Next Up: Exeter City vs Wigan Athletic
City once again appeared to display an inferiority complex against one of the big spenders of the division in going down 2-0 against Stockport on Saturday, but there is an immediate chance for Gary Caldwell’s side to redeem themselves on Tuesday night with a crunch match against another side still looking over their shoulder. With Ryan Trevitt now likely to miss the rest of the season the last thing Caldwell needed was another injury, but there were two on Saturday. Pat Jones pulled up with a hamstring injury just ten minutes after coming on, meaning he may be joining Trevitt, Mitchell, Sweeney and Wildschut in sitting out the rest of the campaign, while Ed Turns too had to be withdrawn with a suspected broken nose. It may be that he can be patched up for Tuesday (perhaps looking like the Phantom of the Opera), otherwise it could mean one of Ed Francis, Ben Purrington or Kevin McDonald returning to the back line. There was better news in the shape of Ryan Woods returning off the bench, and he is set to start on Tuesday night particularly if Francis drops back into defence. Gary Caldwell, meanwhile, will serve the second match of his suspension following his red card at Lincoln.
Wigan have had it tough in their second season back in the third tier – free of points deductions the Latics were considered amongst the sides likely to challenge for a playoff spot, but this hasn’t materialised and it led to a change of manager, Ryan Lowe coming in last month to try to keep Wigan clear of relegation trouble. He was handed a tough first set of games and has overseen two draws and two defeats in his four matches, the last of which a 0-0 draw at playoff-chasing Leyton Orient on Saturday. Goals have been a massive issue for Wigan – like City, their top scorer (Thelo Aasgaard) departed for Luton in January and his 12 goals in all competitions remains the club’s highest return. Dale Taylor, on loan from Nottingham Forest, has since matched Aasgaard’s eight league goals, but nobody else has more than three. Wigan’s ranks contain two players who wore the red and white last season – Will Aimson has been virtually ever-present, but it has been a frustrating season for Dion Rankine, the pacy wide player has been dogged by injuries since signing from Chelsea and hasn’t featured since his comeback lasted three matches last month.
Given both sides aren’t exactly the sharpest shooters in the league it’s unsurprising that the reverse fixture finished 0-0, City failing (not for the first or last time) to register a shot on target. There were plenty of those from City in this fixture last season, but a combination of great goalkeeping from Sam Tickle and a lack of luck and composure led to a lop-sided 2-0 win for Wigan through an early goal from Godo and a late one from Jones with Wigan’s only shots on target. Wigan have a strong league head to head lead in this fixture with 11 wins to City’s four, four matches finishing level.
The match officials for this game will be:-
Referee: David Rock
Assistant Referee: Samuel Fudge and Daniel Flynn
Fourth Official: Tom Reeves
David Rock last refereed an Exeter game in October, the televised game away at Shrewsbury which City won 2-0. The home fans were not happy with the standard of refereeing. So far this season, he’s taken charge of 27 games, showing 114 yellow cards and sending five players off.
Gary Caldwell pre-match thoughts
Joe Whitworth’s thoughts