Bury 1 Exeter City 0

City made two changes after last week's 3-0 defeat at Cheltenham. Pat Baldwin came in to form a back three alongside Coles and Amankwaah and Alan Gow started in partnership with Jamie Cureton up front. Arron Davies missed out through injury and Jimmy Keohane dropped to the bench. The new 3-5-1-1 formation allowed Scot Bennett to return to midfield.

The home side started with intent and David Healy’s early cross went all the way across the Exeter box. Dominic Poleon had plenty of time at the far post but shot first time and hit the bar.

City’s reply inevitably came from Alan Gow with two free kicks, one hitting the wall, the other saved by Trevor Carson. A repeat of the side's weakness to defend set pieces saw Bury open the scoring after 35 minutes. A short corner was played to the back post where Sodje headed the ball back into the opposite corner past Krysiak. Then just before half time, a cleared corner fell to Schumacher who fired narrowly over.

Having struggled in the first half, City made a change at the break when John O’Flynn came for Steve Tully. However the fluency was still missing and Artur Krysiak had to make a smart stop to deny Poleon when Matt Oakley had lost the ball all too easily in midfield. However, an improvement followed when Woodman threaded a long ball to O’Flynn but he fired well over. Then an Amankwaah cross saw Gow test Carson, who spilled the ball and gratefully saw it hacked off the line.

More encouragement came for City when Sodje received his second yellow card for a foul on Gow. The Scottish striker was attracting his usual measure of attention (Lockwood also being booked for fouling him) but Sodje could have no complaint.  Gow caused problems all day to the Bury defence. but the Grecians needed more than just him to perform to get a result. He was the instigator once again of a chance for Cureton who couldn't properly get a shot in before himself shooting at Carson from a narrow angle and putting a shot narrowly wide after a mazy run.

City started to commit men forward, inevitably inviting counterattacks from Bury. Krysiak saved well from Poleon and Troy Hewitt volleyed spectacular against the crossbar.

The Grecians did manage one last chance in stoppage time as Cureton found himself in on goal, but he overran the ball allowing Carson to come out and save. So a third FA Cup with Budweiser defeat at Bury in five years and still no meaningful FA Cup run since the Manchester United glory in season 2004-05. There is an immediate chance to forget Cup woes with league action this Tuesday when AFC Wimbledon visit St James Park for a 7.45pm kick off.

Bury (4-4-2): Carson; Doherty, Lockwood, Sodje, Skarz; Worrall, Schumacher, Sweeney, Poleon; Hewitt, Healy (Hughes 62). Substitutes (not used): Byrne, C Jones, Elford-Alliyu, A Jones, Belford.

Goal: Sodje 35

Bookings: Sodje (2), Lockwood, Skarz

Sent off: Sodje

Exeter City (3-5-1-1): Krysiak; Amankwaah (Dawson 86), Baldwin, Coles; Tully (O’Flynn h-t), Sercombe, Bennett, Oakley, Woodman; Gow; Cureton. Substitutes (not used): Evans (gk), Moore-Taylor, Doherty, Keohane, Nichols.

Booking: Baldwin

Referee: T Harrington

Attendance: 1,821

Match photos by Pinnacle 

Football League Youth Alliance

EXETER CITY U18S 6-3 CHELTENHAM TOWN U18S

In a nine-goal thriller, Exeter City's Under 18 side came out on top against Cheltenham Town at the Cat & Fiddle last weekend.

City won in a relatively comfortable fashion with a 6-3 victory, a Matt Jay hat- trick the catalyst for a strong attacking performance.

Further goals from winger Jason Pope, full-back Sam Brown and skipper Matt Grimes displayed how attack was the best form of defence on the day, however defensively, the Grecians may need to tighten up before the next fixture.
After just six minutes, Cheltenham went ahead, leaving the home defence left exposed as the ball was swept home. However, just minutes later, the score was level once again, as Grimes whipped in a free kick that the visiting goalkeeper could only parry, and Jay tucked home the rebound.

Against the run of play, Cheltenham were ahead again on 28 minutes, as a brave header from the bold striker beat goalkeeper Christy Pym to the ball and powered his effort home.

But Exeter completed a remarkable seven-minute turnaround before the break when first Jason Pope scored from 25 yards, and then Matt Jay rounded off the move of the game, firing the ball in off the near post.

Defender Brown made it 4-2 when his persistence and attacking threat brought about a goal when he lobbed a helpless goalkeeper, but it didn't keep Cheltenham out of the game, as once again the visitors scored soon after.

Poor defending allowed Cheltenham to score from a corner, however with the score at 4-3. City weren't about to sit back and defend the one-goal lead, their intentions summed up with substitute Toby Gostling crashing an effort against the crossbar.

But just 10 minutes later, the home side did find the net again. Grimes curled in a delightful free kick before the victory was rounded off in style just minutes before the end when Jay completed his hat-trick and gave City all three points.

Youth Team Coach Kevin Nicholson said: "We are beginning to attack with more intent now which is pleasing and to score six goals in any game is a great achievement.

"Neither team defended well on the day. We must make sure we stay switched on and fully concentrated on our defensive roles and responsibilities at a all times.

"There are two sides to the game and we are continually working with the individuals, and collectively as a team, on finding the right balance to be effective at both."

City line up:
1 Christy Pym, 2 Sam Brown, 3 Connor Riley-Lowe 4 Kamart Duncan, 5 Hussein Heidari, 6 Irvine Densu, 7 Josh Wadham, & Matt Grimes, 9 Ollie Watkins, 10 Matt Jay, 11 Jason Pope, (12 James Byrne, 14 Toby Gostling, 15 Dean Billingsley).