Sonny Cox: Exeter City not putting pressure on teenage striker after loan recall

Sonny Cox scored two goals for Yeovil Town in National League South while on loan this season

Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell says he is not putting any pressure on teenage striker Sonny Cox after recalling him from his loan spell.

The 19-year-old scored twice in nine games for National League South leaders Yeovil Town.

City have not won in 11 league games and have scored just twice in that run.

"He's had a successful loan spell so his confidence should be really high and hopefully he can impact the team," Caldwell told BBC Sport.

"We're not expecting him to go and start on Saturday and make everything better.

"We think he's a fantastic player, he has huge potential, but we understand where he is on that road to be a really good player.

"We'll welcome him back, we'll get him in the team, hopefully get him some minutes on Saturday and see how he does, and hopefully he can impact the team - but we don't want to put that pressure on him."

Cox has been seen as one of the most promising prospects currently coming through from Exeter's much-vaunted academy.

He has played 32 times for the club in all competitions - mainly as a substitute - since his debut in October 2021, scoring his first goal in League One in a 4-2 defeat by Oxford United in October last year.

"It was something we'd been thinking about for a number of weeks," said Caldwell of Cox's recall, which comes in the light of an injury to Admiral Muskwe and the loss of form of their other forwards.

"The dilemma was he's doing well on loan, he's developing and his career's going in the right direction.

"Do we bring him back and try and help us, or do we leave him there and continue his individual development?

"We felt like now was the right time, he's done well so hopefully it's given him confidence and he can come back and impact the team in a really positive way."