For those unfamiliar with the competition, now known as the Bristol Street Motors Trophy, all League One and Two clubs take part, along with 16 category One Premier League and EFL Championship academy/U-21 sides.
That last sentence is the reason why so many supporters of EFL clubs dislike/boycott the competition, but the purpose of this article is not to debate that, but to look at past meetings in the competition between Bristol Rovers and Exeter City as we have met each other on six occasions in the competition under its many names/sponsorships.
Tomorrow night’s opponents certainly have the upper hand, having won four of the games played to date. They have also been drawn at home on four occasions.
BRISTOL ROVERS 3 EXETER CITY 0: Goals from Ian Holloway (pen), Tony Sealy and David Mehew gave Rovers a 3-0 win in front of a crowd of 3,136 in the meeting of the clubs in the Leyland DAF Cup on 17th January 1990.
Rovers went all the way to the final that season but were beaten 2-1 by Tranmere Rovers at Wembley.
EXETER CITY 1 BRISTOL ROVERS 2: This meeting saw Rovers win, back on 6th January 1998 when we were 2-1 winners at St James Park in a Second Round Auto Windscreens Shield tie in front of a crowd of 1,851.
Frankie Bennett and Andy Tillson were on target for Rovers while Neil Illman scored for the home side who included former Rovers defender Billy Clark in their side.
EXETER CITY 1 BRISTOL ROVERS 0: By the time of the next meeting in the competition, it had been rebranded as the LDV Vans Trophy and on this occasion Exeter were 1-0 winners in this First Round tie at St James Park on 22nd October 2002.
A crowd of 1,613 saw Gareth Sheldon score the only goal of the game for an Exeter side that included future Rovers goalkeeper Kevin Miller and former defender Graeme Power.
BRISTOL ROVERS 2 EXETER CITY 2 (Exeter won 5-4 on penalties): The attendance for this Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Southern Area Semi Final was 3,881 and the tie was decided on penalties after the sides drew 2-2 at The Memorial Stadium on 14th December 2010.
Will Hoskins and Ben Swallow scored for Rovers while Exeter’s goals came from a Byron Anthony own goal and Ryan Harley.
Hoskins, Chris Lines, Danny Coles and Eliot Richards all scored their spot kicks, but goalkeeper Artur Krysiak saved from Anthony while all five Exeter penalty takers, Harley, Billy Jones, Daniel Nardiello, David Noble and Richard Duffy were successful.
Current Rovers boss Matt Taylor was in the Exeter side, as were Liam Sercombe and Jamie Cureton while Paul Tisdale was the Exeter boss.
This turned out to be Paul Trollope’s last game in charge of Rovers, as he was sacked the next day.
EXETER CITY 2 BRISTOL ROVERS 0: On this occasion, 13th November 2018, it was the Checkatrade Trophy and although Exeter were 2-0 winners in this First Round Group tie, because of the format of the competition Rovers still made it through to the knockout stage by finishing second in the group.
Chiedoze Ogbene and Joel Smith scored Exeter’s goals, while there were senior Rovers debuts for Zain Walker, Ryan Jones, Theo Widdrington and Tareiq Holmes-Dennis. (Attendance for this game was just 873.
EXETER CITY 5 BRISTOL ROVERS 3: Any hopes Rovers might have had of a cup run in the Papa John’s Trophy were extinguished by a scintillating first half Exeter performance in this St James Park tie on 10th November 2021.
Joe Barton made 11 changes to his starting XI and saw them concede five first half goals Josh Coley (2), Timothee Dieng and Padraig Amond (2) scored the goals while Rovers responded through Zain Westbrooke, Ryan Jones and Nick Anderton in the second half.
The attendance for this one was 1,479.