It may not have been the greatest game to watch, but City will probably consider Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Wigan a point gained ahead of a second away trip in four days to the nation’s capital. Gary Caldwell is likely to be without Jack Aitchison after he limped out late in the first half. Ed Francis, benched on Saturday, is likely to return with Amani Richards keeping his spot unless Reece Cole, not on the bench at Wigan as he continues to suffer with an injury sustained in pre-season, is back in contention.
Leyton Orient’s start to the season has somewhat mirrored that they went through last season – a wretched start (four straight defeats) has not been followed by an unbeaten four match run with two wins and two draws against sides who have either started well or are fancied to do well – the most impressive being a 4-1 thrashing of Stockport at Edgeley Park, while Saturday saw Richie Wellens’ side also draw 0-0, this time at home to Wrexham. Wellens used the summer to bolster his squad with players experienced at this level such as Diallang Jaiyesimi and Sean Clare, while Charlie Kelman, who played a big part on loan in their 22/23 promotion season, has rejoined for a second loan spell. He has offset the departure of Ruel Sotiriou by scoring three goals in the league, equal with Ethan Galbraith.
This fixture last season saw the Os emerge with four points – the corresponding fixture saw the hosts lead 2-0 deep into the match after goals from O’Neill and Moncur, but the introduction of Wildschut from the bench seemed to change the course of the game, the Suriname international was in sparkling form to help City rescue a point through Alli and Aimson. Orient’s 2-1 win at the Park back in September was considered a shock at the time as City were top and the visitors winless, but missing Sinisalo and Niskanen on international duty perhaps contributed to the result as, despite going a goal up through Mitchell, the Os fought back to win through Pigott and Sotiriou’s late winner. That put Leyton Orient ahead in league head to heads with 34 wins to City’s 33, 26 matches finishing level.
The match officials for this game will be:-
Referee: Ruebyn Ricardo
Assistant Referees: Alex Bradley and Adrian Tranter
Fourth Official : Tom Reeves
Ruebyn Ricardo has taken charge of just the one Exeter game, the 1-0 win away to Northampton at the end of last season. So far this season he’s taken charge of 8 games, issuing 45 yellow cards and sent off one player.
