City begin Cornwall tour with victory at Priory Park

Paul Tisdale made a solitary change from the side that lined up against Bristol Rovers on Saturday. Troy Archibald-Henville made way for Tom McCready, with trialist Pierce Sweeney moved inside to partner Troy Brown at the heart of a back four. Lee Holmes, who had already notched three assists in the games against Weymouth and Bristol Rovers, resumed starting duties on the left-flank.

It was City who worked the first opening of the game at Priory Park. Ollie Watkins latched on to an under-hit back-pass, but his attempts to round Kyle Moore in the Weymouth goal saw him knock the ball out of play for a goal-kick. The Grecians looked in the mood, and they made their early dominance count by taking the lead after just eight minutes. Taylor was finding pockets of space in-behind Bodmin's midfield, and when his in-swinging cross from the left was missed by a defender, Robbie Simpson was Johnny-on-the-spot to drill past Moore from close range. City thought that they had doubled their lead three minutes later as Brown rose above his marker to nod home at the back-post, but referee Simon Long deemed the imposing centre-back to have fouled his man. Paul Tisdale's side were stretching the play well, with Holmes and Taylor making plenty of advances down each flank. It was the latter who tested Moore on the quarter-hour mark, flashing a cross-come-shot across the face of goal having been played in by the marauding McCready. Taylor was at it again six minutes later. Having received the ball on the edge of the area following a well-worked corner from the right, the former Reading midfielder blazed over the crossbar with a sweetly struck half-volley. The visitors added a second in the twenty-seventh minute, and in truth it had been coming. A floated cross from the left-hand side was nodded down by James, and Harley was at hand to slot neatly into the corner from twenty-yards out. City made it three less than a minute later. Tom McCready's cross from the right was fumbled by the keeper, and Taylor was in the right place at the right time to slide home from inside the six-yard box.
Bobby Olejnik, who had fulfilled a watching brief during the opening half an hour, was called into action for the first time on thirty-five minutes. There were no signs of rustiness from the big Austrian, though, as he dived well to tip over Lance Bailey's long-range strike. City rounded off the half the same way as it had begun with Ollie Watkins stinging Moore's finger tips following a neat passage of play from back to front.

HALF-TIME: Bodmin Town 0-3 Exeter City

Paul Tisdale fielded a fresh midfield after the interval, introducing Jamie Reid, Matt Jay, Alex Byrne and Jordan Tillson in place of Lee Holmes, Lloyd James, Ryan Harley and Jake Taylor. Simpson and Watkins were the next two to make way, with Liam McAlinden and David Wheeler sent on up-front. Unsurprisingly the game lost much of its ebb and flow following Tisdale's spree of substitutions. McAlinden came close to making an instant impact following his introduction, but saw his header from inside the six-yard box cleared off the line. Two of the Grecians' academy products combined on the hour mark, with Byrne firing narrowly wide following a neat ball inside from Jay.

Jay had a go himself moments later, but Moore was equal to his poked effort at the near-post after Reid had done well to get a cross in from the byline. McAlinden should have opened his City account in the sixty-fifth minute, but glanced Wheeler's cross wide of the right-hand post with the goal at his mercy. Tillson, who had come close with a dipping effort just after the hour mark, was forced off with injury twenty minutes after his arrival with Kyle Egan drafted into the centre of midfield. City made a trio of substitutions with twenty minutes remaining, as Christy Pym, Matt Oakley and Nick Grimes came on to replace Olejnik, Sweeney and Brown. Despite such a wholesale change in personnel, the Grecians still carried a threat, and they made it four with seventeen minutes remaining. After another foray into the Bodmin half, Egan curled past Moore from the edge of the D to round off a satisfying evening for Paul Tisdale and the rest of his backroom staff. Reid, who had been working tirelessly in the final third, looked to find the postage stamp in the top-right corner with seventy-six minutes played, but the City forward couldn't quite generate the whip on his strike to keep the ball inside Moore's left-hand post. Five minutes later and it was Wheeler's turn to get back amongst the action. Jay shifted on a long, searching ball into his path, but the returning winger saw his shot well saved by the keeper. Jay was looking lively, and he almost bagged a deserved goal during the closing stages in what would have been a carbon copy of the Grecians' fourth strike of the evening. The referee blew his whistle moments later to call time on the first of three matches in four days for City. A positive start to the week in Cornwall, then, as Paul Tisdale's side made it three pre-season wins on the bounce with eight goals scored and three clean sheets in the bag. Next up for the Grecians are Truro City on Thursday evening.

FULL-TIME: Bodmin Town 0-4 Exeter City

Exeter City: Olejnik, McCready, Brown, Sweeney, Moore-Taylor, Taylor, Harley, James, Holmes, Watkins, Simpson.
Subs: Reid, Grimes, Tillson, Wheeler, Pym, Jay, Byrne, Egan, Riley-Lowe.
Goals: Simpson 8', Harley 27', Taylor 28', Egan 73'

Referee: Simon Long