BIG MATCH PREVIEW: Swindon Town V Exeter City

All you need to know ahead of Saturday

4 February 2022

Swindon Town will be on the hunt for a huge three points when they take on Exeter City at The County Ground on Saturday.

Ben Garner's team take on The Grecians in the EFL Sky Bet League Two tomorrow - 3pm Kick-Off - with a win of the utmost importance for both teams.

Allow us to get you set for Saturday's game...

LAST TIME WE MET

Two goals from Tyler Smith and a Matt Palmer strike were not enough as Town suffered a 4-3 defeat to Exeter City in the Group Stages of the EFL Trophy on October, 6th, 2020.

LAST FIVE

Season / Date	Competition	Result	Town Scorers
2020-21 - 6 Oct (H)	EFL Trophy	3-4	T Smith (2), Palmer
2019-20 - 1 Feb (H)	Sky Bet League Two	2-1	Collins (OG), Hope
2019-20 - 17 Aug (A)	Sky Bet League Two	1-1	Doyle
2018-19 - 1 Jan (H)	Sky Bet League Two	0-2
2018-19 - 13 Oct (A)	Sky Bet League Two	2-0

FULL RECORD V EXETER CITY

P	W	D	L	F	A
119	51	33	35	200	162

TICKET NEWS

There will be no ticket sales on the day on Saturday.

Town fans can, however, buy tickets online NOW and up until kick-off tomorrow by clicking RIGHT HERE.

TEAM NEWS

Josh Davison could be available after scan results on his hamstring were positive, while Mathieu Baudry is now available after a long lay-off.

Defender Akin Odimayo is also fine and Deadline Day signing, Joe Tomlinson, could make his debut, but tomorrow will come too soon for Jack Payne.

A WORD FROM BOTH CAMPS

Ben Garner, Swindon Town Head Coach: "I expect a tough test and I think it will be a good game.

"They've got a good squad, they have been a really well run club for a number of years now, Matt Taylor has done a good job since taking over and they are capable of passing the ball well.

"I saw them not long ago against Forest Green live, they were very good on the night and deserved to win, and I've watched a lot of them this week.

"They can certainly punish on the counter-attack, they've got players who can do that very, very quickly and with quality, so we need to be aware of that, we need to have good security behind the ball when we attack, and we need to press well when they've got the ball because they can pass well and they can open teams up.

"It would be lovely (to extend the gap in the table over Exeter). We want the win."

Matt Taylor, Exeter City Manager: "It is great to see the feel good factor back at Swindon after everything they have been through.

"We have said today that you want to play in front of good crowds on a good pitch. Our away fans travel so well and I know they will be well supported as well. It feels like a bigger game even though there are still 19 or 20 games to go this season because of where the two teams are in the table.

"Both sets of fans will be going there with certain expectations."

ELSEWHERE IN SKY BET LEAGUE TWO

Harrogate Town v Bradford City (1pm)

Barrow v Tranmere Rovers (3pm)

Crawley Town v Stevenage (3pm)

Forest Green Rovers v Newport County (3pm)

Leyton Orient v Colchester United (3pm)

Rochdale v Carlisle United (3pm)

Salford City v Port Vale (3pm)

Scunthorpe United v Oldham Athletic (3pm)

Sutton United v Bristol Rovers (3pm)

Walsall v Northampton Town (3pm)

OFFICIALS

Referee - Darren Drysdale

Assistant Referee - Leigh Crowhurst

Assistant Referee - Andrew Aylott

Fourth Official - Andy Bennet

FOLLOW THE ACTION LIVE

Not at The County Ground on Saturday? Don’t panic because there are numerous ways to keep up to date with all the action.

Live updates will be available on our Twitter and Facebook pages, in addition to our Match Centre on the website, which can be found at the top of the home page on matchdays.

In the wake of the game, https://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/ will be the place to go with a full report, reaction and pictures available to view and read through shortly after the final whistle.

Match Reports

MATCH REPORT: Swindon Town 1-2 Exeter City

Reds suffer late heartbreak

5 February 2022

Swindon Town suffered late, late heartbreak after losing 2-1 to Exeter City in the EFL Sky Bet League Two at The County Ground this afternoon.

Following what was a scoreless first-half, the impressive Joe Tomlinson gave the Reds a well-deserved lead just shy of the hour mark.

However, Jevani Brown's stunning effort made it a tied game late in the second-half, and Timothee Dieng struck moments later to gift Exeter a big three points.

Town Head Coach Ben Garner made three changes as Joe Tomlinson came in to make his debut, while there were also starts for Akin Odimayo and Jonny Williams.

Dion Conroy wasn't in the matchday squad, with Rob Hunt taking on the Captain's Armband, and both Ellis Iandolo and Ryan East dropped to the bench.

Louis Reed served the first of a two-game suspension, and there was also a welcome return to the fray for Mathieu Baudry, who recovered from a long injury lay-off.

It was a lively start to the game with attacking football looking to be the main dish of the day for both teams, and there was plenty of early action.

Exeter had a spell of pressure but were unable to make it count, while Harry McKirdy latched onto a long clearance at the other end, but his shot from a tight angle crashed into the side netting.

Jonny Williams gave the ball to Joe Tomlinson, who dug it out from under his feet, before unleashing a shot towards goal, but Cameron Dawson was able to gather in the away goal.

Tomlinson was impressing on his debut and he came close again after being found inside the box, cutting in before curling a shot inches over the bar.

He was continuing to cause problems as he latched onto a back-heel from McKirdy before whipping in a superb cross which just evaded a teammate.

Jake Caprice was teed up by Jevani Brown before curling a shot into the arms of Jojo Wollacott for the visitors, before Kieran Phillips glanced a header just wide.

And that proved to be it for the first-half with nothing separating the two teams at the break, with all to play for in the second-half.

HALF-TIME: SWINDON TOWN 0-0 EXETER CITY

Town started the second-half the better of the two teams and they nearly took the lead thanks to some typical McKirdy magic.

The forward took the ball and charged towards goal, weaving his way through the visiting backline like a hot knife through butter, before drawing a superb stop from Dawson.

And Town took the lead just shy of the hour mark, with Tomlinson cutting in before unleashing a low strike into the bottom corner to cap off what was a superb debut.

Wollacott then had to be alert in order to push an absolute pile-driver from Timothee Dieng onto the bar as the visitors looked to muster up a quick response.

Town made their first change of the afternoon as Ellis Iandolo replaced Jordan Lyden, before another quickly followed with Josh Davison making way for Louie Barry.

Matt Jay had a couple of chances with the visitors pressing, but he could only fire a shot at Wollacott before his glanced header was also claimed by the Town keeper.

But Exeter did restore parity late on, thanks to Jevani Brown who unleashed an unstoppable strike past Wollacott from distance.

And the Grecians were not done there, either, as they took the lead moments later with Dieng's low strike from the edge of the box nestling into the back of the net.

Town tried to go all out by replacing Akin Odimayo with Jayden Mitchell-Lawson in stoppage time, while Wollacott pulled off a good save to deal with Jay's bullet of a shot.

And that proved to be that with two late goals inflicting late heartbreak on Town who looked to be in control, while Exeter left Wiltshire with a huge three points.

FINAL SCORE: SWINDON TOWN 1-2 EXETER CITY

TEAMS AND STATS

SWINDON TOWN - Wollacott; Odimayo (Jayden Mitchell-Lawson 90), Gladwin, Lyden (Ellis Iandolo 66), Davison (Louie Barry 70), McKirdy, Cooper, O'Brien, Williams, Tomlinson, Hunt (C).

SUBS NOT USED - Ward, Baudry, East, Aguiar.

SCORERS - Joe Tomlinson (57).

EXETER CITY - Dawson; Key, Sweeney (Josh Coley 77) Stubbs, Diabate, Caprice (Jack Sparkes 73), Collins, Dieng, Jay (C), J. Brown, Phillips (Sam Nombe 61).

SUBS NOT USED - S.Brown, Grounds, Atangana, Taylor.

SCORERS - Jevani Brown (84), Timothee Dieng (90).

Referee - Darren Drysdale.

Attendance - 10,642 (1,260 Away Fans).