THE MOXEY REPORT

Saturday 22nd September 2007

Blue Square Premier League

Exeter City 1 Ebbsfleet United 1

S o consecutive 1-1 draws at home, this time a point gained rather two points lost in a turgid affair against a strong Ebbsfleet United side on a wonderfully warm and sunny afternoon at the Park in front of a nervous 2923 fans.

It was City who started the game the brightest and offered the first real attacking promise when Mackie chased a ball down the left in the seventh minute before turning it back to Deano lurking behind him. A good looking cross was lofted into the box, but the keeper not for the last time this afternoon - was alert to the danger and claimed confidently.

Five minutes later Mackie again was invited to scamper down the left after the ball, and after beating a sloppy offside trap whipped the ball square to Logan in the middle of the penalty area whereby he somehow contrived to drag the ball wide of the far post. But as it was those two episodes were all that there was really as both teams struggled to find much rhythm or consistency until City finally got the ball in the net in the 25th minute. Some great work by Tully and Stansfield on the right saw the ball fed back to Gill who delivered a superb hanging cross into the heart of the penalty area. Mackie rose unchallenged to flick a neat header into the top corner, but alas was denied by a raised linesman's flag in front of the Old Grandstand. So no goal, still 0-0, and precious little action to liven things up. They certainly livened up with a bit less than ten minutes to go, however, when some deft footwork from an Ebbsfleet forward saw him turn and let fly from 15 yards with a looping drive that Marriott did well to turn over the bar for a corner. But it all came apart then when the corner was delivered to the far post and Michael Bostwick climbed unchallenged to nod down into an empty net from six yards to make it 1-0 to Ebbsfleet. The rest of the half drifted past, and we were thankful for a respite and cuppa at the interval.
Soon enough though it was time for the second half, and this started with Matt Taylor not emerging from the dressing room and being replaced by George Friend as City reverted to 3-4- 3 with Deano pushing up to take a left midfield position. Ten minutes later it was Rico's turn to be replaced, this time with Frankie Artus. As both teams huffed and puffed unsuccessfully, it took until midway through the half for anything of any note to happen, this being Tully's deep ball into the area that was nodded down superbly by Logan only to be hoisted over the bar wastefully by Mackie 15 yards out. With half an hour gone City changed again, this time to a 4- 4-2 formation with Deano dropping back to rejoin the defence, Elam switching to the left and Carlisle being introduced off the bench into the right midfield spot at the expense of Stansfield.

It had no immediate effect, other than to give the Ebbsfleet defenders something to think about having two genuine wide men on the pitch to deal with, but it was thus ironic that City's equaliser with nine minutes to go came from a ball straight down the middle. A Logan long ball was inadvertently helped on by an unwitting defender straight into the path of Mackie powering through trailing two defenders in his wake. He bore down on goal, waited for the keeper to commit then drilled the ball past him into the Big Bank goal to send home supporters wild.

City could even have fashioned an unlikely winner with two good injury time chances. The first came when Elam charged down the left wing and hung a cross to the far post for Carlisle to butt home that unfortunately a defender made a timely interception to clear the danger. The second came with virtually the last kick of the game, and again Elam was involved breaking through the centre. This time he didn't spot fellow wideman Carlisle's lung bursting run down the right, instead electing to shoot wastefully from about 45 yards. As it was he was fouled in the process, but the free kick resulted in nothing and it was soon game over. So, as opposed to the previous Tuesday when it was two points lost, this was definitely a point gained. Mackie's goal was of no little quality, but the rest of the game was a flaccid affair with not much that could be described as 'entertainment'. Chances were few and far between, and too many passes and tackles went astray. Having said that, Ebbsfleet hardly pulled up any trees themselves and offered little besides their goal, but once they were in front it was difficult to see how on earth we were going to keep our unbeaten home record intact.

In goal Marriott didn't really have a great deal to do, bar a decent tip over for a corner. There was little he could do for their goal either, that should have been the job of one of the defenders to not give Bostwick fully two yards of space just outside the six yard box to head home at his leisure.

And speaking of the defence, goal apart, they did an awful lot better than they did on Tuesday when they handed the match to Forest Green. The two central defenders were much more alert and dominating, although hopefully it was tactical rather than enforced that saw Matt Taylor replaced by George Friend at half time. For the third home game in a row I'd say Deano was the pick of the bunch, which shows just how good a season he's having compared to the injury ravaged one he endured last year. In midfield it was good to see Gill getting back towards

where he was last season. He's not quite there yet, but he was ably assisted by the ever willing Rico in the centre of the Park. Elam had, I think, his first full ninety minutes of the season too, which is good, although I do wonder whether starting him loses some of the impact he has on the game coming on with twenty minutes to go. Which brings me to Wayne Carlisle, returning to first team duties via the subs bench. It was a most welcome return, and if he and Elam can hook it up on the wings, then surely that bodes well for the fortunes of the strikers.

And they'll need some good fortune too, if today was anything to go by. Hardly a shot all game isn't good, and Stansfield in particular seemed strangely out of sorts. Logan wasn't his electric best either, which meant most of the donkey work fell to the effervescent Mackie, so perhaps it was a touch of poetic justice that it was he who struck a good looking late equaliser.

But unfortunately equalisers aren't really enough, and already we're looking at five consecutive home draws out of six matches played. We could, and should, have converted at least half of those into wins, which would have us right back up there mixing it at the top.

Match Details 

Exeter: Marriott, Tully, Edwards, Matt Taylor (Friend 46), Moxey, Mackie, Richardson (Artus 51), Gill, Elam, Logan, Stansfield (Carlisle 70).
Subs Not Used: Jones, Cozic.

Booked: Mackie, Artus.

Goals: Mackie 81.

Ebbsfleet United: Cronin, Hawkins, Bostwick (Barrett 88), McCarthy, Opinel, Long, DeBolla, Hastings (Eribenne 61), McPhee, Moore (Goodhind 72), Nade.
Subs Not Used: French, Luke Coleman.

Booked: Hawkins.

Goals: Bostwick 38.

Att: 2,923

Ref: A Watts (England).