Match preview: Fleetwood Town v Exeter City

31 March 2023

Fleetwood Town are at home for the second game in a row this weekend as they face Exeter City in a bid to extend their unbeaten record to four games on Saturday.

Fixture: Fleetwood Town v Exeter City

Competition: Sky Bet League One

Date (kick-off): Saturday 1 April (3pm)

Venue: Highbury Stadium

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Fleetwood Town

Scott Brown’s side have been in good form recently as they go into the game at the weekend on the back of two successive victories against Derby County and Lincoln City and have picked up seven points from a possible nine in the last three fixtures.

Looking back at the most recent game, the win against the Imps, it was a brilliant performance from front to back with everyone putting in a shift to ensure the points would stay at Highbury on that afternoon. The scoring was opened by an own goal by Adam Jackson, at the detest of Jayden Stockley, but the forward did manage to grab one as his diving header ended up being the winner.

Before that, it was possibly the biggest result in the club’s nine-season stint in League One as the Cods not only beat Derby County on their first visit to Pride Park, they made sure they would come out winners in the 2-0 victory in Derbyshire. Yet again, Stockley was denied a goal as it went in of Joe Wildsmith, but Carlos Mendes Gomes’ solo run put the game out of sight for the Rams.

Exeter City

It’s no secret that Gary Caldwell’s Grecians are in red-hot form as well, having won four of their last six games in League One and scored eight goals in their latest wins against Accrington Stanley and promotion-chasing Barnsley respectively in the last seven days.

In the game against fourth-place, Barnsley, it was going to be a tough home tie, with the Tykes having beaten second-place Sheffield Wednesday the week before, and Jay Stansfield was on hand to open the scoring 26 minutes in to put them a goal to the good. Second-half strikes from Harry Kite and Sam Nombe added to the afternoon as they walked away 3-1 winners from that one.

They faced another Lancashire side exactly a week before the scheduled trip to Highbury and what a day it was for them as they put five past Accrington at St James Park. In a dominating performance, which saw Demetri Mitchell break the deadlock, Josh Key, Nombe, James Scott, and Stansfield all got in the action, leaving Stanley in the relegation zone in 21^st.

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What the gaffer had to say…

Head coach Scott Brown spoke to the media on Thursday afternoon and looked ahead to his side’s upcoming Sky Bet League One clash against Exeter City at Highbury – he had this to say:

“We don’t want to get too carried away, we’re going to carry on taking it one game at a time, and for us, we are looking towards Exeter at the weekend. They are on a great run of form and had a fantastic result against Barnsley in the week and it was a good performance from them as well.

“It’ll be fine coming up against Gary [Caldwell] as we’ve got great respect for each other; I know him well, so I know he’ll have his team working hard as they’ll be organised. I’ve seen a couple of changes in formation from them, so he’s got them ticking over, they’re playing some attractive football, but are also picking up points too.

“Today’s session was well prepared, and the lads did well considering we’ve been chopping and changing formations, we like to keep the lads on their toes, but also like them to have that understanding of two different formations that we can jump in and out of – we can’t drop our standards, we need to maintain the tempo we have been doing.”

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iFollow information from the Grecians clash

With Exeter being one of the most in-form teams in the country at the moment, and Town boasting a three-match unbeaten streak, it’s set to be a brilliant fixture for supporters and we’re sure you won’t want to miss it.

On our official iFollow, we have two matchday packages available for our worldwide audience, but only one for those UK-based supporters due to the broadcasting rights of prime time 3pm kick-offs.

Overseas supporters have a choice to either purchase an exclusive Video Match Pass for the fixture for £10, with all supporters able to listen to the game live with an Audio Match Pass for just £2.50 – buy your iFollow passes HERE!

Commentary for both streaming services is being provided by our Club Partners, BBC Radio Lancashire, as Phil Gittins will be watching the game from the press box, feeding all the information back to the supporters.

If you want to view these passes or even the seasonal ones which will run until our clash against Ipswich Town at the start of May, click HERE – make sure you don’t miss anything from Fleetwood Town from now until the end of the season!

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Match Previews

Match Reports

Report: Town take a point from in-form side Exeter at home

1 April 2023

Fleetwood Town were penned back right at the death by visitors Exeter City as they had to settle for a 2-2 draw at Highbury.

It was a brilliant afternoon for Jack Marriott as he led the line for the Cods and managed to pick up a brace along the way, even though goals from Kevin McDonald and Pierce Sweeney meant the points would have to be shared in the end.

The first chance of the game came just after 60 seconds a cross came in from the left wing for the visitors, which found the head of Josh Key at the back post, whose effort was cleverly saved by Jay Lynch – the keeper was called into action again a minute later to stop Jay Stansfield’s low shot.

It was Town’s time to take control of the game as Shaun Rooney was unlucky not to convert a slick move started by Josh Earl before Fleetwood’s right-back picked out Marriott on the edge of the box and he saw his driven effort go just wide of the mark at the quarter-hour mark.

In the 19^th minute, the deadlock was broken by Scott Brown’s side as a good pass found him 20-yards out and with all the work to do, he dribbled past his marker and placed the ball straight into the bottom-left corner of the goal past Jamal Blackman.

Just 10 minutes later, the game was brought back to level terms as a corner kick was played short to Archie Collins, who lobbed a pass towards the back post, which was played back across the face of goal to McDonald as he passed it into the net from inside the six-yard area.

Scott Brown’s lads went into the break back in the lead and it was Marriott who found the back of the net once again. It was incredible pace shown by Harvey Macadam to make the chance as he stormed past his marker, and played a low cross to the forward, who was able to just tap home.

With the first chance of the second half, some controversy came over Highbury as Jayden Stockley rose highest to meet Phoenix Patterson’s corner and nod it into the back of the net, but to the bemusement of everyone in the stadium, the goal was disallowed for an unknown reason.

Town’s number nine carried on his aerial dominance soon after as in the 65^th minute, he got on the end of another Patterson ball into the box, but this time, his effort went the wrong side of the crossbar from inside the six-yard box.

Another big chance came with 14 minutes to go as Macadam did well to play Stockley through and even though his shot was going off target, it was almost a calamity moment for the visitors as Pierce Sweeney was inches off putting the ball into the back of his own net.

With Sweeney then pulling off a last-ditch block to prevent Marriott from getting his hat-trick for the afternoon, he ended up making a difference down the other end of the pitch as he managed to convert a set-piece in added time to make the game 2-2, meaning the points would be shared.

Town XI: Lynch (GK), Wiredu (Johnston 53’), Vela (C), Stockley, Marriott, Warrington, Holgate, Patterson (Batty 83’), Rooney (Ndaba 60’), Macadam (Hayes 83’), Earl.

Unused subs: McMullan (GK), D.Johnson, Quitirna.

Exeter XI: Blackman (GK), Hartridge, Mitchell (Chauke 90+2’), Collins, Stansfield (Sparkes 72’), Nombe, Key, Aimson (C), Kite (White 46’), Sweeney, McDonald (Scott 66’).

Unused subs: Lee (GK), Harper, Grounds.

Match Reports

Ticket News

Watch Exeter City's first trip to Highbury in 10 years on Saturday

30 March 2023

Fleetwood Town will be looking to continue their recent run of form as Exeter City come to town for the first time in 10 years to play at Highbury on Saturday.

The Cods have risen up the table in recent weeks after picking up seven points from a potential nine in the last three games, and Scott Brown will be hoping for another win in the books at the weekend as they eye a spot in the top half of the table before the end of the season.

In the last couple of weeks, the side has managed to overcome promotion chasing side Derby County on their first-ever visit to Pride Park, with Carlos Mendes Gomes adding onto an earlier own goal in that 2-0 win, before Town returned to Highbury and beat Lincoln City 2-1 last weekend.

Ticket prices for the fixture will be the same as every other home game, with Adults prices starting from £22, and other price brackets available for Concessions (from £17), Under-16s (from £7), and Under-5s (from just £1) – buy your tickets HERE.

We look forward to seeing you all back at Highbury this weekend for yet another league clash!