The Valiants welcome Exeter City to Vale Park on Saturday as we celebrate 150 years of our football club.
Vale have already played the Grecians once this season, back in September at St James Park. First-half goals from Ruari Paton and Devante Cole ensured the Valiants left Devon with all three points.
Jon Brady’s side comes into Saturday’s anniversary match following a defeat away at Mansfield last weekend.
Post Mansfield Thoughts
Brady’s immediate reaction to last Saturday's defeat:
“Very good first half, we just weren’t clinical enough with our chances. Second half, we lost too many duels, and it was too easy for them to score.”
Press Conference Takeaways
Here’s what the gaffer had to say regarding this weekend’s game:
“We want to have a big crowd at home, we want to perform really well and give everyone a lift. We will be doing everything we can to get the three points on Saturday”.
“We’ve prepared all week for it, and they (Exeter) are on a good run, but this league is relentles,s and we’ve got to face these challenges head on”.
About Exeter City
Exeter is located in the South West region of England, in the county of Devon. They have been in League One since their promotion from League Two in 2022, the same season in which Vale also won promotion via the Play-Offs.
The Grecians dropped out of the Football League back in 2003 for the first time in over 80 years. Amid ongoing off-the-pitch issues at the time, the Supporters Trust became the majority shareholders in the club and turned the club around. The Grecians would go on to win back-to-back promotions and make a long-awaited return to League One.
The visitors have had a steady first half of the season, as they sit in 13th position with thirty-three points from twenty-five games. City come into this game following a 3-0 home win over Stevenage.
The Opposition Dugout
Gary Caldwell is the man in charge at Exeter. Caldwell was appointed as manager in 2022 and has gone on to take charge of 175 games to this point, winning 66 of these. Before making the move to Exeter, Caldwell was working in his native country, Scotland, where he was assistant manager of Hibernian.
Caldwell was also a player prior to his managerial days. He spent his early playing career with Newcastle United, but spent the majority of his time out on loan. Gary is a two-time Scottish Premier League champion with Celtic and was part of the Wigan side that beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final back in 2013.
Player to Watch
Young forward Jayden Wareham is a player for the Vale fans to keep an eye out for on Saturday.
The twenty-two-year-old is Exeter’s top scorer this season with nine goals, whilst also contributing with one assist. Jayden has scored three goals in his last four league matches, with one of these being a late equaliser to earn a point away at Huddersfield.
Fixture Throwback
Port Vale 3-1 Exeter City, 28th January 2020
These two sides met at a similar time six years ago, and on that occasion, Vale came from behind to secure a 3-1 win.
The visitors took the lead at Vale Park with just over twenty minutes on the clock. An in-swinging ball into the box found its way to the back post, where it was headed home by Nicky Ajose.
Vale started the second half on the front foot and were awarded a penalty when a Grecian defender took out David Amoo. Richie Bennett stepped up and slotted his penalty calmly into the bottom corner.
Fifteen minutes later, the Valiants took the lead after a ball into the box from David Worrall was met by Leon Legge at the back post, who bundled the ball home in front of the Bycars stand.
Moments after the second goal, Vale scored again to all but secure the points. Another cross into the box, this time from Scott Burgess, found the head of the towering Richie Bennett, who headed past the keeper to give Vale a 3-1 win.
