Exeter City 2 Crawley Town 2

Exeter City fail to capitalise on Wycombe loss with draw against Crawley Town.

City’s leading goal scorer Jayden Stockley scored twice but Exeter were held to a frustrating 2-2 draw against Crawley Town at St James Park.

With third place Wycombe losing today against Accrington Stanley, Exeter could have secured an automatic play-off spot with a win. But a devastating loss has dented their hopes massively of gaining automatic promotion into League One. It was only a draw, but felt like a defeat for the Grecians. 

Tisdale, who will become the longest serving manager in English football after Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger announced he will be leaving the Premiership club earlier this week, made just one change to the side that beat Chesterfield on Tuesday. Youngster Matt Jay replaced Robbie Simpson. 

As they did on Tuesday, City stared brightly. Within 10 minutes, Lloyd James and Matt Jay linked up superbly to spilt open the Crawley defence and pick out Jake Taylor inside the box who had his shot well saved from just eight yards out. 

15 minutes into the game, with either team yet to break the deadlock at St James Park, City fans heard the news that Accrington Stanley took a one goal lead against third place Wycombe. Roars resonated around the stadium, but the noise soon came to an abrupt silence as the visitors took a surprise lead. Enzio Boldweijn dribbled his way into the heart of Exeter’s box who then fired his shot low and hard past Christy Pym. 

However, hope was restored thanks to a terrific piece of individual skill from Jayden Stockely. City’s leading goal scorer brought the ball out of the sky with ease and smashed it towards goal. The keeper got a hand on it, but the ball span behind him into the net. It finished at half time: Exeter City 1 Crawley Town 0.

It took Exeter just 14 minutes in the second half to take the lead, Stockely providing the goods once more. Following mounted pressure on Cawley’s defence, the hosts whipped in a corner that was flicked on by Jordan Tilson landing in the path of Stockely, from just eight yards out there was only going to be one outcome. 

To the frustration of the home fans, Exeter’s celebrations were short lived, moments after taking the lead, Crawley drew level with a corner of their own. 

It was a frantic final 10 minutes to the game, end to end stuff. City were throwing men forward in numbers pushing for the crucial third goal that would leapfrog them above third place Wycombe. And they nearly got it. Stockely came agonisingly close to scoring his hat-trick after retelling the underside of the cross bar. Then, with less than 5 minutes to play, Stockely found himself one on one with the goal keeper. It looked a certain goal but the forward was denied by a terrific save from close range. 

It finished full time Exeter City 2 Crawley Town 2 

Attendance: 3,998