City’s brutal run of fixtures brought the in-form league leaders to the Park on Tuesday night, and a blistering start saw Gary Caldwell’s men surge into a 2-0 lead before Wycombe pulled it back to 2-2, ending a run of 11 straight wins. City will have taken heart from Tuesday’s showing ahead of a tough trip on Saturday. Pierce Sweeney missed the Wycombe match with a slight knock and is hoping to return on Saturday, if not Jack Fitzwater will again deputise having impressed on both occasions he has filled in for Sweeney this season. Elsewhere Jake Richards finally made a league appearance and his performance, allied to that in the FA Cup last week, will surely make it very difficult for him to make way. Ryan Woods is back from suspension, however, and will be a certain starter, with veteran Kevin McDonald likely to make way.
After a decade in the doldrums, which saw them drop into the six tier and move part time, Stockport are back in a big way. Thanks to new ownership clearing the club’s debts and financing them generously, the Hatters have risen three divisions in six seasons and are now challenging at the top of League One. Dave Challinor, whose playing career was famous mainly for his then world record long throw, has been in charge since 2021 and has masterminded two of those promotions. Along with Wrexham, Stockport were predicted to do well in their first season back in the third tier since 2010, and despite the occasional blip (including a 2-0 reverse at promotion favourites Birmingham on Wednesday night), they currently sit firmly in the promotion mix. Key to their form has been Aston Villa Louie Barry. Barry, who scored the opener in the FA Cup against Liverpool when Villa were decimated by Covid in 2021 (Ben Chrisene also started that night), currently has 13 league goals (14 in all competitions), alongside Kyle Wootton with six league goals. If they don’t score they’re likely to struggle, as nobody else has more than two goals.
The last time the sides met was in 2009/10, that in itself the first season both were in the same division since City were relegated from the third tier previously in 1994. The away sides took the spoils then – City went to Stockport and won 3-1 – Harley’s first half goal was cancelled out by Rose in the 81st minute, but injury time goals from Stansfield and Logan sealed the points. Stockport came away with a 1-0 win at the Park through Johnson. That narrowed City’s lead in league head to heads to 19-18, with nine draws.
The match officials for this game will be:-
Referee: Scott Oldham
Assistant Referees: Graeme Fyvie and Darren Wilding
Fourth Official: Samuel Clayton
Exeter have not had Scott Oldham taking charge of a game since the 2022/23 season. He took charge of two games, both away and both defeats, 2-0 to Bolton and 6-0 to Ipswich.
Gary Caldwell’s thoughts on the Stockport game
Jack McMillan discusses the Stockport game
