Next Up: Burton Albion vs Exeter City

City’s brutal run of fixtures ended in defeat to Barnsley with signs that the poor run has taken its toll on team morale amidst harsh words being spoken in the dressing room. Gary Caldwell will have been looking to the Christmas period as a time to get back on track with the next three matches being against sides down near the bottom, although he will need to be aware of the new manager bounce on Saturday. In terms of personnel Caldwell is gradually returning towards full strength – Pat Jones the latest to get some pitch time as the summer signing from Huddersfield got 30 minutes in the Premier League Cup victory over Bromley on Wednesday night. Johnly Yfeko has been a big miss in defence and City had been targeting Christmas for him to return, but this may be optimistic.

Burton, it’s safe to say, have had a shocker of a first half of the season, culminating in a change of manager which saw Gary Bowyer placed in charge on Wednesday. The Brewers have picked up only their second win of the season at the start of the December with a shock 1-0 win away to under-performing Peterborough, but that was one of only two goals scored since mid-November – the other being in a 1-1 draw in the FA Cup against local rivals Tamworth which the National League club won on penalties. Given City’s own malaise in front of goal this may present good odds in the “both teams to score” market! Having signed up half of City’s squad in 23/24, just one of those players remains with Kegs Chauke featuring on a semi-regular basis. Elsewhere Danilo Orsi, the former Crawley player, represents the main goal threat with seven goals in all competitions (six league).

Having lost both fixtures in 22/23, City gained revenge last season with a pair of 1-0 wins. The corresponding fixture saw City win with a goal deep into the second half from Ryan Trevitt before Steve Seddon saw red for the hosts late on. There was also a red card at the Park when Zak Jules was sent off at half time for an altercation as the sides left the pitch with City up 1-0 through Reece Cole, but City held on for the win. That win closed the league head to head gap to 10-7 in Burton’s favour, three matches finishing level.

The match officials for this game will be:-

Referee: Seb Stockbridge
Assistant Referees: Ollie Williams and Christopher Husband
Fourth Official : Elliott Swallow

We’ve not seen Seb Stockbridge take charge of an Exeter City game since August 2022, when City drew 0-0 away at Accrington. So far this season, Stockbridge has refereed 16 games, issuing 60 yellow cards and brandishing 3 red cards.

Pre-match interview with Gary Caldwell

Pre-match interview with Ryan Woods