Gary Caldwell: Exeter City boss relishing meeting with Wigan 'friend' Shaun Maloney

Gary Caldwell (right) was assistant manager when Shaun Maloney was in charge at Hibernian

Exeter City boss Gary Caldwell says he is looking forward to facing "one of his closest friends" when his side face Shaun Maloney's Wigan Athletic.

The pair have played together at Celtic, Wigan and Scotland and also worked together at Hibernian.

The game is the first of two meetings in 14 days, after the sides were drawn against each other in the FA Cup.

"I've spent a lot of time with him through a career and he's somebody I have a lot of respect for," he said.

"It'll be special to come up against each other and two very competitive people, so I'm not sure what it'll be like in the technical area, but it'll be a real test for both of us to pit our wits against each other."

Caldwell spent seven and a half years at Wigan as a player, coach and manager, leading them to promotion from League One in 2016.

"It's a special club, it's a similar club to ourselves, it's a real community club and people from Wigan support Wigan, very similar to ourselves," added Caldwell, who is approaching the first anniversary of his appointment as Exeter manager.

He told BBC Radio Devon: "It'll be special to play against them and also special to play against Shaun Maloney and Graham Barrow [Wigan assistant manager], two of my closest friends in football and people I have so much respect for."

Caldwell and Maloney were team-mates for club and country

Managing clubs at different ends of the country means the time the pair - who enjoy a round of golf together - spend in one another's company is not what it once was.

But Caldwell says he is relishing the challenge of facing someone he knows so well for the first time as opposing managers.

"Both of us are obsessed with football, we talk football all the time.

"When we were in our latter years at Wigan working with Roberto [Martinez] we really got involved in the tactical side of the game.

"He [Maloney] went to work with Roberto at Belgium, so the relationship we have and the time that we spoke over the years, we understand each other inside out, which then you can probably second guess each other.

"But ultimately it's down to the players and how well they perform on Saturday.

"We want to be good at what we do, we obviously have to respect Wigan like we do every week, but I think it's important we focus on what we can do and how we can win the game."