Exeter City thrashed in EFL trophy opener

Match Report: Exeter City 0-9 Reading

A young Exeter side was humiliated at home in the opening match of their EFL Trophy campaign, conceding nine goals- their worst defeat since 1958.

The opening minutes were spent entirely in Exeter’s half and Reading took the lead within the first 3 minutes, as Zak Jules lost the ball in the right back area, and could only atone by fouling his man just outside the box. Matt Carson fired the ball to the back post with what may have been a shot and skipper Tom McIntyre tapped in unmarked past Gary Woods in the City goal. 

 The light grey of Reading continued to dominate as the second half went on, despite having made a full 11 changes from their last-gasp victory over Bolton on Saturday. Vickers shaved the post from a tight angle on the left-hand side after strong hold-up play and a deflected through ball from Jaden Wareham. When the likes of Taylor and Beardmore did combine in midfield for Exeter, they were quickly cut out by the Royal’s workmanlike midfield.

Reading’s offensively impressive fullbacks peppered Woods’s box with crosses and corners and the Grecians' patchwork backline consisting of a youth team player, a debutant, and a second-choice centre-back looked shaky as balls bounced into the 6-yard box more than once. A defensive mix-up gifted the away side a second as Zak Jules chested a looping cross past Woods into his own net.

The three hundred or so travelling Reading fans had more to celebrate after the break as their side went three and 4 up via two slick team goals. City could not cope with the combination of powerful, direct dribbling and one-touch passing from Reading’s attack and Grecian substitute Daniels was muscled off the ball before Paul Mukairu met a cutback with a shimmy past James Fitzwater and a curling effort which thundered off the crossbar and in. They were back on the offensive with their first subsequent attack and defenders in red and white backed away from McIntyre as he came forward before Mukairu was slipped in and finished low past Woods for his second and readings fourth.

It got worse for Exeter just short of 70 minutes as a short corner played to the back post was met by a bullet header from Dom Ballard, scoring his first goal in blue and white. City manager Gary Caldwell conceded that the game was lost and took the opportunity to provide several first-team debuts as City finished the game with an outfield of 10 of all academy products.

A sixth goal came courtesy of two consecutive mistakes from Gary Woods. Harvey Knibbs cut out a poor goal kick and played in Ben Eliot, whose tame shot dribbled through Wood’s gloves. Reading continued to cut through City’s stunned defence and Taylan Harris responded to the away fan’s calls of ‘We want 7’ with a curling shot from a tight angle into the bottom right-hand corner. The Big Bank was fast emptying as Caylan Vickers fired a shot from a distance past Gary Woods for the eighth, in front of a jubilant away end.

 The Grecian’s defence, by this point, comprised of entirely teenagers was static as goal number nine came in via a Dom Ballard tap-in to equal Exeter’s record defeat.

Exeter will have to regroup ahead of a top-of-the-table clash away at Oxford this Saturday and hope that there is better to come from their academy products which were tonight ripped apart by a second-choice Reading side.