Next Up: Exeter City vs Accrington Stanley

After a defeat that perhaps hung on a controversial thirty second passage of play at Hartlepool last weekend, City return home looking to extend their unbeaten home run to nine games with the visit of another side battling near the foot of the table. Christy Pym was again missing from the side last week as he looks to get over his groin niggle, but having been touch and go last week he must be in contention to start again on Saturday. Otherwise it’s largely as you were unless Paul Tisdale decides to freshen things up with another midweek match on the horizon, which could mean starts for the likes of Liam McAlinden or Joel Grant.

Accrington, after a poor run that saw them win just once in the league in the months of October through January, have sought to turn the corner in recent times and go into Saturday’s long trip to Devon on the back of two wins and three draws in their last five fixtures, including matches against the likes of Colchester and Doncaster, culminating in a 1-0 win over Barnet last weekend. As a result Stanley are now six points clear of the drop with two games in hand, although John Coleman knows he cannot afford to think his side is home and dry. “Key” to their success is Billy Kee, the one time City target has 12 goals in all competitions, while former City utility player Arron Davies is unlikely to feature having been missing since the FA Cup defeat to Middlesbrough in January.

The reverse fixture back in August saw struggling City travel to high-flying Accrington, only to emerge with a 2-1 win, with all three goals coming in the space of six second half minutes. City took the lead through Ryan Harley, only for Davies to notch against the side which had just released him. Two minutes later Jake Taylor scored the winner. Likewise City won last season’s fixture at the Park by the same scoreline, Shay McCarten put the visitors ahead inside three minutes, Tom Nichols equalised immediately and Christian Ribeiro popped up in the second half to score the winner. City have recorded 10 league wins in this fixture to Accrington’s six (one draw).

The match officials for the game are:

Referee: Charles Breakspear
Assitant Referees: Mark Derrien and Adam Bromley
Fourth Official Samuel Allison

Breakspear has now refereed Exeter six times. The last time being the home game against Doncaster. Those six games can be found at http://www.grecians.co.uk/wordpress/?s=breakspear

Details of the last time we played Stanley at St James Park, can be found at http://www.grecians.co.uk/wordpress/?sp_event=4085