look bleak to many, but at least they don't have those sort of problems anymore.

Meanwhile, Tisdale used Thursday night's Fans' Forum to launch an impassioned plea to the supporters to back his side between now and the end of the season.

The City chief was criticised for his reaction to the apparent booing of Ryan Harley after he was named as the sponsors' man of the match in the 1-1 draw with Oldham Athletic.

The announcement came just seconds after he had missed an 89th minute penalty, but when one supporter suggested the boos were aimed at the sponsors, rather than Harley, he received much support from other supporters in the room.

Tisdale said he apologised, if that was the case, before giving a rousing speech to those in attendance. He highlighted the considerably inferior budget the Grecians have to other teams in League One and maintained his belief that the Devon side are heading on the right direction.

That was followed by a presentation from chief executive Norrie Stewart, who outlined the club's "2020 vision" and speeches from chairman Edward Chorlton and vice chairman Julian Tagg, who then addressed questions from the audience.