Preview: Exeter City vs Oldham Athletic
City’s unbeaten run continued in style with a side containing several debutants thrashing West Brom U21s 4-0 on Tuesday night. While the likes of Iseguan, Wilson and Diabate are unlikely yet to be uppermost in Matt Taylor’s thoughts for league matches, their encouraging debuts as well as performances from fringe players like Hartridge, Dean and Kite will give Taylor food for thought as well as concentrating the minds of his regular starters that they know they must keep up their performance levels as there are players waiting in the wings should their level drop. Taylor will be sweating on the fitness of Josh Key and Tom Parkes, who limped out of the draw at Bradford, while Ben Seymour’s hamstring pull when scoring against West Brom will likely mean Nicky Ajose takes his place on the bench.
The managerial merry-go-round at Oldham continued apace during the summer, with Harry Kewell entrusted to rescue the Latics from the doldrums despite a mediocre record in management to date. Kewell was very busy in pre-season with a mass exodus and signing spree, including players like Cameron Borthwick-Jackson on a permanent deal following a loan spell, and Sido Jombati from Wycombe. Other signings have come from far and wide, including Bulgaria and Australia. The pundits weren’t impressed, however, and this has been borne out with results so far, Oldham finding themselves in 20th place following a defeat against fellow strugglers Scunthorpe last week, ending a run of three straight wins in three different competitions. Zak Dearnley is the one to watch with five goals in all competitions so far.
Last season’s match at the Park was a memorable one for City, running riot in a 5-1 victory. City led through Jayden Richardson’s first goal for the club, but this was equalised by veteran David Wheater. Wheater then saw red before half time for handball, the resulting penalty converted by Matt Jay. Goals from Collins, Bowman and Dickenson sealed the resounding win in the second half. The reverse back in August was altogether less memorable as City dominated possession but couldn’t find the net in a 0-0 draw. City have the lead in league head to heads with 13 wins to Oldham’s eight, seven matches finishing level, and City have not lost to Oldham in nine matches dating back to a 2-0 reverse in the 2009/10 season. Details of the last 12 games can be found at https://www.grecians.co.uk/wordpress/?p=10043
Match officials will be:-
Referee: Stephen Martin
Assistant Referees: Andrew Fox and Robert Merchant
Fourth Official: Daniel Lamport
Stephen Martin has taken charge of 10 Exeter games, information on those games can be found at https://www.grecians.co.uk/wordpress/?s=stephen+martin