Town Host Exeter Aiming to Confirm Promotion Friday, 28th Apr 2023 18:20 Town host Exeter City on Saturday afternoon knowing a victory over the Grecians will take them back into the Championship after four years in League One. The Blues go into the game second, a point behind leaders Plymouth and four in front of Sheffield Wednesday in third but with their remarkable goal difference of 60 effectively worth another point. Town need only two points from their final two games, with a trip to Fleetwood on the final day, to confirm promotion but will want the matter settled in front of a home sell-out Portman Road crowd of around 29,000 on Saturday. The Blues are in stunning form, having beaten fellow automatic promotion chasers Barnsley 3-0 at Oakwell on Tuesday, the latest in a succession of hugely impressive away wins against sides in League One’s upper reaches, taking their current streak to 12 wins in 13 matches during which time they’ve scored 37 goals while conceding only two. Town, whose last promotion was George Burley's Wembley 2000 success which took them into the Premier League, are still in with a shout of reaching 100 points and 100 goals, requiring wins from their final two matches and seven goals to achieve the two milestones. Elsewhere, Plymouth host Burton and Sheffield Wednesday are at Shrewsbury. Exeter are without a win in six and have lost their last five, a run which has seen them lose to most of the sides towards the top of the division - Bolton, Peterborough, Plymouth, Derby and last week a 2-1 reverse at Sheffield Wednesday in which the Owls had to come from behind and claim a late winner. Despite their winless streak, the Devon side are well clear of the relegation zone and sit 14th in the table in their first season back in League One following last season’s promotion having finished second in League Two. On their travels this season, the Grecians have won five, drawn six and lost 11 of their matches. Only six League One sides have conceded more than their total of 35 on the road during 2022/23, however, only seven teams have scored more away from home than their tally of 28.  Town boss Kieran McKenna knows the Devon club will come to Portman Road aiming to be party poopers. “Exactly. I'm pretty sure that [manager] Gary [Caldwell] will have a real sense of perspective on that,” he said. “They've had a good season, they've been competitive all season, they've picked up points against the big teams early in the season and against everybody, and they're finishing the season with a run of really difficult games. “But I know he's focusing on performances at the moment and the performances in all those games have been good. “In all the recent games they've been there or thereabouts in terms of chances, in terms of possession and in terms of all the things that he'd want to see in his team. I'm sure there are lots of things he'll be happy with. “We know that they are still competing and performing well. That was crystal clear in the game against Sheffield Wednesday last week, where I know they've gone away happy with the performance and actually feeling like they should have got points. “And we know that we're facing a team that is still preparing properly, still competing and will be looking to go and put on a performance and enjoy the game. “Of course, we need to go out and make it a really difficult game for them and make sure that with our intensity and the atmosphere and how we play, it's not an enjoyable game for them, and we make it a difficult one.”
Despite the size of the occasion and the importance of winning, McKenna says his players need to enjoy the game as it’s happening, not just at the end if and when it’s won. “Certainly, if we win the game, we'll enjoy it,” he said. “You have to let yourself enjoy it, but we plan to enjoy it before that. It's not about enjoying the end of the game, it's about enjoying the game. “We're going out there again as a manager, a staff and a group of players playing in front of 30,000 at a fantastic football stadium with a team that I think the town and the club can be proud of, and looking to go out and perform really well. “We've been performing really well and we say to the players all the time that these are moments to cherish in your career. “It's not always the case that you're at a club where there's such an affinity, where the spirit, the playing style and everything is pulling in the same direction. And we have to enjoy these things. “We're looking to enjoy the game and we know that means hard work, we know that means organisation, we know that means bringing our maximum intensity and concentration, but we enjoy that. “We enjoy the process of looking at Exeter, looking at their strengths, looking at what we have to do to stop them, where we think we can hurt them and then going out and trying to deliver performances. “We’re going to try and do that tomorrow. We’re going to enjoy that and if we do manage to get the result that we need, then we’ll certainly enjoy that part as well. But that comes after enjoying and working really hard to deliver the performance.” McKenna, who reported no new injuries at his pre-match press conference, is likely to stick with the same team which beat the Tykes so convincingly on Tuesday and which has become his first XI over recent weeks. Christian Walton will be in goal with local boys Harry Clarke and Luke Woolfenden in the backline alongside Cameron Burgess with Leif Davis on the left and Wes Burns wide on the right. Skipper Sam Morsy will be joined by Massimo Luongo in midfield with 27-goal top scorer Conor Chaplin and Nathan Broadhead behind striker George Hirst. Exeter boss Caldwell knows his side is in for a tough afternoon against a Blues side he believes are better than anyone else in the division by a distance. “It will take a lot of hard work, and a lot of detailed preparation,” he told his club’s official website. “Tactically we have to be ready to try and stop them in possession, but also look at when we have the ball and how we keep it and how we hurt them. “We're going to have to show bravery in both sides of the game. The stadium is going to be full and it is going to be a really difficult game. “Ipswich are by far the best team in the league. They will get promoted and I think they'll win the league, but as always we'll be ready and we'll give it a good go. “We have to play similarly to Sheffield Wednesday when we took advantage of the pressure their fans put them under, and we have to manage the game again.” Exeter have significant injury problems with Sam Nombe, Jay Stansfield, Demetri Mitchell, Kevin McDonald and James Scott all missing the trip to Hillsborough. Full-back Josh Key started up front and scored their goal. Historically, the Blues have won 12 of the 29 meetings between the sides (nine in the league), nine have ended in draws (eight in the league), while Exeter have won eight (six). In November, Freddie Ladapo and Marcus Harness were on target as Town beat the Grecians 2-0 at St James Park, the Blues’ seventh away win of the season. Ladapo gave Town the lead with a stooping header from a Harness knockdown in the 11th minute, then Harness sealed the three points with a flicked header from a Davis corner on 68. The teams last met at Portman Road in the Worthington Cup in August 1998 when the Blues won 5-1 via goals from Mick Stockwell, Mauricio Taricco, Matt Holland, Alex Mathie and Paul Mason in his final game for the club. The most recent league meetings prior to this season were back in the Blues’ 1956/57 Third Division South title-winning season under Sir Alf Ramsey. Town won 3-0 at home in the December with Doug Millward, John Elsworthy and Ted Phillips on target and 2-1 at St James Park in the April when Phillips added the second after Jimmy Leadbetter had netted the Blues’ first. Midfielder Rekeem Harper is currently on loan with the Grecians but is ineligible for Saturday’s match. The 22-year-old has made 16 starts and seven sub appearances this season, scoring once.
Saturday’s referee is Scott Oldham from Poulton-le-Fylde who has shown 118 yellow cards and two red in 35 games so far this season. Oldham’s last Town match was the 2-1 FA Cup replay defeat at Burnley in February in which he yellow-carded Hirst, Chaplin, Sone Aluko and two Clarets. Before that, he took control of the 2-1 defeat at Plymouth in September last year in which he booked George Edmundson, Morsy, Lee Evans and Marcus Harness. He was also the man in the middle for the 0-0 draw at Oxford in November 2021 in which he again booked Morsy, Bailey Clements and one member of the home side. Prior to that, he was in charge of the 4-1 defeat at Doncaster in October 2020 in which he awarded Rovers a penalty after Toto Nsiala felled Josh Sims. He also yellow-carded the centre-half as well as James Wilson and Andre Dozzell. Oldham also refereed the 1-0 home defeat to Oxford in February 2020 in which he red-carded Kayden Jackson for a stamp on visitors’ defender Rob Dickie in the final minute and booked Woolfenden, Luke Garbutt and one U’s player. He also took charge of the 1-0 win at Rochdale in November 2019 in which he yellow-carded only James Norwood. Squad from: Walton, Hladky, Clarke, Donacien, Woolfenden, Keogh, Burgess, Burns, Jackson, Vincent-Young, Davis, Leigh, Morsy, Luongo, Ball, Humphreys, Camara, Chaplin, Broadhead, Harness, Edwards, Aluko, Ladapo, Hirst.
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