City fell to a late defeat at Blackpool last week, something that Gary Caldwell called “naive”, but amends can be made in front of the Sky cameras on Saturday in City’s first home league game in almost a month. While City’s squad is on the large side, Caldwell named an unchanged line-up for Blackpool, but there may be changes for Stevenage in order to freshen things up. Chief among these may be a recall for Reece Cole, although Ed Francis did his chances no harm with a stunning free kick at Blackpool. With a busy run of fixtures coming up in leagues and cups, Caldwell will know that now is the time to assess his side’s strength in depth particularly on Tuesday night in the EFL Trophy.
Having lost their colourful manager Steve Evans to Rotherham at the tail end of last season, Stevenage returned to a manager in Alex Revell who was at the helm pre-Covid when Boro were among the strugglers in the league – in fact saved only from a return to non-league by the demise of Bury and Macclesfield. Having flirted with the playoffs last season under Evans before falling away, it was expected to be more of a season of struggle for Stevenage, but early signs are encouraging for Revell’s side, including a 3-0 win over a Barnsley side perhaps with their trip to Manchester United on their mind last weekend. Jamie Reid made his first appearance of the season in that victory following a lengthy injury, and he will be hoping to lead the line once again at the club where he began his career. Elliott List has been a mainstay of the Stevenage midfield for a long time now and he leads the way with three goals, while Carl Piergianni remains a threat from set pieces.
City had the better of this fixture last season – the corresponding league fixture finished 1-0, Cole pouncing on an error from the Boro keeper to score the only goal. The reverse finished 1-1 in what was considered a shock result that perhaps galvanised City into their strong second half of the season – reduced to 10 men through the sending off of Jack Aitchison and then 1-0 down at the break through Piergianni, City produced a stunning display after half time to immediately equalise through half-time sub Yanic Wildschut. The sides also met at the Park in last season’s EFL Cup, City going through on penalties after a 1-1 draw. That 1-0 win in April extended City’s league head to head lead in this fixture to 14-5, with 11 matches finishing level.
The match officials for this game will be:-
Referee: Neil Hair
Assistant Referees: Jacob Graham and Declan O’Shea
Fourth Official : Matthew Russell
Exeter have had a poor run of results with Neil Hair in charge, October 2020 was the last time we won, a 2-0 home win against Cambridge. Last season with him in charge we lost 2-0 at home to Northampton Town and 1-0 at home to Port Vale, sending Will Aimson off. In his 5 games so far this season Hair has issued 20 yellow cards and two red cards.
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Interview with Gary Caldwell
Interview with Jack McMillan
