Next Up: Exeter City vs Stockport County
City returned to winning ways with a hard-fought 2-1 victory at Barnsley on Tuesday night, although it came at a price as Ryan Trevitt pulled up with what appeared to be a hamstring injury late on. With the games coming thick and fast Gary Caldwell will be hoping for a good prognosis about Trevitt especially as he and Ed Francis appear to have formed a decent partnership in the middle. With a number of other players missing out recently, especially Ryan Woods, Caldwell’s options in this position are starting to look limited, with one of Reece Cole, Jack McMillan, Kevin McDonald or Caleb Watts likely to deputise. Caldwell will also want to show that his side is capable of mixing it with the big spenders of the division, having looked like a rabbit in headlights in matches against the likes of Wrexham, Birmingham and Charlton – and indeed the reverse of this fixture.
Having dropped into the depths of the sixth tier for a few seasons, Stockport are back at a level their supporters would suggest is where they should be – and like Wrexham, with ambitions to go further. The deep pockets are in evidence by the fact that while City were this week announcing a profit for 23/24, Stockport announced losses that were roughly in line with City’s total turnover from their League Two promotion season. Manager Dave Challinor made only one permanent signing in the January window in Owen Moxon, who was a creative force in Carlisle’s unlikely promotion in ’23 and made a number of appearances for Portsmouth in the Championship in the first half of the season, while Brad Hills has settled in to the side on loan from Norwich. It was thought the Hatters might struggle after losing their talisman Louie Barry, who was recalled from his loan in order to go up a level to Hull, but in fact the reverse has happened with Stockport losing just twice in 2025 so far, to Cambridge and recently to Wrexham. Barry’s 15 league goals still has him well out in front as top scorer, with Isaac Olaofe and Kyle Wootton both in double figures overall but with eight in the league.
The reverse fixture saw City produce a tepid display in going down 2-0, although in a similar situation to Wrexham last week the goals were an OG (Crama) and a penalty (Barry). Stockport’s last visit to SJP saw something of a surprise result as doomed County left with all three points thanks to a goal from Jemal Johnson. In fact, Stockport are unbeaten in their last four visits to the Park (including an FA Cup match in 2006) going back to a 2-1 win for City in 1991. Stockport’s win in December saw them draw level in league head to heads (19 wins apiece) while nine matches have finished level.
The match officials for this game will be:-
Referee: Ben Speedie.
Assistant Referees: Conall Bartlett and Dean Treleaven
Fourth Official: Ross Martin
Ben Speedie last took charge of an Exeter game in January, which City lost 2-1 to Bolton. So far this season Ben SPeedie has taken charge of 37 games, showing 110 yellows and sending two players off.
Interview with Gary Caldwell
Interview with Caleb Watts