Exeter City v Crewe Alex 26-27 Preview - Trek

I understand why the football league organise fixtures the way they do. I understand why, when it comes to arranging Tuesday night games, they ask teams to make long journeys rather than short ones. How many fans will the Alex take to this game? 100-200, maybe? Then put it at 3pm on a Saturday and how many go? 200-300? Then imagine how many they lose should it be a game against Port Vale, Shrewsbury or Tranmere? Hundreds. Hence why it's long games that get selected for midweek slots.

However, whilst I get the logic, that will be of little comfort to the hardcore Alex fans who will faced with taking annual leave/time off school to make this trip and who will be arriving back in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Hats off to any making the trip from South Cheshire. This is my preview of their and the teams visit to Devon:

Covid

It's wild to think that the Alex's last visit to St James Park was the final away game before Covid hit and shut everything down. It's also wild to think the 19-20 season was the last time the 2 sides were in the same league. The Alex got promoted and they then swapped divisions with the Grecians in the summer of 2022. So this will be the first meet up between the 2 sides in 6 1/2 years. Long time, no see indeed.

Home Record

Exeter might be struggling lately due to budget cuts, but they've managed to carve out a decent start to their season at home. They are unbeaten in their first 5 at St James Park, only conceding one in that span. Whilst some of their results haven't been eye catching, such as their wins over Accrington and Rotherham, their draws against Barnet and Walsall show that they are a tough side to beat at home.

Goals

If you're betting on a lot of goals in this game, then I'd suggest you're about to lose your money. Through 5 home games, Exeter fans have seen 5 goals, 4 scored and 1 conceded. The Alex through 5 away games have seen 6 goals, 4 scored and 2 conceded. That's 11 goals in 10 games between them. Tuesday night games don't often result in thrilling games, so I would bank on the low scoring nature of both teams continuing here. Anything more than 2 goals in this game would be surprising.

1988

Another factor to concern Alex fans is that they haven't won at this stadium since 1988. That would mean you'd realistically need to be in your late 40s to remember that moment. Ok, they have only visited 5 times since that win, but those 5 visits have seen them go 0-1-4 with 1 scored and 12 conceded. It says a lot when even scoring and/or taking a lead here would be a noteworthy achievement.

4 and 12

Saturday made it 3 wins in a row for the Alex for the first time since their opening 4 games of last season. Can they match that feat with a win here and can they also extend their unbeaten start to the season to 12 games? They are already in new record territory, so let's see how far it can really stretch. To be honest, I don't think they'll end the month unbeaten given they have Chesterfield and Barnet after this, but let's see if they can make it a nice even dozen.

Referee Watch

Harry Wager

Another relative rookie to the EFL, Wager has a handful of games at this level under his belt. Unsurprisingly though, this is his first Crewe Alex game.

2026-27 Record: 7 games(1 League One, 1 League Two, 2 League Cup, 3 National League) 33 yellows, 1 red

Last Game: Wealdstone 4-0 Gateshead, National League, Saturday 26th September 2026, 5 yellows

Crewe Alex Record: N/A

Team

I think we could do with seeing a couple of changes even if simply to try and keep the team fresh. I know he's only just got back into the squad, but I'd like to see Reece Hutchinson back in the team and back at LB. Kyle Ure has had some up and down moments there, so let's get the natural LB back in that spot.

However, I would then look at moving Ure into midfield and operating him in a deeper role and then asking Owen Lunt and Joe White to move slightly further forward. Out wide I'm starting Gibson and Tabiner, with Holicek dropping to the bench just as a precaution against whatever forced his half time withdrawal on Saturday.

Up front I'm making a ball to drop Josh March to the bench. It's nothing to do with his form, although he is without a goal in 7 now, but more to do with not overworking him. We saw him pick up a hamstring injury around this time last season due to him playing too much, so I'd have him on the bench and I'd give McNeill a start in his place. I doubt Bell does this, but I think there is logic to it.

Score Prediction

Exeter don't score or concede many at home. The Alex don't score or concede many away. So, obviously it leads itself to a 3-3 draw with goals galore? Nah, in all seriousness, I think this will be a low scoring affair with no more than 1 a piece at best. I'll go for a dull and drab goalless draw.

Exeter City 0-0 Crewe Alexandra