City start EFL trophy campaign with a win

Match Report: Exeter City 2-1 Swindon Town

Exeter City came through their opening match of this year’s EFL trophy with a win, beating Swindon Town two, one.

The first half saw few chances and was generally dull, with the exception of Exeter’s Brighton loanee Kamari Doyle, but Ed Francis gave City the lead midway through the second half. Swindon then equalized with a superb strike from outside of the box, but Jack Aitchson won it late on with a brilliant curling strike from a similar distance.

Doyle began the game with an enthusiasm and desire not often seen in what is unanimously thought of as the fourth and least important competition for any EFL side. He repeatedly won the ball back in midfield and sometimes carried it forward powerfully, sometimes released it early and with perfect timing, but always created chances. On one such occasion he played young forward Liam Oakes (who was often left unmarked as Swindon defenders elected to double up on Doyle) in behind the defence. His low ball across the box should have been a simple tap in, but instead Millenic Alli obliged to scuff the ball well wide of the goal. Fortunately for him there were no jeering away fans behind the goal to cheer his glaring miss, with the handful of Swindon fans who made the trip being consigned to a small section of the main stand.

Doyle also had a shot from distance which curled just wide and could have won a penalty had the referee not deemed him to have gone down on, rather than just the right side of the line. However, the mishmash of youth players and senior starters were not particularly clinical in front of goal and several chances and more half-chances went untaken early on.

It was a similar story for the visitors too. They certainly had opportunities, in particular a volley from the edge of the box which Aaron Drinan snatched at and saw spin wide, but a general lack of coherence up front was obvious from their much-changed side.

When Exeter did make the breakthrough, it was, in keeping with how the match had played out up to that point, scrappy. A ball into the Swindon box was not properly cleared, and ricoched off of the shin of second choice goalkeeper Dan Barden straight to the feet of Ed Francis, who had little to do except pass the ball firmly past the floored Barden. The goal may have come courtesy of some below par defending which was perhaps to be expected in such a competition, but Francis certainly did not mind and was beaming at having scored his first goal for the club since making the long move south-west from Gateshead.

It didn’t take long for a Swindon response to come. A flurry of substitutions (another characteristic of the competition) saw the introduction of Swansea loanee Joel Cotterill. The regular starter showed his technical superiority almost immediately, turning a loose ball into a brilliantly executed a low volley past MacDonald in the Exeter goal.

The Swindon lot had begun to find their voice, but they were soon silenced by another display of technical quality from a regular starter, this time from Exeter’s Jack Aitchson. He carried the ball from deep in midfield and laid it off, before curling the return pass well into the top right-hand corner and out of Barden’s reach.

There was still time for City manager Gary Caldwell to hand out some minutes to some of the less experienced squad members, with Jay Bird and Louie Cayless coming on, but Exeter held on for 3 points in southern group G of the EFL trophy.