AT the beginning of the month, Exeter City fans were told to expect a quiet transfer window. But as we approach the final two weeks, manager Gary Caldwell is wanting four more players to complement his squad between now and the end of the season.

A significant injury to defender Johnly Yfeko and the untimely recall of loanee Tristan Crama by Brentford – who then sold him to London rivals Millwall – mean that Caldwell’s hand has been forced by circumstance, rather than him having a sudden urge to swell the numbers at St James Park, but it seems that despite plenty of effort, there are no incomings imminent at St James Park.

“It’s not quiet, but nothing is concrete,” Caldwell said ahead of tonight’s clash at Peterborough United. “We are looking, speaking and trying and a window that was meant to be quiet has got a lot busier and like I said, we knew this might happen, so we are looking at the contingency plans we have in place.

READ MORE: ITV I'm A Celeb's Coleen Rooney 'taking action to settle feuds' from the jungle

READ MORE: Exeter City suffer blow as Tristan Crama recalled by Brentford

“As always, it is never easy to get that, it’s not a case of saying ‘we really like that player, we would like him to come to Exeter,’ there are so many things that you have to get right and make happen to get the player into the club.

“We are working really hard, everyone behind the scenes to do that and I know that, by the end of the window, we will get what we need to be as strong as we can be until the end of the season.

“I think we need four now… that might scare the club a little bit, because it was only two and we have one already! But with Tristan leaving and obviously Johnly’s injury, it does affect us a little bit.

“With Tristan leaving, it does free up some money, so we have to be really prudent, we are the only supporter-owned club in the country, we are a sustainable League One club, so we have to work within those means which we will, but we will try our very, very best to get four in.”

Joel Colwill has already arrived on a loan deal from Cardiff City, but the loss of Crama and Yfeko – potentially for the rest of the season – means the Grecians are suddenly short at centre back, especially with captain Pierce Sweeney also out. Cheick Diabate and Ed James have returned from loan spells at Bradford City and Yeovil Town respectively, while veteran midfielder Kevin McDonald slotted in as a sweeper at Birmingham City on Saturday, flanked by Ed Francis to his left and Jack McMillan on the right of the back three.

McMillan is suspended tonight, after picking up two yellow cards at the weekend, while Vincent Harper is also out as he undergoes the concussion protocol after he suffered a nasty head injury in that 1-0 loss at St Andrew’s.

“He obviously took a head knock and was being sick on the pitch,” Caldwell said. “Michael (McBride) was onto him quick and the Birmingham staff as well, so we thank them and the ambulance staff that were there to look after him. We thank everyone that was there because with head injuries, it could be a really serious situation.

“Thankfully, after all the tests he has had at a hospital in Birmingham, it all came back negative. He has been concussed, though, so we will follow concussion protocols for however long it takes for him to then be passed fit top train again and play, but it will be at least six days. He has to hit certain benchmarks for that to be six days.”

It is fair to say City are far from full strength as they head to Peterborough tonight to take on a Posh side that have failed to hit the pre-season expectations placed upon them. Despite being among the favourites for a top six finish at least, they are currently 19th, five points behind the Grecians, who dropped to 16th following their narrow loss at Birmingham.

“They have lost some very good players and I think Peterborough are a club that always produce those players from non-League and younger players from their Academy that come into the first team and they develop them and sell them on for a great profit.

“It’s a fantastic model and we use it to an extent ourselves with our Academy players and they are probably having a transitional period where younger players are coming in and they will need some time to get up to speed, but on their day, they are still a very dangerous team.

“They beat us here earlier in the season with lightning fast counter attacks and caused us a lot of problems, but no matter where they are in the league, they are always a dangerous team and have a fantastic manager with great experience and who knows this level and how to win promotions form this level, or League Two where he did it with Doncaster.

“Whilst they are below us, we know how difficult a game this is going to be. This is not a team that is down there often and they will be fighting and doing everything they can to pick their form up and get themselves higher up the league.

“It is obviously another really busy period with games in quick succession, so we will assess everyone today. Training will be light for the players that played (at Birmingham) and others will train a bit more and fortunately, we travel today, so will stay in the hotel and do some work tomorrow morning, whether that be video or walk through stuff, but we will piece everyone together and be ready for another big challenge.”

Meanwhile, the Grecians have confirmed the departure of Mustapha Carayol after deciding against renewing his short-term deal with the club.

The Grecians were the 16th club of the 36-year-old Gambian international’s career and he made a total of eight appearances for the club. But the return from injury of players like Pat Jones and Demetri Mitchell meant opportunities would be few and far between for Carayol, who left the club earlier this month.

“Mustapha has left,” manager Gary Caldwell said. “We spoke to him just before the turn of the year, he was brilliant for the time that he was here, a brilliant character, great experience.

“We used him in games where he really contributed, whether he came off the bench, or when he started - at Bristol Rovers in the EFL Trophy, he did really well - and it was at a time when, again, a lot of our wide players, Yanic, Demi and Pat were all injured.

“He really filled that void, but he’s moved on because of those players coming back and being available.”