Next Up: Birmingham City vs Exeter City

City will have welcomed the fact that their scheduled league match with Mansfield on Tuesday night was postponed given the lasting euphoria of last week’s stunning 3-1 win over Oxford and the draw pairing Gary Caldwell’s side up against the Premier League’s surprise package. Before Nottingham Forest visit next month, however, there is the small matter of arguably City’s most difficult league fixture of the season. Caldwell has a new toy in the shape of Cardiff loanee Joel Colwill, who impressed on loan at Cheltenham in the first half of the season before switching up a division. Amani Richards, however, has gone back to Leicester after struggling to break into the first team, while City’s defensive plans have been thrown into turmoil following Brentford’s recall of Tristan Crama. Assuming Ben Purrington and Pierce Sweeney aren’t ready to return this could open the door for Cheick Diabate to return to the side following the ending of his loan at Bradford. At the time of writing another uncertainty surrounds Caleb Watts, who has become an integral part of the City midfield but whose contract expires after the Birmingham match.

If City are to build on their win last week, they will have to be the first team to record a league win at St Andrews this season – Birmingham’s only home defeat was 0-2 to Fulham in the EFL Cup. Given the financial backing of the US investors including NFL legend Tom Brady, that Chris Davies’ side is top of the league with two games in hand is not a surprise, and to pick just one or two players as ones to watch is a difficult job. However, the blues will be sweating on the fitness of City favourite Jay Stansfield, who hasn’t featured since New Year’s Day, although Alfie May isn’t exactly a bad deputy, both players now in double figures for league goals. Unlike City, Birmingham were in action in midweek, beating Swindon in the EFL Trophy to move closer to a double in what is likely to be their only season in the third tier for the foreseeable future. Another player hoping to feature will be Luke Harris, who enjoyed a fruitful loan spell in the second half of last season.

The sides were paired twice in the space of a couple of weeks in late November and early December thanks to the initial league fixture being postponed and the EFL Trophy drawing them together. On both occasions at the Park Birmingham emerged victorious. The league fixture was only clinched 2-0 through a late Stansfield penalty after Iwata gave the visitors an early lead, but in truth this was a very one-sided affair. City were far more competitive in the EFL Trophy fixture – Birmingham led through Harris but City drew level through Pierce Sweeney scoring directly from a corner before Keshi Anderson clinched the win in the second half. City’s last visit to St Andrews was in the 99/00 League Cup and the hosts won 3-0, while the last league fixture between the sides at St Andrews finished 1-0 in November 1991. City’s only point in five league fixtures was a 1-1 draw at St Andrews in 1990.

The match officials for this game will be:-

Referee: Elliot Bell
Assistant Referees: Jacob Graham and Alistair Nelson
Fourth Official : Scott Tallis

Elliot Bell took charge of our away game against Huddersfield which City lost 2-0. So far this season he’s taken charge of 25 games, showing 100 yellow cards and issuing 5 red cards.

Interview with Gary Caldwell

Interview with Joe Whitworth