EXETER City manager Gary Caldwell completed a hat-trick of signings on transfer deadline day, just minutes before the 11pm deadline, which he hopes will pull the club away from relegation danger.

After forward Andrew Oluwabori was announced at around 6pm, the Grecians beat the deadline to snap-up 22-year-old Ed Turns from Brighton & Hove Albion for an undisclosed fee and the experienced Angus MacDonald after he had his contract terminated by Scottish Premier League side Aberdeen.

It means the Grecians finished the window making seven signings with Alex Hartridge, Joel Colwill, Ryan Trevitt and Tony Yogane joining on loan during January, while Kevin MacDonald and Caleb Watts also signed short-term deals committing them to the Grecians for the rest of the campaign.

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Their arrivals will compensate for the departures from St James Park of Tristan Crama, Millenic Alli and Mustapha Carayol, the loan returns of Kamari Doyle and Amani Richards to their parent clubs and the injuries suffered by centre backs Jack Fitzwater and Johnly Yfeko.

“Ed is a young player with huge potential that has experience of League One, and has played a lot of football for his age,” Caldwell said of his new recruit. “He has also won League Two.

“We believe he is the type of player we want to be signing. We can develop him to help the team, and as permanent signing he is here on our terms and we don’t have the risk of losing loan players. He is a ball playing centre-back who is aggressive out of possession and adds to an area of the team that is seriously depleted.”

Turns added; “It feels good and it feels right. I’m excited to be here and get started. It happened quickly on Sunday and I had a Zoom call with Gary and that was really good. We finalised it this morning and now I’m here.

“Speaking to Gary, he sold it to me, it felt right him being a defender and I feel he can really develop me. It’s a good League One club that is on the up and all of that together really made my mind up.”

At 22, Turns is at the beginning of his football journey, with loan spells at Leyton Orient and Crewe Alexandra already under his belt, while 32-year-old MacDonald, who has signed for the remainder of the season, brings some much needed experience and leadership to the backline.

He has vast experience in the game, though, having played for the likes of Salisbury, Torquay United (where he played and was managed by Kevin Nicholson, who made him captain of the Gulls), Barnsley, Hull City, Rotherham United, Swindon Town and Aberdeen.

“Angus we know through Nicho and we felt that we need an experienced figure in defence at the moment to get us organised, to stop us conceding far too many goals,” Caldwell said.

“Experience is a vital part of any defence and he will be a massive part of what we do from now until the end of the season. The short-term nature of it allows him to see us, us to see him, and then in the summer we can see what happens from there.”

On his move, MacDonald said: “I was expecting a quiet weekend and then got the call on Saturday night, but as soon as I did I was excited by it and wanted to get down here. I know Kevin Nicholson from my time at Torquay and it’s great coming to somewhere to work under him again and be around him.

“As a defender I’m someone who likes to put their body on the line, I’m no nonsense, but someone who feels like they can play a bit. I have got a lot of experience, been captain at a few clubs, and I feel like I can bring those leadership skills into the squad.”

Caldwell’s January was far busier than he suggested at the start of the month, when he initially just wanted one or two players, but his hand was forced after Crama was recalled by Brentford and subsequently sold for £1.5 million to Millwall and injuries hit the Grecians’ backline at the same time.

Exeter now have a full week on the training pitch before they are next in action again – the FA Cup fourth round clash with Nottingham Forest, which is live on ITV next Tuesday at 8pm.