Ipswich Town failure became Exeter City cult hero | OneFootball

Few players have scored as many important goals for Exeter City than Richard Logan, a true cult hero at St James Park.

Carlisle… decent cross. Logan’s touch!

Any Exeter City fan over the age of 30 should be well aware of that famous bit of commentary - and if you’re not, then you're welcome.

Those five words, from the mouth of Match Of The Day’s very own Steve Bower, accompanied the crowning moment of one of City’s greatest-ever comebacks, and it came just down the road.

It was, of course, the 2007/08 Blue Square Premier League play-offs and the Grecians had ended up taking on Torquay United over two legs for the right to head to Wembley and face Burton Albion or Cambridge United for promotion back to the Football League.

The Gulls won the first leg at St James Park 2-1 with Chris Zebroski capitalising on a botched Paul Jones clearance late on to add to Tim Sills' opener with Wayne Carlisle's goal for the Grecians sandwiched in between.

Things went from bad to worse at Plainmoor as Kevin Hill made it 3-1 on aggregate to United early in the second half and, as the time ticked by, City needed to find two goals in the last 20 minutes just to take it to extra time.

The game would never make it that far.

Logan's impact against Torquay

Rob Edwards waltzed through what felt like the whole Torquay team, starting at the edge of his own box, to set up Ryan Harley to shoot left-footed through a sea of bodies and bring the game back to life.

With 10 minutes to play, it was Logan who was felled in comical style to allow Ben Watson to level the tie up from 12 yards.

Then, with just a minute of normal time to go, Carlisle cut back inside and swung in his pin-point left-footed cross for Logan to rise and nestle his header into the bottom corner.

Carlisle would go on to add the cherry on top, with Torquay desperately pushing forward, to seal a stunning comeback. 'Book your Wembley tickets now,' Bower roared as the traveling Grecians went barmy.

Steve Tully would go on to make his own little bit of TV history, with Setanta Sports apologising for foul language twice in the space of two answers from the lovable Paignton-born defender as he grinned from ear to ear.

It was Logan's final goal of the season, a productive campaign in which he scored a career-best 17 goals to help City back to the promised land.

While he didn't score in the 1-0 win over Cambridge in the final at Wembley, winning the penalty and scoring the third in the semi-final second leg was symbolic of how important he was for City that season.

Logan sent Exeter into League One

Surprisingly, at least it's surprising looking back now, Logan would only score four goals in the following season as City did the double and went straight through League Two and into League One at the first time of asking.

But if you're only going to score four goals, you might as well make them count, and he very much saved the best til last.

The equation was simple; win away at Rotherham United on the final day of the 2008/09 season and City would be going up again.

It was finely poised at the Don Valley, but King Edwards was on hand to push the team forward again, and it was his cross that Logan pounced on to score the only goal of the game, complete with another wild celebration.

F'in Logie always scores the goals, eh Steve?

While Logan's overall goal return left a lot to be desired that season, he was, once again, on hand when it really, really mattered.

Logan was one of Tisdale's best buys

He was a typical Paul Tisdale find. Logan had gone on a number of loans at the start of his career after struggling to break through at Ipswich Town.

The Bury St Edmunds born striker signed for the Tractor Boys at an exciting time but one that was also full of upheaval.

He signed pro in August 1998 and two years later Town would be playing in the top flight.

There were clearly high hopes for him as he later signed a three and a half year professional deal that would keep him at Portman Road until 2002, with a further extension to 2004 to follow.

However, he, understandably, found first-team opportunities hard to come by with just four appearances for Ipswich as the likes of Marcus Stewart and Marcus Bent led the line in the top flight before eventual relegation in 2002.

A productive loan at Boston prompted the Pilgrims to sign him on a permanent before he joined Peterborough United where he plundered 17 goals in 92 games.

Perhaps his most famous moment for the Posh was looking sheepish in the London Road changing rooms during the TV show Big Ron Manager, as cameras caught the moment Posh boss Steve Bleasdale resigned before a match.

On the pitch, Logan ended up at Weymouth, who were, believe it or not, something of a non-league money club for a while back in the mid-00s.

The cash soon ran out though and Logan, along with the rest of his Weymouth team-mates, were suddenly up for grabs.

Tisdale pounced to sign Logan, Tully and Lee Elam, with the first two staying until 2012 and 2013 respectively and proving worth every penny while also showing vast improvement and becoming key players.

Logan was one of those players who only really did it at Exeter, and there were a few of those during Tisdale's long reign.

In the end, he was around a one-in-four man for the Grecians, with 48 goals in 214 appearances in all competitions, though half of those came off the bench.

However, those two clutch goals have gone down in history and were the foundation for two of the great away days in City's history.

He's a good egg, too.

On the pitch, he often seemed a little reserved, but if you were to bump into him in one of Exeter's establishments on a Saturday night, he was always friendly and gave you the time of day. Normally it was about 2.30am, but that's by-the-by.

He's still active on the City scene online and posts about the good old days, funny moments from his career and his old strike partner Adam Stansfield.

Logie made it clear that he loved it at Exeter, and we loved Logan Time, too.