Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale says he is expecting his players to respond to an upturn in the atmosphere this Saturday as league leaders Luton Town visit St James's Park.
The Hatters are well-known for their vocal support at Kenilworth Road but, on the back of eight wins from their last nine games, the Bedfordshire club are expected to sell all of their ticket allocation for the visit to Exeter.
City have also seen a rise in attendance figures in the past month, with more than 3,000 fans turning up for their last home game against Wycombe Wanderers.
A noisy atmosphere that day helped spur City onto a morale-boosting 2-1 victory and Tisdale is expecting it to have the same affect this time around.
"I always expect our players to respond to an upturn or rise in the atmosphere, especially at home," he said. "I think they have always taken to that very, very well and risen to the occasion.
"I imagine it will be a very, very good atmosphere on Saturday.
"I don't know what sized crowd we could get, but it might be the best of the season so far.
"Everyone has got a reason to be optimistic. They (Luton) are top of the league and we have just won six out of the last eight games so are on a good run also. Therefore both sets of supporters have every reason to come and watch the game and I think it will be a very, very good match."
It will be the third time in four homes games that City have faced a side that has been top of the table when they have visited the Park.
However, the two previous occasions – against Bury and Wycombe Wanderers – saw the Grecians upset the odds to record 2-1 wins. In fact their only loss in the last eight league games came when they hosted bottom-of-the-table Hartlepool United.
Therefore, despite Luton's impressive recent record, there will be no fear from the City team going into the match.
"I suppose the reason why there has been a change at the top of the table so many times is because we have beaten those teams that have been there," said Tisdale. "We have played our part in that statistic and our challenge is to make that happen again on Saturday."
Even if the Grecians do knock Luton off top spot on Saturday, Tisdale thinks the Hatters will be challenging for promotion in May.
They only got promoted from the Conference last season but, with an experienced manager in John Still at the helm and money to spend, their rise to the top of League Two has not surprised Tisdale.
"They are an established club, they have got a very shrewd, wise manager – who has been successful at this level for years – and they have got good players to back him," said Tisdale. "I think it stacks up that they are going to be challenging in that top part of the table for the rest of the season."
"He (Still) knows his job and he knows exactly how he wants his team to play.
"He is very respectable chap and he gets his teams working hard and playing for each other and that is a good start for any team.
"I can totally see why at some point he wanted to move from Dagenham to give himself a different challenge – a challenge that involved having some finance at this level.
"We have come up against his Dagenham sides in League One, League Two and the Conference so we know enough about each other to make it a familiar encounter.
"However, it will be about what happens on the day. We are on a good run and we have got every confidence that we can compete for the win."
Tisdale should have Liam Sercombe back for the match as he is expected to have recovered from a hip flexor strain, but Jordan Moore-Taylor, Pat Baldwin and Jamie Reid are still missing with long-term injuries.
