After a week that saw them take seven points from nine, City will be hoping that a blank weekend won’t have dampened this momentum heading in to a rare Thursday night fixture thanks to the powers that be at Sky and the EFL. Gary Caldwell will be relieved that his two internationals will have returned unscathed – Ilmari Niskanen already back at the club having failed to feature for Finland, while Josh Magennis will return having enjoyed a goalscoring cameo on Tuesday night – scoring a powerful strike to round off Northern Ireland’s stunning 5-0 thrashing of Bulgaria. Elsewhere the break has enabled City’s walking wounded to recuperate, with the news that Vincent Harper and particularly Demetri Mitchell are close to a return – all being well Mitchell will feature in the EFL Trophy at Bristol Rovers in a couple of weeks. Otherwise perhaps the only change from the 1-0 win over Cambridge will be the return of Tristan Crama, who had to pull out of the match late on through illness, Jack Fitzwater coming in and producing a fine display in his place.
Unlike City, Shrewsbury were in action on Saturday, and alongside Peterborough and Rotherham, they seemed to want to make up for the lack of fixtures in the division by providing plenty of goals – taking advantage of fellow strugglers Crawley going down to 10 men by coming back from 2-1 down to win 5-3. That win was just the Shrews’ second of the season as Paul Hurst’s side has done little to persuade the pundits that they were wrong to predict a season of struggle. Hurst rang the changes in the summer, bringing in the likes of John Marquis and George Lloyd to bolster the attack, while Alex Gilliead will provide guile on the flanks, but the loss of Chey Dunkley in defence will be keenly felt as Shrewsbury have conceded 20 goals this season – only Peterborough (21) have conceded more.
City took four points from this fixture last season. The first meeting was at the Park in late November as out of form City dominated possession but failed to turn it into too much in front of goal in a 0-0 draw. It was a different story at the New Meadow in March – Jordan Shipley was sent off early on in a rare moment of David Rock doing something in City’s favour, City then cruised into a 3-0 lead at half time through Aimson, Harris and Aitchison before declaring at that score. That victory levelled things in the league head to head with 18 wins apiece, 16 matches finishing level.
The match officials for this game will be:-
Referee: David Rock
Emily Carney and Jacob Lehane
Fourth Official : Steven Copeland
David Rock refereed this game last season, which Exeter City won 3-0 after Rock sent off the Shrewsbury player Jordan Shipley, which atoned for sending off Will Aimson, incorrectly it was latterly agreed, at Charlton which Exeter lost 4-1.
Interview with Gary Caldwell
Interview with Joe Whitworth
