As one cup run comes to an end, Exeter City will be looking to launch another one, when Wigan Athletic come to St James Park on Saturday afternoon. The Grecians host their League One rivals in the first round of the FA Cup as they look to get back to winning ways after a winless October.

It is now eight games since City tasted victory, that coming when Premier League Luton Town were vanquished in the Carabao Cup. Since then, Gary Caldwell’s men have played eight times, and lost seven of them.

The 3-2 defeat on Tuesday night to Championship side Middlesbrough ended hopes of making history and reaching the last eight of the competition for the first time. That was an impressive performance where they more than matched the higher ranked side, but City know that they need to start winning some of these games.

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When the Latics came to St James Park in the league a fortnight ago, they somehow came away with a 2-0 win in a game that the Grecians completely dominated. City will be hoping for a different outcome on Saturday and to end the winless run and book their spot in the second round draw.

“We’ve got something to build on having got the point against Lincoln and probably deserved to win, and having almost taken Middlesbrough all the way,” assistant manager Kevin Nicholson said. “It’s all about trying to beat Wigan now. I think it would be fair to say when we played a few weeks ago, we had all the play, all the shots, all the efforts, and to get beat 2-0 when they had that probably tells you pretty much the story of the game.

“I would say we were proud of how we played, but they came away with the result. I don’t think their manager would willingly come down here and sit back and have 30 shots against him in that game, and I certainly don’t think he’ll want to do that this time around. He’ll want to come here and he’ll want to win.

“I’m sure there were some mixed feelings all around after that first game. In terms of results and performances, it’s up to us to stick to our process, understand our job and then go and do our job. And at the end of that, more often than not, you’ll get the result you want.

“We’ve had a poor run and we’ve got to do better. The month of October was not good enough. And we’re grateful that the fans have stood by us as well as they have. We had some great highs in the first six weeks and then some disappointment throughout the last month. But it’s behind us.

“We need to get a win back under our belts after a while. October, as I said, was not good enough, and we need to make sure that we get back to the levels that we know we can get to. We showed that throughout August and September. We need to go out there, to go through our process, understand our roles and our jobs, go out and execute to win the game and then we move on to whatever’s next.”

Wigan of course won the FA Cup ten years in 2013, the season that the Latics lost their Premier League status. Caldwell was part of the squad that won the FA Cup in 2013, and will be keen to impress on the group the value of a cup run. While perhaps at the top level, the FA Cup may have lost a bit of its magic, for clubs like Exeter, the competition remains as important as ever, and Nicholson said that the focus is 100 per cent of getting through to the next round.

“I think every player, every manager, anyone that’s been involved loves the FA Cup,” he said. “The romance that comes with it and the history, but we’ve got to put all that to one side, and we’ve got to just concentrate on winning a game of football

“That’s the reality of the situation. All the romance, all the history, that’s for the fans to revel in, and we want to give them those experiences and we want to be a part of it with them. From our point of view, we’re in a position to prepare to go out there and know our job and do our job and win a game of football.”

City’s task though may be made harder by an ever growing injury list. The Grecians could only name seven substitutes of the nine allowed on Tuesday and again might find it a challenge to fill the bench at the weekend