Next Up: Coventry City vs Exeter City

A routine 3-0 win against Crewe continued City’s early season charge to the top, and Paul Tisdale’s side finds itself in the somewhat strange position of being the likely favourites away to a far bigger club on Saturday. Continuity has been key and the Crewe win marked the fifth straight match where Tisdale named the same starting XI, and this is unlikely to be much different (if at all) for the visit to Coventry, meaning the new signings will continue to require patience – although with another midweek game coming up Tisdale may be inclined to keep things fresh.

In recent years League Two has welcomed a few of the bigger clubs fallen on hard times – Portsmouth finally got their act together and were promoted last season, while Blackpool’s stay was just one season, and they have been replaced in this regard by Coventry. Off-field problems which saw the Sky Blues temporarily booted out of the Ricoh Arena culminated in relegation last season, despite a late revival under returning manager Mark Robins. Fortunes this season have been mixed, but Coventry’s home form has been decent so far with three wins and one defeat. The standout performer has been Jodi Jones, the winger earning plaudits for his performances this season (including four goals to be top scorer), while the likes of Peter Vincenti and Stuart Beavon have plenty of experience at this level.

Given the wide disparity in the clubs’ fortunes with Coventry having spent many years in the top flight, it’s no surprise to see that the last time the clubs were in the same division was in the inaugural Division 4 season of 1958/59, although the most recent meeting was far more recently in October 2014 in the JPT. League One Coventry were comfortable winners that night 3-1 thanks to goals from Phillips (2) and McQuoid, but the match was memorable for a certain Ollie Watkins, who scored his first goal for City (game details here). Back in 58/59, the corresponding fixture finished 2-0 to Coventry before City gained revenge with a 2-1 win at the Park against the side that would eventually gain promotion as runners-up, with City missing out by one place.

The match officials for this game are:-

Referee: Robert Jones
Assistant Referees: Michael D’aguilar and Paul Graham
Fourth Official: Geoffrey Russell

He’s refereed two City games, for detail see http://www.grecians.co.uk/wordpress/?s=rob+jones