Exeter defeated on day of frustration

Ref had "strange performance" says City coach

Exeter City fell to their second defeat of the League One season as Cheltenham Town avenged their cup drubbing with a win at St James’ Park.

Exeter had recorded their biggest-ever away win in the EFL Cup earlier in August, thrashing them 7-0 at the Jonny-Rocks stadium.

The Devon side started strong on Saturday too, continually playing dangerous balls into the box, but Sam Nombe was well-marshalled as Cheltenham were forced to work hard to keep the striker at bay.

A miscommunication between City's Tim Dieng and Alex Hartridge almost allowed Alfie May in, but his ball was well blocked in a rare venture forward for the visitors.

Exeter's Harry Kite almost pulled off another spectacular finish, bringing the ball down brilliantly on his chest in the box before forcing a good stop from Luke Southwood at his near post.

Neither Southwood nor Jamal Blackman in the City goal had a great deal to do in the opening period though despite the hosts’ dominance.

Cheltenham grew into the game at the start of the second half, playing some dangerous balls of their own into the City half, but both defences were proving incredibly tough to penetrate.

That was until the 56th minute. Cheltenham's Taylor Perry was set away down the left, and his ball in found the feet of Dan N’Lundulu, who took a touch, composed himself, and fired a lightning effort past Blackman to put Wade Elliott’s men in front.

The forward almost secured a brace when he got in behind City substitute Josh Key, but the angle was tight, and his effort flew narrowly over Blackman’s crossbar.

Exeter came close to an equaliser when Nombe was denied in a goal line scramble, before Jack Sparkes’ thunderous effort was tipped over the bar by Southwood.

The subsequent corner, which saw Blackman enter the Cheltenham box, ultimately came to nothing.

It would prove a frustrating day for Exeter, who, despite dominance in possession, failed to score in a game for the first time this season.

The victory was Cheltenham’s first of an improving season.

City coach Matt Taylor felt as though his side ought to have had a penalty, but conceded that his team should have done more to see of Cheltenham’s threat.

“[It was frustrating] from start to finish,” he said. “Really frustrating, I actually thought we started the game quite well, [it was a] clear penalty.

“It sounds like I’m moaning right now, and I am moaning, but that was a huge moment in the game.

“We allowed the 0-0 score line to go on for longer than what anyone in this stadium would have liked and then [the goal] wasn’t a sucker punch because the ball was in play for such a long period of time.

“We needed to see out that moment better than we did, [it was] the only real moment when we went a bit ragged in terms of the 0-0 score line, and it was a hell of a finish from a good player.

“And then we were trying to break them down when we never had it in out legs or our game to be able to do that today.”

Expanding on the referee, Taylor said he was confused by some of his decisions, but stressed that this was not the reason for the defeat. 

“It’s a clear penalty, so that’s one big moment in the game which has gone against us,” added Taylor.

“So that’s three so far in five games. For him to take time out the game for himself is incredible, unheard of, I don’t know why he’s doing that.

“But in terms of the way the game went, how many bookings for time-wasting before 60 minutes, they did it from minute one.

“The goalkeeper was doing it from minute one, but I don’t want the headlines to be about me moaning about officiating.

“They’ve not cost us the game today, that’s part and parcel of the frustrations of lower league football, but it was certainly a strange performance from himself.”

After some solid displays in the early going of the season, Taylor added that he feels his side is “performing well” in League One, having won two of their opening five fixtures of the season.

Line-ups:

Exeter:
Jamal Blackman, Jake Caprice, Jack Sparkes, Sam Stubbs, Alex Hartridge, Matt Jay, Archie Collins, Sam Nombe, Tim Dieng, Harry Kite, Cheick Diabate

Substitutions:
Scott Brown, Josh Key, Kegs Chauke, Sonny Cox, Josh Coley, Jonathan Grounds

Cheltenham:
Luke Southwood, Sean Long, Ben Williams, Lewis Freestone, Liam Sercombe, Dan N’Lundulu, Alfie May, Ellis Chapman, Caleb Taylor, Ryan Jackson, Taylor Perry

Substitutions:
Shaun McDonald, Charlie Raglan, Charlie Brown, Will Ferry, Daniel Adshead, Dylan Barkers, Christian Norton