Next Up: Cheltenham Town at Home

Jason H writes …

A pulsating draw to arrest the recent run of defeats, coupled with an encouraging set of results elsewhere on Tuesday night (grateful thanks to Rotherham, Wycombe and that lot down the A38!) have given City renewed optimism going into the final (scheduled) home game of the season. At long last there is some better news on the injury front too, with Alan Gow coming off the bench for a 10-minute cameo at Wimbledon – while the Cheltenham match may still be too soon for him to start the playmaker may be fit enough for a longer spell.

Bouncing back from playoff heartache is tough, but Cheltenham, under the stewardship of Mark Yates, have responded well to the challenge and go into this fixture still harbouring hopes of automatic promotion whilst being guaranteed at least a spot in the playoffs. Yates has assembled a squad built largely upon his experience in non-league with Kidderminster (where he once hit the headlines for the wrong reasons by headbutting City’s Lee Elam after a bad-tempered defeat to City), bolstered by the likes of loan signing Paul Benson. Their success has been built mainly on solid foundations rather than free scoring, indeed their top scorer in the league (Shaun Harrad) has just eight goals to his name. City will no doubt give a warm welcome back to Billy Jones, the full-back who enjoyed two spells at the Park. Jones has been somewhat in and out of the side of late, but made a telling contribution in their win against promoted Gillingham on Saturday, using his wand of a left foot from a corner to set up the only goal of the game. City loanee Lawson D’Ath will hope to make a telling contribution too, D’Ath played three matches on loan at Cheltenham earlier in the season, his only goal a peach of an effort against City.

That goal from D’Ath in October helped Cheltenham to a comfortable 3-0 win and added to a depressing record for City of played 7 lost 7. Indeed City have never even led a match, all three goals that City have scored in this fixture have been with the game already lost. Cheltenham last visited the Park in February 2002 and came away with a 2-0 win with Yates one of the scorers (Tony Naylor the other) on their way to promotion.

Match Officials: http://www.exeweb.com/2013/04/16/match-officials-cheltenham-town-at-home/

Exeter City v Cheltenham Town in numbers: exeter-city-v-cheltenham-town-in-numbers

Guide to St James Park for visiting supporters: the-things-you-need-to-know-st-james-park-exeter

Billy Jones’ thoughts on the game: http://www.exeweb.com/2013/04/17/bill-jones-on-exeter-v-cheltenham/