Next Up: Luton Town vs Exeter City – EFL Trophy
City returned to action after their enforced break on Saturday, and will be ruing the missed chances that would have sealed a deserved result. A busy period continues with a trip to one of the “big boys” of the division in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday night, which may be an opportunity for Gary Caldwell to get some minutes in the legs of some of his more fringe players. There were two new injury absentees at Bradford with Danny Andrew and Reece Cole failing to make the trip, while Kieran Wilson made a scoring debut on loan at Torquay. Wilson would probably have started at Luton, but this could mean a return for Sonny Cox, who again wasn’t in the squad at Bradford but it back in training. Jake Doyle-Hayes may continue to build his fitness having returned to the side on Saturday.
There are signs that Luton are coming back into the sort of form that made them amongst the favourites for an immediate return to the second tier following successive relegations. New manager Jack Wilshere has seen an upturn in results (aside from a 5-0 humiliation at Barnsley a couple of Saturdays ago), although the last four games have seen just one victory. Luton have used 30 players so far in the league (plus a further five in cups), a sign that things hadn’t been going according to plan to this point. The goals have been shared around, with their leading scorers (Jordan Clarke and Gideon Kadua) recording just three times in the league so far. Teenager Jake Richards, who turned down numerous contract offers to stay at City in order to move to Luton, has broken into the first team and earned the plaudits from his manager, but missed Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Bolton and may therefore miss out. Another former City player, Millennic Alli, has become more of a bit-part player under Wilshere but may start on Tuesday.
Tuesday night marks the first meeting in this competition between the sides, although there was a memorable meeting in the EFL Cup in 23/24, as City stunned then Premier League Luton 1-0 through Demetri Mitchell to cause something of a giantkilling.
The match officials for this game will be:-
Referee: Kirsty Dowle
Assistant Referees: Michael Chard and Jonathon Wilks
Fourth Official: Paul Kelly
This is Kirsty Dowle’s first season in the EFL and so the first time she has taken charge of an Exeter game. She’s refereed 8 games so far this season, showing 30 yellow cards and sending one player off. Kirsty took charge of the 2022 Women’s FA Cup final in 2022 between Chelsea and Man City.
The game will be available in the UK on Sky Sports+
Interview with Gary Caldwell
Interview with Liam Oakes