“Things are going against us but we have to get over that, no excuses, we have to work harder to get back to the form which we showed early season,”
Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell has urged the players to come out fighting on Saturday to put an end to the poor run of recent form. After topping the table in the early stages of the League One season, the Grecians are down to tenth place now after three successive defeats and four in the last five.
City’s only points in the last five outings have come in a scrappy 1-0 win at home to bottom of the table Cheltenham Town – who still haven’t a scored goal in 11 matches this season. Tuesday night at Charlton Athletic looked like a much improved Exeter performance after James Scott put them ahead, only for moments and decisions to go against City.
A sloppy goal conceded on the stroke of half-time made it 1-1, before a controversial penalty put the Addicks ahead, and then Will Aimson was sent-off for a lunge, a decision which has since been rescinded by the FA. The game ran away from the Grecians as they were beaten 4-1 in a result that didn’t reflect the performance.
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Barnsley are the visitors to St James Park on Saturday. The Tykes began the season with a 7-0 win over Port Vale, followed up that with four games without a win, but have since recovered a rallied and sit fourth in the table. Away from home they have picked up 13 points from 15.
But one, if not the best, performances of the Caldwell era at SJP came against Barnsley last season. On a Tuesday night in March, City were imperious in a 3-1 win and the spirit of that night needs to be repeated at the weekend to get Exeter back to winning ways.
“Things are going against us but we have to get over that, no excuses, we have to work harder to get back to the form which we showed early season,” Caldwell said. “We are doing a lot right, not too much going wrong, but key things which we were doing consistently and at the moment not getting the moments right.
“Barnsley had an amazing start but didn’t follow it up but they have got it going now. We have to be prepared but ready to show us at our very best. The main thing is we recover as a group and get together and understand what to win the game and come out fighting.
Gary Caldwell, Manager of Exeter City applauds the travelling supporters following the Sky Bet EFL League One match between Charlton Athletic and Exeter City at The Valley, Greenwich, London on Tuesday 3rd October 2023. Photo: James Whitehead/PPAUKCity will at least have Aimson available after the FA overturned the suspension of the skipper for his ‘joke’ red card for a foul on Alfie May. While in real time you could be forgiven to thinking why referee David Rock pulled out the red card, replays show clearly there was no contact with the Charlton striker and that the decision was 100 per cent the wrong one.
“I am happy and frustrated at the same time,” Caldwell said of the FA’s decision after the appeal. “It was clearly not a red card but we cannot get Tuesday night back and that was a big turning point in the game, as was the penalty kick, which I felt was soft, so moments which went against us, but thankfully there is no further punishment.”
Aimson’s availability will be key for City especially with a series of injuries in defensive areas. Jack Fitzwater limped off on Tuesday night and is almost certain to miss out at the weekend, while Pierce Sweeney is managing a long term hip injury. Cheick Diabate is another on the treatment table with his foot injury so had Aimson been out, it would have posed Caldwell selection headaches at the back.
Whether anyone else will be back to fitness remains unclear. Caleb Watts might be back, but striker Admiral Muskwe, who was only featured once since his Deadline Day loan move from Luton Town, is likely to once again be unavailable on Saturday.
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