Next Up: Exeter City vs Oxford United. FA Cup
City will be praying Aaron Morley hasn’t moved up a division midweek, as for the second time in four days he popped up in injury time to condemn City to defeat – firstly with the decisive penalty at Wycombe with the last kick of his loan spell, then with a long-range cross-shot for his parent club, Bolton, on Saturday. That match was marred by the allegation of racist abuse from the away end towards Josh Magennis, but having had a week off to regroup, City begin another busy spell with a rare trip to the FA Cup 3rd round. Gary Caldwell faces another FA charge following his red card at Wycombe, so may end up watching from the sidelines again, but he is hoping to have some more options to choose from for the visit of Oxford. Cheick Diabate was recalled from his loan spell at Bradford, but having appeared for the Bantams in their first round win over Aldershot he is cup-tied. Johnly Yfeko could return to the starting line-up, while this may be an opportunity for the likes of Pat Jones to build up his fitness. Millenic Alli is likely to be fully fit having missed the Wycombe match and only being fit for the bench against Bolton.
When the 3rd round draw was made, City supporters could have been optimistic about their chances in what was (a home draw aside) perhaps a disappointing pairing. Oxford were in freefall, with one win since mid-September, a run that eventually saw them sack Des Buckingham, the manager who had masterminded their surprise promotion to the second tier. The Us turned their attentions towards an experienced head in Gary Rowett, and his start has been phenomenal with three wins and a draw in his first four matches to move Oxford up to 17th and no doubt in buoyant mood ahead of two matches in Devon in the space of four days. What sort of side Rowett puts out on Saturday will partly depend on how high up the list of priorities he sees the FA Cup, especially with league survival and a huge six-pointer on Tuesday night on the horizon. Ruben Rodrigues has caught the headlines with goals in his last two matches, but Mark Harris has been somewhat out of form of late – the Welsh international scored four goals early on as Oxford started the season well but has just one goal since the end of August. Dane Scarlett, the Spurs loanee, has similarly slowed down after a good start.
Harris was on the scoresheet when the sides last met at the Park on the final day of the regular season, as Oxford won 2-1 to claim their spot in the playoffs. He gave the visitors the lead before Cameron Brannagan’s penalty extended the lead before half time. Alli reduced the arrears in the second half but it was the visiting supporters who were jubilant at the final whistle, more so when they overcame Bolton at Wembley a few weeks later. City will also be out to avenge the 4-1 scoreline the other time the sides were drawn together in the FA Cup – as recently as the second round in 2022/23 at the Kassam Stadium. Matty Taylor gave Oxford an early lead, before the hosts ran riot in the last ten minutes with a brace from Bodin sandwiching a goal from Brannagan – Matt Jay then scored a consolation effort in what would be one of his final matches before his ill-fated departure to Colchester.
The match officials for this game will be:-
Referee: Scott Oldham
Assistant referees: Grant Taylor and Ravel Cheosiaua
Fourth official: David Rock
Scott Oldham took charge of Exeter’s game away at Stockport County which City lost 2-0. His previous games were in the 2022/23 season when he took charge of two Exeter games, both away and both defeats, 2-0 to Bolton and 6-0 to Ipswich.
Pre-match interview with Kevin Nicholson
Pre-match interview with Vinnie Harper