Carabao Cup: Exeter City have chance to 'create history' against Middlesbrough
- Published
Exeter City's win over Luton Town in the third round ensured a first fourth-round tie since 1989
Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell has said his players should be looking forward to "creating history" against Middlesbrough in the Carabao Cup.
It is just the second time Exeter have reached the EFL Cup fourth round.
They progressed by beating Premier League side Luton Town 1-0 in the third round in September.
"If we do win then we are creating history - and that's something that should be really exciting for the players," Caldwell told BBC Devon.
"They should be really looking forward to it and go and give it absolutely everything."
Exeter go into Tuesday's home tie in their worst run of form since Caldwell took over at St James Park a year ago.
The draw against Lincoln City on Saturday ended a six-game losing streak in League One, and the win over Luton is their only victory in any competition in their past 10 games.
Demetri Mitchell's 83rd-minute goal was enough to send Exeter into round four at the expense of Luton Town
Exeter's only other appearance in the last 16 was in 1989 - the season they went on to win the old Fourth Division title.
They lost 5-2 at Sunderland in a replay after holding the then Second Division side to a 2-2 draw at St James Park.
And Caldwell believes the challenge on Tuesday could be even greater than the one they overcame in the last round when they registered their first win over a top-flight side since beating Leicester City 3-1 in the FA Cup in 1981.
"We said at the time Luton were a really difficult team, and a Premier League team. I think if anything Middlesbrough are probably better as a squad," he said.
"Although they're in the Championship I think man-for-man, looking at their squad, I think they're better [than Luton].
"They've hit a good patch of form in terms of their season, albeit they lost on Saturday [2-0 at home to Stoke], but they had a slow start and have really picked up recently.
"It's another extremely difficult game. It's another game where we are huge underdogs, but we showed the last time with a full house, with a really passionate support behind us that we can achieve great things, so hopefully Tuesday night's another special night at St James Park."
And Caldwell believes the atmosphere created by a packed home crowd in Devon could be the difference between Exeter making history or not.
"The club has never been in the next round," he said. "The last round the supporters came with a real passionate belief that we could win the match, and they helped us get over the line.
"It's more of the same really. Under the lights I think the stadium is different, you get a different atmosphere and hopefully they can come and help us create history."
How are car crashes investigated? Go inside the cordon with Gwent Police's dedicated forensic collision investigators
Was Queen Anne's reputation destroyed out of malice? Lucy Worsley explores the sustained campaign of historical fibs against the monarch
