Next Up: Northampton Town vs Exeter City
It may not have been pretty, and it relied upon a controversial own goal, but City won the first of two successive away games in four days with a 1-0 win at a Wycombe side that has made a stuttering start to the campaign. Attention now turns to the visit to a side tipped once again to struggle. Reece Cole missed the Wycombe match through illness but is expected to be fit to travel. However, Sil Swinkels limped off at half time on Tuesday, so if he missed out Gary Caldwell has a decision to make in defence, aiming to avoid the square pegs in round holes that he was faced with when City’s defensive options were limited around January last season. Jayden Wareham and Jack Aitchison will be pressing for recalls in place of Josh Magennis and Sonny Cox.
Tipped to be amongst the favourites for relegation, a tough set of fixtures has seen Northampton in the relegation zone currently with a single point from a 0-0 draw with Bradford, but a return of one goal from their first five fixtures in league and cup will be worrying for Kevin Nolan. That goal was scored on debut by West Ham loanee Michael Forbes, one of a large number of signings Nolan made in a busy summer. Much will be expected of Elliott List, who impressed in Stevenage colours, while Sam Hoskins will aim to recapture the goal scoring form of previous years to improve on his tally of seven last season.
In recent years Northampton have had the edge in this fixture with City winning just one of the last nine matches in all competitions. Indeed it was the Cobblers who had the better of things last season, picking up four points. The fixture list had given them an opportunity for swift revenge for City’s 1-0 win at Sixfields in the final away fixture of 23/24 in August, which they took advantage of with a 2-1 win – coming from behind in the second half through Morton and McGeehan after Crama had given City an early lead. The return at the Park saw City grab a late equaliser through Cox after Costelloe had scored for Northampton just before half time. Northampton are one of the most frequent opponents for City and have a huge lead in league head to heads, winning 52 times to City’s 30, 32 matches finishing level.
The match officials for this game will be:-
Referee: Edward Duckworth
Assistant Referees: Michael Webb and Jonathon Block
Fourth Official: George Laflin
Edward Duckworth has taken charge of one Exeter game, which was the EFL Trophy game St James Park that saw Arsenal U21s win 5-0. Last season he took charge of 24 games, booking 108 players and sending off 5 players.
Interview with Gary Caldwell
Interview with Ethan Brierley