Exeter City away 01 March 2025

[GrangeParkCobbler]

We see in March with a nice little 380 mile round trip down the M5 to face Exeter at their St James Park home.

In mid-October after victory at Shrewsbury the Grecians sat 4th in the league table. Form has deserted them though and their win at Cambridge a fortnight ago was their first league win since Boxing Day. They come into this game off the back of a 3-0 defeat at Charlton and taking that Cambridge game out of the equation they have shipped 3 goals at home to Blackpool, 6 at home to Orient and 4 at Stevenage in recent games. They currently sit one place and one point behind us in the table albeit they have played two games fewer than us. After that defeat at Charlton last week they flew out to Spain for a four day training camp so are hopeful that they have recharged their batteries ready for our visit!

Starting out life in 1901 Exeter were invited to join the Football League in 1920 and have to date never played higher than the third tier. After the war average gates were around 10000 however these dropped to below 2000 in the mid 80's. They won the fourth division title in 1990 but in 2003 were relegated to the Conference where they spent six seasons. After winning the playoffs to gain promotion back to the EFL they followed that up with a 2nd place finish in League 2 to secure back to back promotions.
Their current stint in League 1 is now in its third season and with average gates back up to around the 6500 mark things are looking brighter.

They have won 5 and lost 7 of their sixteen league games at home so far. Their last home league win was on Boxing Day when they beat Bristol Rovers 3-1. They reached the fourth round of the FA Cup and after home wins against Barnet, Chesterfield and Oxford they went down on penalties to Premier League Nottingham Forest after a 2-2 draw in normal time.

Gary Caldwell is the man in charge of the team. The former Wigan, Chesterfield and Partick Thistle boss has been at the helm since October 2022 recording 46 wins in 127 games. The 42 year old have a good playing career appearing for the likes of Celtic, Hibernian and Wigan during their Premier League days.

Citys leading scorer this season is no longer with them. Millinec Alli made a £1.5m switch to Luton in January after bagging 12 goals for the Grecians. 34 year old Josh Magennis has been left to pick up the scoring mantle, he is now on 11 in all competitions with 6 of those in their FA Cup run. Andrew Oluwabori is a recent addition to their squad having joined from FC Halifax Town on deadline day. Goalkeeper Joe Whitworth is on loan from Crystal Palace and has featured in all 31 league games to date.

There is an extensive head-to-head between the two teams, going back to Division 3 South days we have met 124 times with us winning 58 of those to Exeters 31. We have won on our last three visits to St James Park. Benny Ashley-Seal scored the winner in a 2-1 Trophy win back in 2020, Mitch Pinnock doing the same in a 2-1 League win in 2021 and Sam Hoskins and Patrick Brough goals enough for a 2-0 win on our last trip to the West Country back in 2023.
City did win the return game that season (2-1 in April 2024) and finally the game earlier this season saw a 2-1 Cobblers win with Callum Morton and Cameron McGeehan goals in front of a crowd of 5,981.

The Cobblers will be looking for their first double over City since 2000, and there has only been one goalless game in the last 26 matches between the clubs.

Charles Breakspear is down to ref this one. Just 11 games for him so far this season but 57 yellows and two red cards have been handed out in those. We last saw him in our 2-2 draw at Oxford in February last year, City had him for their Boxing Day win at home to Wycombe a couple of months earlier.

[Wellsntfc]

This probably is our biggest game of the season.

A must win game now given the result on Tuesday.

[itsme]

I was looking forward to this game till you said who the ref is

[Deepcut Cobbler]

Exeter City FC (First Team) v Northampton Town FC (First Team)
Football League 1   
Referee: Breakspear, Charles
Assistant Referee: Amey, Justin
Assistant Referee: Carmichael, Marcus
Fourth Official: Mulhall, Sam

[Manwork04]

I have a very bad feeling about this game.

[Terryfenwickatemyhamster]

Thanks GPC.

[everbrite]

Monumental effort GPC and thank you from me!
Regardsz

[Bingers]

I have a very bad feeling about this game.

Thanks Comrade.

[Carton Lid]

I was looking forward to this game till you said who the ref is

He's not a Cobblers fan is he ? 

[Cordwainer2]

My first Cobblers game in 1958. Cobblers 9, Exeter 0.  Will be there tomorrow.

[Gustavo Palcrice]

My first Cobblers game in 1958. Cobblers 9, Exeter 0.  Will be there tomorrow.

Crikey, you have mastered time travel?

[Deepcut Cobbler]

I was looking forward to this game till you said who the ref is

Why??

[Manwork04]

Why??

Probably because he’s a wee bit unpredictable, a bit like waving your todger in front of an XL Bully.

[itsme]

Why??

He is whistle happy and I've never been to 1 of our games where he hasn't sent our player off

[Irchy cob]

The prospect of Hondermarck or Perry replacing Shaw fills me with apprehension.

[west stand oap]

Charles Breakspear has sent off several of our players in the past but on the last couple of occasions we have had him I considered him to be among the better referees we were having at that time, hope that continues tomorrow. Not sure why he has only had 11 games this season but he had none from 2nd November to 18th February.

We have certainly had the better of Exeter in the past and our record there is good as we have come away with points from over half of our visits, we have won 19, drawn 18 and lost 25. It is no understatement to say Exeter are in a poor run of form as the have only 5 points from their last 10 games (1 win, 2 draws and 7 defeats) scoring 12 goals and conceding 26, they scored in 8 of those 10 games. At home they have won 5, drawn 3 and lost 7 scoring 21 and conceding 26 but they have only won 1 of their last 9 home games.

They have scored more than 1 goal 8 times (5 at home) and failed to score 8 times (only 2 at home).
They have conceded more than 1 goal 17 times (9 at home including 7 of the last 8 home games and kept 10 clean sheets (5 at home). Only Shrewsbury have conceded more home goals.

It is a game we need points from and preferably all 3 but as they have scored in all but 2 of their home games we may need to score 2 to do so. With Shaw doubtful and McGeehan suspended we could be without 2 of our 3 first choice midfielders but expect Pinnock to fill in as he did on Tuesday and probably Perry who KN appears to favour ahead of the other options. Also doubts are Odimayo and McGowan and if neither of those are available we are left with Willis, Dyche and either Magloire or Baldwin at the back. Not an ideal game to have so many possibly missing.

I hope we can pose more of an attacking threat than we did on Tuesday and it will be an interesting table at 5pm with so many bottom teams playing each other. Win and we could move up 2 places to 15th but lose and we could drop to 20th and only 1 point above the bottom 4 depending on other results.

[Cordwainer2]

Crikey, you have mastered time travel?

No I am very old. !

[cobblerscoombsy]

Mbete & Roberts have travelled.

[Joes Sweet Left Foot]

Mbete ?  Don't remember him being mentioned in dispatches. Has he been training with us or just travelled down from Manchester. Good news all the same.

[Lizard68]

Mbete ?  Don't remember him being mentioned in dispatches. Has he been training with us or just travelled down from Manchester. Good news all the same.

Has been back in training for a while and has attended the last couple of home games.