[jjamez]

Following Tuesdays solid away display in Wales, Town return to home comforts as they welcome Exeter City to the John Smiths Stadium on Saturday. The draw against Wrecsam was probably fair overall, neither side really threatened either keeper, you could argue that Town made the Wrecsam keeper work the hardest but Chapman had to make the most telling save. Town had to defend stoutly in the first half as Wrecsam applied constant pressure that at times seemed as if Town were not able to get their lines cleared well enough, but in the second half Town pushed the hosts back and got into the final third, however, as has been the case for a while, the final ball was lacking in one way or another and never really resulted in clean effort on goal.

Our visitors currently sit one place behind us in the league after having a good start to the season, one that has surprised a few 'experts' out there. Currently being managed by former Celtic and Wigan defender Gary Caldwell, the Grecians have played one game less than Town so far this season but have a near to similar record so far. Last time out they lost to Reading, who themselves sit just one place below, Exeter had the better of the game but couldn't make it count as the Royals ran out 2-1 winners, Ilmari Niskanen scored for Exeter in the second half after Reading had a 2-0 lead at half time.

They begun the season with a surprise 1-0 at home to newly relegated Rotherham, Aussie midfielder Caleb Watts scoring in the second half after coming off the bench, they followed that up with a defeat in the first round of the League Cup to Walsall and then another defeat on the road at Northampton. Defender Tristan Crama put the Grecians ahead inside the first 10 minutes but the Cobblers hit back in the second half through Callum Morton and Cameron McGeehan. They were unable to dust themselves down as next time out they lost 2-1 again, this time at home to Peterborough. Once again they raced into a lead through Reece Cole after just 4 minutes, but it didn't take long for Posh to hit back through Malik Mothersille, before Emmanuel Fernandez scored the decisive goal on the stroke of half time. Exeter would then pull off a real backs to the wall win away at Bolton, as the Trotters registered 21 attempts on goal and dominated possession, but Exeter scored with their two shots on target thanks to Kamari Doyle and former Halifax player Millenic Alli. Their next league game would see them return to losing ways once again as they traveled to a different beach to face Blackpool. CJ Hamilton opened the scoring for the Tangerines and Edward Francis looked to have rescued a draw for the Grecians in the 88th minute, but former Town loanee James Husband scored deep into injury time to consign Exeter to their third league defeat of the season. This sparked a mini turnaround in form as they would go 5 games without a defeat starting with a 2-0 win over Stevenage at home, with goals coming from Francis and Doyle, before holding firm in Lancashire for a 0-0 draw against Wigan. They would then head to Leyton Orient and come away with three points thanks to an Amani Richards goal, although they finished the game with 10 men as Watts received a red card in injury time. Long time Town tormentor Ryan Woods was on hand to score the only goal as the Grecians beat Cambridge United in the game before the international break. Post break they beat Shrewsbury 2-0 away with goals from Doyle and Josh Magennis before the defeat to Reading last time out.



Exeter City F.C. was formed from two predecessor clubs, Exeter United F.C. and St Sidwell's United. Exeter United was a football club from Exeter, Devon, that played between 1890 and 1904. In 1904, Exeter United lost 3–1 to local rivals St Sidwell's United and after the match it was agreed that the two clubs should become one. The new team took the name Exeter City and continued to play at Exeter United's ground, St James Park, where Exeter City still play today. The nickname 'The Grecians' has largely unknown origins, with a few different theories arising. One suggestion is that in 1908 the club voted for the name because of its association with St Sidwells parish. Historically people living in the parish of St Sidwells were said to have been known as "Greeks" or "Grecians". This is possibly due to the parish's location beyond the city walls. For instance, in Homer's epic poem the Iliad the Greek forces laid siege to the walls of Troy. However, perhaps more plausibly, the association arose because of rivalries between city boys and those of St Sidwells during the annual beating the bounds.
It has also been suggested the name derived from a group of children in St Sidwells who were referred to as the 'Greasy Un's'. A further possibility was that it derived from a jeweller's shop in Sidwell Street, close to the ground, which had a clock hanging outside displaying the name 'Grecians' on its face. The team became one of the first sides to tour far flung places, including going to South America to play games in Brazil. They became the first ever side to face the Brazilian national side and this lead to partnerships with illustrious clubs like Fluminense who have been the home for players such as Deco and Ronaldinho in the past. Exeter were invited to help create the Football League Third Division in 1920. They remained in the division until becoming founder members of the Fourth Division in 1958. They were promoted in 1963–64, only to be relegated after two seasons. They were promoted out of the Fourth Division again at the end of the 1976–77 season and managed to stay in the Third Division for seven seasons before being relegated in 1984.



Exeter won their first league title in the 1989–90 season, gaining promotion as Fourth Division champions under the stewardship of Terry Cooper. Relegated in 1994, they lost their Football League status at the end of the 2002–03 season. They spent five seasons in the Conference and recovered from defeat in the 2007 play-off final to win promotion out of the play-offs the next year. Returning to League Two in 2012, they have lost in the play-off finals in 2017, 2018 and most recently in 2020, but in the 2021–22 season they gained automatic promotion to League One and have finished 14th and 13th in the seasons since. Famous fans include David Earl, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, Adrian Edmondson, Noel Edmonds, swimmer Liam Tancock, BBC broadcaster James Vickery, Spotlight reporter John Ayres, TV presenter Juliet Morris and Hoosiers drummer Alan Sharland. Singer Joss Stone signed up as a member of the supporters trust, being introduced to fans on the pitch as a new member during a League Cup match against Liverpool. In 2002 pop singer Michael Jackson was made honorary director of Exeter City. He visited St James Park with celebrity friend Uri Geller, who was also a director.



Now managed by Gary Caldwell who joined the club in 2022 following the departure of Matt Taylor to Rotherham (he was the manager of Bristol Rovers last saturday, whos fans were clamoring for him to be sacked) Caldwell has turned the Grecians into a solid outfit with the club often having one or two players that fetch interest from leagues above. In Caldwells first season in charge he had Sam Nombe who would score 15 goals in the league before moving to Rotherham in the Championship, the season after goals were harder to come by with Reece Cole leading the way with 7 for the season, but they still managed to finish in a respectable position. Caldwell himself has had a topsy turvy kind of managerial career so far, initially going into coaching at Wigan once retiring, he was placed in interim charge as they failed to avoid the drop into League One, but he was trusted with the job permanently, leading the Latics back up at the first time of asking, but he would lose his job after 18 months in charge. Nearly 3 months later he would take charge at Chesterfield in League One as they battled for survival, but he was unable to keep them up and after a poor start to the League Two campaign he was relieved of his duties. After over a year out of the game, Caldwell was appointed manager of Scottish Championship club Partick Thistle in October 2018. Thistle avoided relegation at the end of the 2018–19 season, but Caldwell was sacked in September 2019 as the club sat second-bottom of the 2019–20 Scottish Championship table. In 2021 Caldwell was named interim manager of Newcastle United's U23s team but later that year he joined Manchester City in a role overseeing their players loaned to other clubs. Caldwell re-joined Hibernian as their assistant manager in December 2021, working alongside current Wigan boss Shaun Maloney. They were sacked in April 2022, following a Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Hearts. He would then join Exeter in October of 2022.



The Grecians appear to be a solid team with no absolute stand out players, more a unified team all pulling in the same direction and working together. That being said, the goals have been shared around between them with Doyle and Francis leading the way with 3 each, whilst striker Alli has 2 so far this campaign. Doyle and Francis will form the midfield axis for the visitors whilst Alli is likely to be partnered by the experience of Magennis. Out of the lot, Doyle, on loan from Brighton will be the one to keep an eye on, he has played a range of midfield roles coming through the systems of Brighton and Southampton and is regarded as being able to use both feet well and looks to get efforts off on goal when the chance arrives.



It was a busy summer for Exeter, with 12 players coming in. Former Town player Muzzy Carayol joined on a free transfer, the experienced winger had last been on the books of Burton Albion. Fellow winger Pat Jones joined from Town, whilst the Grecians made the most of the loan system, bringing in the 5 that are allowed in a match day squad. Doyle joined from Brighton, whilst Amani Richards joined from Leicester. Tristan Crama joined from Brentford with goalkeeper Joe Whitworth joining from fellow London club Crystal Palace, the final loanee was Johnly Yfeko who came south from Rangers. They dipped into non league to bring Ed Francis from Gateshead and returned north of the border to bring Jay Bird and Jack McMillan from Arbroath and Partick Thistle respectively. The final transfers of the window were the experienced duo Josh Magennis who came from Wigan and Ryan Woods who joined from Hull. With regards to departures, a host of younger players moved to non league Plymouth Parkway whilst defender Cheick Diabate joined League Two side Bradford City on loan. Experienced goal keeper Gary Woods moved to Scotland to play for Morton, defender Will Aimson moved to Wigan, fellow defenders Zak Jules and Alex Hartridge moved to fellow League One sides Rotherham and Wycombe respectively. Striker James Scott moved to St Mirren whilst former Tottenham and Swansea midfielder Tom Carroll moved to MK Dons.



Town look set to have the same squad available that featured against Wrecsam, Turton came off in the second half with cramp so will be good to go, Healey made his comeback but will likely be limited to 15-20 minutes for the coming few weeks. Sorensen is expected to be out for 6-8 weeks with a hamstring injury, joining a list that already includes michal helik, lee nicholls, Joe Hodge and radino balker. Balker however has started running on the grass, but won't be anywhere near featuring until January at the earliest. Exeter will be without former Town winger Pat Jones who joined the Grecians in the summer, he has torn his hamstring without even playing a game for the club. Former Town tormentor Yanic Wildschut is out for the season with a cruciate knee injury, whilst defender Jack Fitzwater will be expected to be in and around the squad having played his first game the other week since being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis.

for Duff and Kasumu

https://x.com/i/status/1849725688640573669

Follow this for Caldwell's view on the game, as well as speaking about reaching the 100 game mark in charge of the Grecians.

In terms of head to heads, town lead the way with 11 wins, with Exeter winning 8 and there being 5 draws. The sides last met in February of 2012, where Jordan Rhodes scored one of his 7 goals against the Grecians for town, including two hat tricks, one of which was a perfect hat trick. The first meeting between the two sides was in 1975 where the visitors would win 1-0 at Leeds road. It would be 1980 before the terriers would register their first win against the Devonshire club.



No Anagrams again for this one, but there may be a Tamworth/ FA Cup themed something in the next one.

[Lord Snooty]

Nice one jjamez.

One of those Rhodes hat tricks was an all headed hat trick. It was the quickest headed hat trick in the FL since Dixie Dean in the 1920s. Scored in around 8 minutes.

[theo_luddite]

Another well researched read there jjamez

I maybe need to give my Fax supporting bro some earache regarding Chemical Alli - but maybe after the game just in case he scores against us. Best keep the powder dry eh?

Don't forget Spudman for Tamworth.

[jjamez]

Well if anyone goes, there's a meal sorted for yous

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I was one of the few chosen ones to go for afternoon tea with kev today, so I maybe making a guest appearance in some sort of town video in the coming week.

We got a tour of the new dressing room, which had the shirts out for tomorrow, so for once I have a fairly good idea of the lineup, but we weren't meant to share it out. By my reckoning there is one change to the starting line up, a player that was on international duty is dropping to the bench to be replaced by a golf player striker... Not naming names...

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But anyone who thinks Kane is large, I've seen the shirt and it looked tiny. As did Pearson and bojans. The only shirt that looked like I'd fit in, and I ain't really large, not small by any stretch of the imagination, but Maxwell was the only one that looked to be big enough. Gonna have to get mine out the drawers and see how big they actually look

[theo_luddite]

Every time I've seen players of any team close up, they always look as skinny as hell. My mates daughter has a friend that works for the Prima Donna League - she said the same thing but what she also knew about what goes on in Prima Donna League clubs when it comes to recruiting younger players was eye opening.

Basically Town were feeding off scraps back then that bigger clubs decided they didn't need. I guess if you work inside an industry you are always gonna know more of the dirt and machinations than you ever are on the outside looking in as a fan. The things I've seen over the years about how well supposedly some top of the range vehicles and car engines are made ..... you wouldn't pay much more for them than for a Fraud Fiesta if you really knew. It's called Marketing.

[ritchiebaby]

Gary Caldwell had a double connection with Hibs as a player and also assistant manager. He never really covered himself in glory - workmanlike is how I would describe him. He should have had a longer spell as assistant under Shaun Maloney but that ship sailed long ago.

[Lord Snooty]

13 Jacob Chapman
4 Matty Pearson
7 Callum Marshall
8 Ben Wiles
14 Mickel Miller
16 Herbie Kane
17 Brodie Spencer
18 David Kasumu
23 Nigel Lonwijk
25 Danny Ward
32 Tom Lees ©

SUBSTITUTES

Chris Maxwell; Jonathan Hogg, Rhys Healey, Jaheim Headley, Freddie Ladapo, Ollie Turton, Antony Evans

[Lord Snooty]

Well that was another well earned win. Exeter were the tightest defence in League One, but it's hard to see why as our rampant attacks kept on coming at them. The goalkeeper looked a bit Phil Senior-esque in stature and should've done better with the Pearson header for the first and just wasn't long enough to stop a perfectly positioned Wilesey thunderbolt for the second. Not being sizeist, being a little squirt myself, but I'm not a fan of short goalkeepers.

The Greek Urns did look good going forward though and did eventually force Chappers into a great save in the second half, but that was virtually all he had to do as Lees and Pearson kept their strikers quiet, though Magennis should've scored with a poor finish going way over the bar.

Man of the match for me was Virgil van Lonwick or possibly Kasumu. The fans online vote gave it to Wiles. Probably for the goal. Fair enough.

[WakeyTerrier]

All Town in the first half, we really should have been more than one up at half time.

Second half Exeter played a lot better especially at the start and probably should have done better a couple of times.

Once Wiles scored it game set and match to Town. The pleasing part of it is we now have options from the bench and don’t need to rely on youth to replace the starting XI

[theo_luddite]

Not to mention we've a slack-handfull still holding sick-notes Wakey.

I also found it strange for another team that supposedly likes possession to sit so deep in their own half for nearly all of the first half. When their opening gambit didn't result in a goal they just went full on defence with a lob over the top for the left winger/wingback Niskanen (didn't he play at Wembley the other week?) to run onto as their outball. Once in a while they punted it up the right to Chemical (or Comical) Alli but apart from one challenge, Lonwijk dealt with him well and got up the left touchline a helluva lot for a back 3 player. He's much improved since he got his kick up the backside.

Chappers flapped at a couple of crosses with the sun in his eyes, but made up for it with the save at the start of the 2nd half. I can't recall a keeper ever punching two unchallenged crosses away, one at chest height that was far easier to catch than the two young Mr. Whitworth performed. He definitely didn't have the sun in his eyes in the first half and was getting rave reviews in their run of clean sheets. We didn't get enough folk near him to pick up on what should have been free gifts.

Was Danny Ward onside as Duff Duff claimed afterwards? I think the liner just called it right but it was close - not from where I sit in Row Z, I'm in the wrong half. That took me about 30 seconds to work out once I stopped the video where I did. Why does it take those clowns in a Portakabin in Bletchley Park 5 minutes when they aren't using YouTube?



As close as I can stop the Extended Hightlights YouTube vid to the pass leaving Wiles's (?) foot (happy to be corrected) and using the mowing lines (as best as you can see them in the shade of the (ahem) South Stand ......

The Exeter defender nearest the Liner is in the light green strip of grass. Ward and the defender nearest to him are on or just over the line between the light and dark green strip on the dark side. It's too blurred an image to see if the defenders foot is nearer the goal than Wardy's feet, but the fact Wardy is leaning forward over that line in my opinion, puts him a couple of pec muscles and his head offside. Ingrowing toenails and shoelaces therefore are not a factor.

Was the Healey goal offside, which would have earned us some £'s in P4P?
From where I was sat in Row Z, definitely - not quite in line with it, but near enough to make me again not bother to get out of my seat.



Given the ball is yet to be passed to him, no brainer this for the Liner.

Still, both were tucked away with some aplomb and a bit more awareness and timing and we'll make 'em count in the future.

So, training on our plastic pitch at Canalside for the rest of the week then? Baked spuds for lunch anyone?

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PS - discussed Comical Alli with my bro after the game in a pub in Halifax we are both known to frequent. I would hate their patronage to Plummet but I've been going in since I was at college studying chemistry up the road at the Percy Whitley* as it was back then. ELO were a frequent choice on the Juke Box and they are about to hand their cards in too like me it would seem. Happy retirement chaps, but old musicians never really retire, they just hope they die before they get old.

Apart from him (my bro, sorry lost the thread) being pissed off with getting robbed by York in added time on Saturday, his comments were - "Alli never did owt much for us and we're amazed he's in League One. It's getting cold so he'll go into hibernation soon anyway, he always did for us. He used to wear gloves in August and May when he played for us." All the Fax fans I know tell it as it comes and why wouldn't they? Hmmm. Maybe he's one of those I'm happy our recruitment team misssed or ignored.

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*Percival to his mum

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PPS - It's rare, not just at this level but even at one or two levels above us, but yesterday's refereeing crew were excellent in my opinion.
Let the players play and don't be the centre of attention.