After successive league defeats, attention turns to the cup competitions with a busy week of cup action starting with what is essentially a dead rubber for City on Tuesday night. Having already qualified for the knockout stages of the EFL Trophy following wins over Swindon and Tottenham’s youngsters, City will travel to Bristol without any pressure. Gary Caldwell has, however, targeted this competition for success and promised to take it seriously after the embarrassment of last season. That said, the key focus of this match for City will be injury rehabilitation – Reece Cole returned to the squad on Saturday and is expected to start, but the main headline is the anticipated return of Demetri Mitchell after about a year out. Elsewhere this is an opportunity for fringe players to impress and gain match fitness, so expect the likes of Jack Fitzwater, Sonny Cox and Caleb Watts to feature.
Matt Taylor has found himself under some pressure to deliver at Bristol Rovers, with his side currently in 16th in the division after losing 1-0 at Reading on Saturday. This competition hasn’t been particularly great so far, with a penalties defeat to Tottenham and a 4-0 hammering at Swindon meaning an unlikely sequence of results is needed to progress from the group. Taylor has, like Caldwell, tended towards a mix of youth and experience, so expect to see the same again on Tuesday night.
Given this competition has traditionally been fought on regional grounds in the early stages, it’s no surprise that these sides have met five times in the EFL Trophy previously – most recently an insane encounter at the Park in November 2021. City cruised to a 5-0 lead by half time (Coley 2, Dieng, Amond 2) but were pegged back to 5-3 by the end (Westbrooke, Jones, Anderton). The last time Rovers hosted a tie in this competition was the area Semi-Final in 2010-11, with City coming through on penalties after a 2-2 draw to book their place in the area Final against Brentford.
The match officials for this game will be:-
Referee: Matthew Russell
Assistant Referees: Andy Bennett and Scott Chalkley
Fourth Official : Marcus Carmichael
Matthew Russell mostly referees in the National League, and hasn’t refereed an Exeter City game.
