Next Up: Crawley Town vs Exeter City
City rubber-stamped their League One status on Good Friday despite the swimming gala with Burton ending 0-0 in a match that would surely have been abandoned earlier in the season – Bristol Rovers’ failure to pull off an almighty shock at Wrexham meaning the Gas can no longer catch City. Gary Caldwell’s side will need to have dried off in time for an Easter Monday trip that could relegate their opposition. Reece Cole was withdrawn early in the second half presumably with Monday in mind, while Ryan Woods may come in for Kevin McDonald. Elsewhere Josh Magennis again missed out with Sonny Cox set to deputise again, while other changes could see the likes of Vincent Harper and Tony Yogane come in.
Having been unlikely promotion winners and then coping with the loss of key personnel, the pundits predicted a season of struggle for Crawley – losing manager Scott Lindsey to MK Dons only added to this, and so it has come to pass. However, while the Red Devils were tipped to be cast adrift, that they are still in with a slight shout of avoiding the drop with three games to go represents something of a success. Lindsey’s sacking by MK Dons was coincidentally followed by Rob Elliot’s removal, leaving a path open for Lindsey’s return. This precipitated two successive wins, but the honeymoon didn’t last long as Crawley go into Monday’s vital match on the back of four winless games, although the slide of three straight defeats was arrested with a surprising 0-0 draw at runaway champions Birmingham on Friday. Crawley know that a defeat combined with either Burton or Bristol Rovers gaining a point or more will condemn them to an immediate return to the basement. One player who has had a massive impact in the second half of the season has been Kamari Doyle, whose lack of playing time later in his loan spell at City in the first half of the season had supporters scratching their heads – Doyle has scored six since exchanging one red and white League One club for another. Junior Quitirna, top scorer with eight, has also been impressive.
The reverse fixture during the Christmas break was something of a rollercoaster. City were booed off by the fans after going in 1-4 behind – Camara put the visitors ahead, Alli equalised but Swan, Showumni and Quitirna scored to give a deservedly emphatic look to the scoreline. However, City seemed to wake up at half time and goals from Harper, Woods (directly from a corner) and Mitchell ensured the match finished 4-4. City’s last visit to Broadfield saw City clinch a 3-1 win on their way to promotion in 21/22. Appiah gave the hosts a 1-0 first half lead but the tide turned on the stroke of half time as Ashley Nadesan was sent off for a second booking after the referee had judged him to have dived in search of a penalty. Matt Jay’s goal of the season winner was the equaliser before Nigel Atangana and Sam Nombe sealed the win. City have a commanding lead in league head to heads with 12 wins to Crawley’s four, the 4-4 in December being the seventh between the sides.
The match officials for this game will be:-
Referee: Ben Toner
Assistant Referees:David Harrison and Daniel Bonneywell
Fourth Official : Wayne Cartmel
Ben Toner has been a regular referee for Exeter games, going back to 2017. His previous game this season that he took charge of was the magnificent 2-0 win away at Bolton in August. He’s refereed 38 games this season, showing 172 yellow cards and sending off 6 players.
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