Next Up: Wigan Athletic vs Exeter City
City were made to rue their frailty from set pieces on Tuesday night with two of Luton’s goals coming from these, although the less said about the award of the penalty the better (let’s just call it “dubious”), although City did look good going forward and went toe to toe with big-spending Luton in the 2-3 defeat. That loss has, however, dropped Matt Taylor’s side perilously close to the drop zone ahead of a trip that carries extra weight not just in the relegation battle but because of events over the last month or so. Once again there was good news on the injury front with Johnly Yfeko starting at Luton, and if he can stay fit (a big “if” given his issues over his time at City), he is set to play a big role in City’s battle for survival. In addition Reece Cole scored while Timur Tutierov played a key role in City’s attacking play, hopefully suggesting their injury problems could be behind them. Taylor has also suggested that Ryan Rydel could be in line for a return.
Until around a month ago this would have been just another fixture in the calendar, albeit with plenty riding on it given the clubs’ positions. Then Wigan sacked Ryan Lowe, before Gary Caldwell decided the lure of a club he was well-remembered both as a player and as a manager was too much to withstand, and he and David Perkins went back to Lancashire. In the seven matches he has been in charge at the Latics Caldwell has seen just two defeats (somewhat ironically one being against some mob from Cornwall), while their three wins have been against fancied Luton, Huddersfield and Bradford. Loanee Joe Taylor, who tore up this division with Lincoln a couple of seasons back, has been on fire under Caldwell with five goals in six matches (he missed the other match against his parent club, Huddersfield), and he has eight goals since joining on loan in mid-January. Those goals have proved a welcome boost for Wigan who had struggled in front of goal all season (three players each have four goals including Paul Mullin). One player who will expect to feature is former City skipper Will Aimson, but he won’t be joined by ex-loanee Ryan Trevitt, who succumbed to another long-term injury in September and hasn’t played since. Also missing will be Callum Wright, sent off in Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw with Barnsley.
Wright was Wigan’s scorer in the reverse fixture to give the visitors the half time advantage before Jayden Wareham equalised in the second half. That was the third successive draw in this fixture – last season’s match at Wigan finishing 0-0 – and extended City’s unbeaten run against the Latics to four matches. City have yet to lose at the Brick Community Stadium, the last defeat away to Wigan being at Springfield Park back in 1996. Wigan do, however, continue to maintain a healthy league head to head lead in this fixture with eleven wins to City’s four, six matches finishing level.
The match officials for this game will be:-
Referee: Edward Duckworth
Assistant Referees: Grant Taylor and Anthony Moore
Fourth Official : William Davis
Ed Duckworth took charge of Exeter’s game away at Northampton earlier this season with the Grecians lost 2-0. He booked four players that afternoon, all City players. He’s taken charge of 31 games this season, booking 120 players sending off seven.
Interview with Matt Taylor
Interview with Josh Magennis