2015 is here and Stanley begin it with one of the longest trips in League Two, to Devon to take on Exeter City.

The late postponement of the Burton game on 28th December denied John Coleman’s side the chance to put the Boxing Day defeat at York out of their systems and they’ll be keen to belatedly bounce back at St James Park.

Hosts Exeter are just outside the play-off places and looking to get themselves into the promotion picture, starting by beating a Reds side they defeated at the Store First Stadium in November.

Goalkeeper Jack Rose’s hip problem keeps him sidelined but John Coleman does expect the West Brom loanee to return soon.

Adam Buxton has now returned to training following a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

New signing Seamus Conneely is ineligible for the game as he awaits international clearance.

The Grecians have spent four seasons in the Conference, three seasons in League Two and three seasons in League One out of the past 10 years. They won promotion from the Conference in the 2007/08 season after beating Cambridge United 1-0 at Wembley in the play-off final, after finishing in 4^th place in the league. Rob Edwards scored their goal at Wembley.

They then achieved back to back promotions after finishing in 2^nd place in League Two in the 2008/09 season. They then spent the following three seasons in League One, before being relegated after finishing in 23^rd place in the 2011/12 season.

Last season they finished in 16^th place in League Two.

Paul Tisdale

41 year old Tisdale is currently in his second managerial role, having taken over as Exeter manager in 2006, having left his previous role as Team Bath manager to join the club.

Prior to being a manager Tisdale had an injury interrupted career as a player, eventually retiring at the age of 27. He appeared for clubs including Southampton, Yeovil Town and Bristol City. Tisdale also moved abroad in his career, appearing for Finnish side FinnPa and Greek side Panionios.

Graham Cummins

27 year old Cummins signed for the club in the summer and has scored five goals in 20 appearances this season.

He started his career at Cobh Ramblers and made 77 appearances and scored 17 goals between 2006 and 2008. He then signed for Waterford United and made 28 appearances and scored 17 goals in 2009 before signing for Cork City. During his time at Cork he scored 42 goals in 62 appearances.

Cummins then signed for Preston North End in 2012 and made 34 appearances for the club and scored four goals. During his time at Preston he had a spell on loan at Rochdale, where he scored four times in 27 appearances before signing for the Grecians in the summer.

The two sides have met at St James Park on seven occasions with Stanley winning four times and the Grecians winning three times.

Last season when the sides met, Stanley returned to Lancashire with all three points thanks to a Kayode Odejayi goal.

This season the sides have met, with the visitors returning to Devon with all three points after a 3-2 victory. John O’Sullivan and Shay McCartan scored for Stanley with Liam Sercombe, Tom Nichols and Matt Grimes scoring for Exeter.

Stanley have gone three games without a win since the impressive victory at Portsmouth last month.

John Coleman’s side sit 13th in the League Two table, which is seven points from the play-off places.

The Grecians have had a good season so far, currently sitting in 9^th place in the League Two table with 37 points from their first 24 games. They have won five, drawn five and lost two of their 12 home league matches.

In their last game they lost 4-1 away at AFC Wimbledon and in their last home game they defeated Cheltenham Town 1-0 on Boxing Day thanks to a Tom Nichols goal.

Stanley

James Gray 5
Kal Naismith 4
Luke Joyce 4
Shay McCartan 4
Rob Atkinson 4
John O’Sullivan 4
Sean Maguire 4
Marcus Carver 3
Piero Mingoia 3

Exeter

Tom Nichols 8
Graham Cummins 5
Matt Grimes 4
David Wheeler 3

Trevor Kettle (Rutland)

Mr Kettle has a vast amount of Football League experience, though hasn’t taken charge of many games in the current season.

His last Stanley match was the 1-1 home draw with Plymouth Argyle in March 2014.

This season: 6 games, 20 yellow cards, 0 red cards

The Ground

The club have played at St James Park since forming in 1904. The current capacity of the ground is 8541, and the clubs record attendance is 20,984 which was set in the FA Cup against Sunderland in 1931.

For more information on Exeter City, why not visit their official website www.exetercityfc.co.uk or their Twitter feed @OfficialECFC