Our Good Friday tussle at St James' Park will be our eighth against the Grecians in the Football League and the record to date is pretty even.
It currently stands at seven played, two won, three drawn and two lost.
The sides had met twice in the FA Cup in 1970 and 1994 but the first meeting in the league didn't take place until 2015 when we made the trip to Devon for a League 2 game when Mark Yates was in charge.
Alex Nicholls scored after just eight minutes, but Sonny Bradley’s bullet header (pictured celebrating with Rhys Murphy) levelled the scored half an hour in. Tom Nichols then put the hosts back ahead on the stroke of half-time and it remained 2-1 until a screamer from Luke Rooney in second-half stoppage time made it 2-2.
The return fixture on Easter Monday saw the Grecians pick up a 2-0 win at the Broadfield. A former Red, Jake Taylor, opened the scoring before Ollie Watkins doubled the lead 15 minutes from the end. It was the first of eight straight defeats to end the season for Crawley.
Just two weeks into the 2016-17 campaign Reds travelled down to Devon looking to continue their good start to the campaign under new boss Dermot Drummy. Exeter had edged the game but a stunning late goal from Josh Yorwerth, who went round three defenders inside the area before finding the bottom corner, earned Reds a 1-0 win.
Again, though, Exeter picked up an away win at our place. Watkins was on the score sheet again before Jordan Moore-Taylor added a second. Mark Connolly scored a consolation late on but Exeter held on for a 2-1 success.
Our next home match against City was a lot better than the previous two. With Exeter flying high the Reds put on a fine performance to record a 3-1 win at the Broadfield in November 2017 after Harry Kewell's side had struggled to get their season going.
Dean Moxey had given Exeter the lead but a penalty from Josh Payne levelled the scores before half time. Jordan Roberts bagged a brace in the second period to seal a much-needed three points.
Jayden Stockley, who is now with Preston North End, was on the score sheet twice last April on our last visit to Exeter. His brace came after Enzio Boldewijn had opened the scoring, but Yorwerth scored his second goal in as many seasons at St James’ Park to ensure it finished 2-2.
Earlier this season Reds led thanks to a great strike by Filipe Morais (being congratulated below) but Exeter scored a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw.
