Next Up: Exeter City v Stevenage

The reaction to the derby day humiliation seems to have been positive, as City have notched successive wins (including, shock, horror, a home win!) and are unbeaten in three going into Tuesday night’s encounter with an old foe.

Tom Nichols will be delighted to have ended a four-match barren spell as his brace against Wimbledon took his season’s tally to 13. Connor Riley-Lowe was a surprise inclusion on Saturday but he will hope his performance has earned him a regular starting berth. David Wheeler came off the bench to score what proved to be the decisive goal, but he may have to be content with remaining sidelined as the Nichols/Morrison partnership is starting to look effective.

Exeter have added loanee Lee Holmes, from Preston, to their squad so there may be a change to the starting line-up, or to the substitutes used by Paul Tisdale.

Stevenage, under the colourful management of Graham Westley, are coming into form at just the right time and are unbeaten in their last seven games, although they were pegged back late on at Cambridge on Saturday meaning they just failed to cement a spot in the playoff places. Westley doesn’t tend to do continuity, and 36 players (plus several further unused subs) have been played so far this season, but Charlie Lee (8 goals) and Chris Whelpdale (6 goals) have tended to be fairly permanent fixtures in the line-up.

It was top scorer Lee who did the damage in the reverse fixture just prior to Christmas, notching the only goal in the dying minutes of what had been an even contest. The last time Stevenage made the trip down to the Park was in City’s League One relegation season of 11/12. Richard Logan put City ahead only for Robin Shroot to equalise in the second half. The overall head to head including two FA Cup encounters is exactly even, with five wins apiece and five draws.

Match officials: http://www.exeweb.com/2015/03/16/match-officials-exeter-city-v-stevenage/

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