'Things have gone backwards' - What Bristol Rovers can expect from relegation-threatened Exeter

Devon Live's Exeter City correspondent Daniel Clark gave the lowdown on Exeter City ahead of the Grecians' trip to the Mem on Tuesday night

It'll be act one of two for Bristol Rovers and Exeter City on Tuesday night as the two sides come up against each other at the Mem before facing off for a second time within 12 days at St. James Park on February 3.

Of course, there will be plenty of discussion ahead of both matches regarding Rovers manager Matt Taylor due to his lengthy association with Exeter as a player, coach and eventually manager with the 41-year-old guiding the Devon club into League One in 2022.

Last season was a commendable 14th place finish for Gary Caldwell's side after Taylor had left that October to take up the vacancy at Championship side Rotherham United but this campaign has seemingly proven to be tougher to navigate through as Exeter go into Tuesday night's match 20th in the league table, four points clear of the relegation zone. However, 21st place Reading have a game in hand.

For the Gas, this will be seen by many as must-win, regardless of ambitions for the season, as Taylor's side look to get back on track after starting 2024 off with four defeats in five, particularly given how well they rounded off 2023.

But what can we expect from Exeter on Tuesday evening? Bristol Live spoke to our sister title Devon Live's Exeter City correspondent Daniel Clark for more insight on all things Grecians.

After finishing 14th in their first season back in League One last year, what was the expectation going into this campaign?

I think a similar kind of campaign and finish would have been the expectation and target this season, especially given the huge amount of changes over the summer with a significant core of the players who played last season departing and plenty of new faces being brought in. The good start to the season perhaps raised expectations higher than they should have been, but equally, I don’t think sitting in 20th is quite where the side should be either. Injuries have been a killer, as have several poor refereeing decisions, and individual mistakes. But as we can’t score goals, and the inability to replace any of goals that Sam Nombe, Jevani Brown and Jay Stansfield scored last season, things have gone backwards.

Results have seemed to pick up over the last month but Exeter still sit dangerously close to the relegation zone, has belief picked up a bit lately that they can survive after a terrible winless run?

Some of the performances have been better and defensively as well we have improved and have stopped giving away completely needless goals, although it seems that almost every minor lapse seems to get punished. There is a still a bit of belief lacking and conviction in front of goal isn’t there, and the away form has been awful for a while now and needs sorting out. But there isn’t the sense that relegation is what is expected and the squad is good enough to stay up if they can start scoring goals. The fact that more than 10 per cent of our league goals were scored by 3.04pm on the opening day is a problem.

Which players have impressed/who should Rovers look out for?

Sonny Cox has come back from his loan spell at Yeovil Town looking like a different player. He is much stronger, fitter, sharper and is able to lead the line in the absence of a more senior striker to help him out. Luke Harris who has arrived on loan from Fulham looks to have that extra bit of quality to try and open up defences but also get stuck in and help out defensively. Dion Rankine has the pace and trickery to threaten defences, but at times, his end product isn’t quite there consistently enough yet.

What formation does Gary Caldwell tend to use and can you give us a prediction of the line up?

City tend to play with a notional 3-5-2/3-4-3 system, although plenty of the players can swap positions and move around and swap formations during the game. It has mainly been a back three this season, with two in the centre of midfield, two ‘number 10s’ and a striker, but with quite a few of those players drifting around.

I imagine the side will be similar to the one that played at the weekend, although Dion Rankine will probably return to the starting line-up, as I suspect will Reece Cole – with probably Yanic Wildschut and maybe Jack Aitchison or Ilmari Niskanen dropping to the bench.

Any key players missing or in the frame to return?

There are players coming back from injury, although whether any of them will be fit enough to be involved, remains to be seen. Will Aimson and Harry Kite were back on the bench at the weekend, while Vincent Harper, Jack Fitzwater and Caleb Watts all got minutes in a friendly last week. Dion Rankine and Reece Cole were both only subs at the weekend as they were carrying knocks, so could return to the starting line-up.

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What have you made of Bristol Rovers as an outsider so far this season and how do you see the match going?

It seems to have a been a bit of an up and down season for Rovers and obviously, and thankfully, they finally got rid of Joey Barton. We’ve kept an eye on results with Matt Taylor having been appointed as well – and a lot of the quotes from him post-match etc. are very similar to what he was saying while at City. In terms of the game, it’s one that I think Exeter can get something from, but the away form has been bad for a long time, and have said that about plenty of games only to come away with nothing. We’ll take a 1-1 draw I think and edge closer to moving away from the relegation zone.