City draw against Bolton

Match report: Exeter City 2-2 Bolton Wanderers

A brilliant Sonny Cox double almost gave Exeter a shock turnaround win against promotion-chasing Bolton, but for an 88th minute equaliser from Bolton centre-back Eoin Toal. City were at their very poorest in the first half, dropping deep and letting Bolton dominate. Maghoma capitalised for Bolton shortly before the break, but two fantastic finishes by Cox had Exeter in front straight after half time. It seemed City’s game to win until Toal bundled in from a corner.

Bolton immediately took complete control of possession and sustained pressure on the City goal early on, letting multiple chances go by. Aaron Collins skimmed the top of the crossbar with an effort after twisting and turning in the box, and shanked a volley wide from ten yards out moments later. 

Bolton’s John Bodvarsson, an early substitute for the injured Victor Adeboyejo, nearly reached a clipped through-ball and would surely have scored had he not lost his footing. Exeter’s Ryan Woods then lost possession at the back, giving Collins a clear run towards goal, but City left-back Ben Purrington bailed his teammate out with a well-timed sliding challenge.

A Wanderers’ goal seemed inevitable given their complete domination, and it came on half an hour with Paris Maghoma smashing home from close range from a cut-back courtesy of Josh Sheenan. The Welshman had slipped completely unnoticed, or even worse ignored, behind the Exeter backline, before teeing up Maghoma who finished past Exeter goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo. 

It was a freak double for Sonny Cox within 3 minutes of the start of the second half that saw City take the lead. Pierce Sweeney launched the ball forward from kick off and it was allowed to bounce in front of two Bolton players. Cox nipped in front of his markers and lobbed veteran keeper John Coleman from just outside the box. 

Minutes later Cox took hold of a through ball and held off Wanderers captain Ricardo Santos before hammering past Coleman, cuing pandemonium in the Big Bank. The complete surprise of the home fans only accentuated their joy at the turnaround, and the atmosphere was entirely reversed from one of frustration and anger to unfiltered jubilation. 

This sudden reminder of their own ability renewed Exeter’s confidence and they looked an entirely different side, keeping possession well at the back and making far fewer unforced errors than they had in the first 45. Cox almost got his hat-trick on 70 minutes, heading firmly towards the side of the net only to see the Coleman leap up parry the ball wide of the left-hand post. 

City had the best of the play from then on, with pressure similar to Bolton’s in the first half, but couldn’t find a third despite two goal mouth scrambles and various other half chances. Exeter repeatedly found space on the right, but Ilmari Niskanen and Jack Aitchson both failed to find the final pass on multiple occasions. Jack Iredale nearly equalised for the visitors with a free header from a corner which he sent just high and wide of Sinisalo’s goal. 

Eoin Toal then got Bolton’s second from a corner with a tap in from the goal-line to equalise. Coleman denied Exeter substitute Mo Eisa with another brilliant stop from close range.

Despite the obvious disappointment of conceding late on, City should be happy to take a point against promotion contenders, especially given their poor first half in which Bolton could have had three of four.