Next Up: Stevenage vs Exeter City
Another defensive debacle on Tuesday night has seen the vultures begin to swarm around Gary Caldwell once again. Caldwell has been dealt a bad hand in terms of defensive injuries plus Brentford selling loanee Tristan Crama to Millwall, but some decisions have left a sense of bafflement – for example revealing that Ben Purrington is fit and available but not selected, or briefly preferring to have no defenders on the pitch briefly when Jack Fitzwater went off against Blackpool. In addition, releasing a winger because City have these in abundance but then instead of the new signing last week being a defender, it was another winger (and Caldwell is hopeful of another signing ahead of Saturday but says this too won’t be a defender), with Kamari Doyle recalled by Brighton and sent out to Crawley, will only have further dampened the mood in the City camp. There are only so many times Caldwell can come out at the final whistle and apologise to the fans for yet another defensive calamity – three times in the last four home league games City have gone into half time three or more goals down. That said, Saturday’s fixture takes place at a venue where arguably the great rebound started last season, so there is hope yet that things may fall into place, while with City’s next fixture being that plum FA Cup tie against Nottingham Forest, there may be a sense in the camp of trying to impress in order to win a place in the side for that match.
While City were shipping six against Leyton Orient, Stevenage produced arguably the shock result of the night on Tuesday with a 3-2 win at Wrexham, Boro’s third straight win in all competitions. Alex Revell’s side may have one eye on Tuesday night’s EFL Trophy match against Birmingham, with Wembley looming on the horizon, while Stevenage’s recent upturn comes despite all moves in January so far being out of the club including veteran defender Nathan Thompson moving to MK Dons. Former City striker Jamie Reid hasn’t shone so much in his second season in the third tier as he did in the first half of last season, but the Northern Ireland international was on the scoresheet at Wrexham for his fifth goal of the season, while Dan Kemp (eight in all competitions) leads the way. Carl Piergianni is a towering presence at the back who will relish the prospect of a battle with Josh Magennis. Returning midfielder Ryan Trevitt may well start for Exeter.
Last season’s visit to Stevenage mirrored this weekend’s trip in that City went into the match in a dismal run of form to take on a confident Stevenage team. Matters were made worse when Jack Aitchison received a second yellow card and Piergianni scored, both on the stroke of half time. City came out and immediately equalised through Wildschut, then put in a defensive masterclass in keeping the hosts at bay to record a 1-1 draw. Boro’s visit to the Park ended in familiar fashion with a seventh straight league defeat at SJP – Francis and Doyle scoring the goals in a 2-0 win for City. That win extended City’s strong league head to head lead to 15-5, with 11 matches finishing level.
The match officials for this game will be:-
Referee: Ollie Yates
Assistant Referees: Ryan Whitaker and Daniel Bonneywell
Fourth Official : Lee Swabey
Ollie Yates last took charge of an Exeter game in November 2023 when Exeter played Swindon away in the EFL Trophy, a game that City won 1-0. Prior to that game, Ollie too charge of a 2-0 defeat for City away at Portsmouth in January 2023. So far this season he has taken charge of 15 games showing 75 yellow cards and sending off two players.
Interview with Gary Caldwell
Interview with Vinnie Harper