📝 Match Preview: Port Vale (H)

All you need to know ahead of Saturday's match

9 December 2023

Exeter City return to action at St James Park on Saturday to take on Port Vale in a 3pm kick-off.

City will be looking to build on last Tuesday's draw with Shrewsbury Town and get back to winning ways after a run of poor form.

To do that they will need your ever passionate backing!

Port Vale come into the match on the back of Saturday's 1-1 draw with Stevenage in the Emirates FA Cup and winless since September 16 in EFL Sky Bet League One.

Gary Caldwell's thoughts

Gary Caldwell has given his thoughts as the Grecians prepare to take on Port Vale at St James Park on Saturday.

After a weekend without a game last time out, the group have been working hard on the training ground to rectify recent form, which they and Caldwell hopes the hard work pays off at the weekend.

Match Tickets

With this being City's final home match before Christmas, seats are proving popular, so we advise you book early to avoid missing out!

Admission prices

Big Bank			Nevada Construction/Optimising IT
Ticket Type	Advance	Gate	Ticket Type	Advance	Gate
Adult	£20	£22	Adult	£27	£28
Senior	£17	£19	Senior	£24	£25
Young Adult 18-23	£17	£19	Young Adult 18-23	£24	£25
Under-18	£8	£10	Under-18	£13	£14
Wheelchair Area	£17	£19	Wheelchair Area	£24	£25
Junior Grecians		---	Junior Grecians		---

The Kit

City will be in their traditional home kit for this match.

How to follow

If you can't join us at SJP, you can follow all the action on iFollow. Listen LIVE in the UK for £2.50 and watch live overseas for just £10! Click here to grab a pass.

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We will also be proving live coverage on our Twitter and Facebook pages and will have reaction from Gary Caldwell and a player after the match!

Exeter City on social media

Key Timings

Check out the key timings for Saturday's match. The players start to arrive from 12:30pm so come along and grab a selfie or autograph!

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Matchday Family Fun

Going to the football with your family is the perfect way to make memories you treasure, and at St James Park there is plenty on offer pre-match to keep the whole family entertained, and ensure a special day out.

For full details of all the activities happening at SJP on Saturday, click here .

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Support our local charities

When you buy a drink at the bar at SJP you pay a £1 returnable deposit for your cup. You can either return it for your desposit, keep it as a memento or you can return it to the bar or a collection bin to donate to charity!

Click here to find out more.

Centre Spot Bar

The Centre Spot Bar will be open from 11am and will be showing the early and late kick-offs.

After the match, we will be showing Aston Villa vs Arsenal with draft pints of Tribute, Carlsberg and Thatchers are on offer for just £3.75 a pint.

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The Centre Spot is also home to The Famous Exeter City Real Ale and Cider Emporium, offering a great selection of real ales and ciders.

Junior Grecians Zone

The Junior Grecians Zone is open from 12:30pm to members and 1:30pm to everyone, with plenty of activities for all our young Grecian supporters.

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Club Shop

The club shop is open all day on matchdays and is stocked with all three of City's kits for the 23/24 season as well as a range of training gear and pocket money items.

Don't forget, Supporters' Trust members, Junior Grecians and season ticket holders save 10% on full prices purchases!

Jungle Path Kiosk

The kiosk on the Jungle Path will be selling pints of Thatchers Big Apple, cans of Thatchers Gold and bottle of Carlsberg, as well as all the usual half time snacks including pies, pasties and beverages.

Food and Drink

One of the most important part of any match day! We have a wide range of hot and cold drinks and snacks available at the kiosk for away fans. CONTACTLESS CARD PAYMENT AVAILABLE!

In the Fan Zone, the bar and Kenniford Farm's van will also be open for refreshments and hot food.

Kiosk Menu

Kenniford Farm will also be in the Fan Zone with their wide range of local produce including hog roast rolls and chips.

Match Day Programme

The matchday programme the Grecian has a new look for this season, with designers Curtis Sports giving it a refresh!

Saturday's issue is just £3:50 including a set of eight stickers for the new sticker book!

Previous Encounter

Port Vale 1 Exeter City 0 (March 11, 2023) EFL Sky Bet League One

Ten-man City were beaten 1-0 at Port Vale on a disappointing afternoon at Vale Park.

Report an incident

We pride ourselves on the atmosphere we create on a match day, the passionate support from our fans is appreciated by everyone, particularly the players. We consistently win awards for our family engagement and supporter experience. Help us to keep it that way and please ensure that passion for your club does not develop into unwelcome behaviour.

Thank you for helping us to make sure everyone has an amazing matchday experience.

You can read all of the ground regulations here.

If you want to report and incident:

Please either contact your nearest steward, or text 'help ecfc' to 62277.

Match Reports

📝 Match Report: City 0 Port Vale 1

9 December 2023

Oliver Arblaster’s goal made the difference as Exeter City were beaten 1-0 by Port Vale at St James Park.

Exeter, who had plenty of opportunities to score, once again failed to find the net, and were reduced to ten men in the 90th minute, as Will Aimson was sent off for picking up two yellow cards.

Gary Caldwell made two changes to the starting line-up after Tuesday’s 0-0 draw with Shrewsbury, with midfielders Harry Kite and Tom Carroll making their way into the side in place of Reece Cole and Cheick Diabate, with the latter ruled out completely through illness.

There was an early scare for City as Dion Rankine lost possession on the edge of the box, but the wing-back recovered brilliantly to ensure no shot was taken.

City had a great chance to open the scoring, as Tom Carroll played a superb ball to Ilmari Niskanen, who beat the offside trap before squaring the ball across goal, which missed Jack Aitchison and Connor Ripley made himself big to deny Kite at the far post.

The visitors responded with an opportunity of their own, as they switched the play over to the left-hand side, which led to an unmarked Conor Grant having a shot swing past the post.

Yanic Wildschut looking to build on his strong performance against Shrewsbury, had his first effort on goal after he latched onto a through ball, but a sliding challenge meant it was a tame effort at Ripley.

On the half hour mark, Port Vale took the lead as a Tom Sang corner was flicked on by Tom Garrity into an unmarked Arblaster who couldn’t miss from just yards out.

The rest of the half was plagued with plenty of misplaced passes from both sides as they failed to create anything of note.

City had their first shot of the second half, as Wildschut received the ball on the left and beat his man, but it was another easy effort for Ripley to deal with.

Rankine’s pace was a threat for the hosts throughout the game, and he won the ball down the right-hand side and burst past his man to get a drilled cross in, but a strong hand from the Vale goalkeeper repelled the danger.

The Big Bank volume rose and that pushed Exeter onwards, with Sweeney’s cross finding Niskanen at the back post, but he got his effort all wrong and it was headed away.

Port Vale had their first chance of the second half from a short corner, which was then floated into the back post, where Pierce Sweeney had to rise high to deny Uche Ikpeazu a header from close range.

Wildschut had another attempt on goal, as Sweeney’s cross fell onto the feet of the winger, but it looked as if he did not expect it, leading to a soft shot into the hands of Ripley.

City were desperately unlucky not to score, as a corner caused chaos in the Port Vale box, and after the ball flew around the six-yard area, Aitchison had a shot cleared off the line by a resilient away defence.

Exeter pushed for an equaliser, as on the 77th minute, some nice link-up play led to a fierce James Scott cross being met by Wildschut, but his header floated into the arms of the Vale goalkeeper.

The pressure continued, albeit without much being created, as a corner fell into the path of Trevitt, but he blasted over.

Port Vale should have finished the game off with just minutes to go, as Ikpeazu was put through on goal, but a huge save from Vil Sinsalo kept it at 1-0.

City went up the other end, and Trevitt took aim at goal, but his powerful effort was wide.

The hosts were down to ten, as Aimson was given a second yellow after bringing down his man following a counter-attack.

Exeter will look to earn a much-needed win next Saturday, as they travel to the Lamex Stadium to take on high-flying Stevenage.

ATTENDANCE: 6,121 (264 away fans)

LINE-UP: Sinisalo, Aimson, Sweeney, Jules, Rankine (Taylor, 65), Niskanen, Carroll (Scott, 65), Kite, Trevitt, Wildschut (Harper,83), Aitchison.

SUBS NOT USED: Macdonald (GK), Hartridge, Cole.

Ticket News

🎟️ Limited tickets left for Wycombe Wanderers match 🚨

Join us a the Park on Boxing Day!

26 December 2023

City are back in action at St James Park on Boxing Day to take on Wycombe Wanderers in a 3pm kick-off in Sky Bet League One.

As we stand there are currently 115 Thatchers Cider Big Bank standing tickets left, so it's advised that you book now to avoid missing out!

How to Buy

E-tickets

E-tickets are the easiest and quickest way to buy tickets for City matches. On ordering you can select to receive an e-ticket which will be emailed to your phone for you to show on the turnstile - no need to print!

Admission prices

Big Bank			Nevada Construction/Optimising IT
Ticket Type	Advance	Gate	Ticket Type	Advance	Gate
Adult	£20	£22	Adult	£27	£28
Senior	£17	£19	Senior	£24	£25
Young Adult 18-23	£17	£19	Young Adult 18-23	£24	£25
Under-18	£8	£10	Under-18	£13	£14
Wheelchair Area	£17	£19	Wheelchair Area	£24	£25
Junior Grecians		---	Junior Grecians		---

Junior Grecians Tickets

Junior Grecians members get access to free match tickets when purchased alongside a paying adult. There are three family friendly areas available at St James Park, section E in the Nevada Construction Main Stand, in Block A of the Optimising IT Adam Stansfield Stand, and a section of the Thatchers Big Bank which is identified by the white barriers).

How to buy

To book Junior Grecians tickets, please make sure you are logged in first. Then select an Adult and either one or two Junior Grecian tickets to the basket. The system will validate you and change the Junior Grecians tickets to free.

Please note that this will not work if under-18 tickets are added, or tickets are selected in non-family areas. If you experience any issues, please email tickets@ecfc.co.uk who can help.

Tickets are limited and it is advisable to book early. Click here to find out more about the Junior Grecians.

Match Hospitality

Hospitality is proving popular for our festive fixture. Please book as soon as you can to guarantee admission.

The ECFC Supporters Trust Suite

Access the lounge up to 3 hours prior to kick-off
Reserved seat in the main stand
Freshly prepared two course meal
Half-time tea and coffee
Complimentary matchday programme and teamsheet
Dedicated lounge host
Pre-match player interview
MOTM interview
MOTM presentation
Large screens showing Sky Sports and BT Sport
Premium cash bar with table service

How to Buy

Hospitality is available for just £60 per-person

For further information or to book tickets, please call our commercial team on 01392 411 243 Option 5, email commercial@ecfc.co.uk, or online via newtickets.ecfc.co.uk