Next Up: Exeter City vs Swindon Town – EFL Trophy
With City’s FA Cup dreams over at the first hurdle, Paul Tisdale’s side return to action immediately with another home cup tie, this time the final group match of the Checkatrade Trophy, knowing that a win over League One strugglers Swindon would guarantee a place in the knockout stages of the controversial competition. Tisdale is likely, therefore, to again name a strong side although with a tough league match on Saturday looming one or two key players may be 
rested.
Since giving manager Luke Williams a five year contract last season after his impressive spell in the caretaker role, Swindon’s fortunes have slid and they currently languish in the final relegation spot in League One. They did live to fight another day in the FA Cup, scraping a 1-1 draw away to big-spending non-leaguers Eastleigh in front of the BBC cameras on Friday night and, like City, a win on Tuesday night would be just the tonic they need having secured one win since September. The Robins haven’t experimented too much in this competition having beaten “Chelsea” and drawn with fierce rivals Oxford, so expect both sides to field close to full available strength. This may mean a return to City for Anton Rodgers, who had a brief loan spell with City in the 2012/13 season.
Although the sides haven’t met in the league since the 2010/11 season, there have been a couple of meetings since then, both producing wins for League Two against League One. The first of those was in the JPT in 2011/12 when Paolo Di Canio’s Swindon side overhauled City 2-1 at the Park, while last season it also finished 2-1 to the lower division visitors in the Capital One Cup as City (Wheeler, Nicholls) emerged victorious at the County Ground, Obika pulling one back in the second half.
Match officials for the game will be:-
Referee: Brett Huxtable
Assistant Referees: Steven Plane and Chris Wade
Fourth Official: Adrian Quelch
Brett Huxtable has refereed two Exeter games, including the EFL Cup game earlier this season at St James Park with Brentford.