Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell has been speaking to the press ahead of his side’s visit to Sincil Bank this weekend.
City and the Grecians have faced each other on several occasions over recent seasons, rarely in matches designed to excite the neutral. A 0-0 draw on Sky early in the season bored the world, while the 0-0 at the Bank later in the campaign bored me into the bar for the whole second half.
Interestingly, that game is one of only two 0-0 away results of Michael Skubala’s tenure.
Our fortunes are contrasting this season, with Caldwell’s side struggling, and City pushing up the table. That’s something former Wigan boss Caldwell is acutely aware of in this campaign.
“I think they’ve built on what they’ve done for a number of years now, they’re a very strong League One team,” he said this afternoon.
“A fantastic manager, clear identity, they’ve invested over the years to improve the squad and the competition. They look a really strong team this year.”
Games against them at the Bank tend to be tight affairs – we scraped a 1-1 draw in the seventh minute of stoppage time in 2018/19, and a 1-0 win in 2023/24 thanks to Joe Taylor. You have to go back 26 years to find a game against them at the Bank that we have won by two goals.
We know it’ll be a challenge, as does their boss.
“We know whenever we go there it’s a really difficult game but, at this moment in time they’re playing well, up the top of the league, it’s going to be tough. We have to be prepared for that, but as I always say, we have to be prepared to be ourselves.”
Exeter have not scored against us in the last three matches, with Ryan Trevitt’s goal in the 1-1 draw in October 2023 the last time they breached our defence.
They come into the game 18th in the table, on the back of five straight defeats.
You must be logged in to post a comment.