Exeter City 0 Luton Town 1.

Saturday 30 August 2008

Referee : Oliver Langford

Attendance 5,328 with 745 away fans.

The Moxey Report 

So on a wonderful summer's afternoon the majority of the stand busting 5328 crowd go home disappointed as a turgid affair ends in City's second consecutive 1-0 home defeatthis time to Luton Town.

The opening exchanges saw City enjoying the majority of both the possession and skill as it looked only a matter of time before a goal would be scored. Indeed the first chance went City's way when George Friend lobbed the ball down the left touchline where Adam Stansfield heaved it into the box from the goal lineAn easy clearance was missed by a Luton defender and instead the ball found its way to the lurking Ryan Harley who shanked wildly over the bar from 25 yards. City continued to press, fruitlessly, and Luton continued to soak up that pressure comfortablyIn fact they almost took the lead midway through the half with their first real chance of the game-dithering defenders allowing a near post daisy cutter to smash against the base of the post, possibly with the help of a deflection from Paul Jones. from close range. The only real bright spot of a soporific first half came with five minutes to go. This time Stansfield was invited to scamperdown the right before cutting the ball back to Harley on the edge of the box. Harley showed great composure dragging the ball past an attentive defender, but used up all that composure and only succeeded in hurriedly scooping a good looking drive over the bar.

The half time respite was brief and soon enough it was time to endure a further forty five minutes. Forty three of those would be chasing the game as with a mere two minutes on the clock Luton took the lead. Claude Gnapka threw himself to the turf for the umpteenth time inviting the ref to award a free kick right on the edge of the City boxAs defenders gawped, Sam Parkin rose unchallenged to nod home from about eight yards out into the top comer, giving Jones no chance. City at least they had a long time to fashion an equaliserAnd fashion chances they did: firstly Richard Logan outjumped the defence to nod a lofted Steve Tully ball goalwardsUnfortunately defenders' attentions meant he couldn't get much power on the ball and with the keeper nowhere a defender had plenty of time to clear the empty net from about two yards out Next Rob Edwards embarked on a shimmying run down the right before clipping a delightful cross into the middle where it was met by Matt Taylor who's close range bullet header was unfortunately hit straight at the keeper. That signalled the end of Stansfield's work for the afternoon as Dean Moxey entered the fray with City reverting to a 4-4-2 formation with Deano joining Matt Gill, Harley and Edwards in the middle and Logan partnering Marcus Stewart up front. Ten minutes later Deano dropped back into the left back position as the previously clattered Friend made way for Craig McAllister, who went up front with Stewart dropping to left midfield. The change saw Stewart drive down the left before whipping in a wicked dipping cross that Logan, with a defender close, couldn't quite latch onto and the chance was gone. With a quarter of an hour remaining the increasingly busy Stewart drove in a waist height cross from the right that McAllister aimed a first time swinger at only to see it drift wide of the post, then two minutes later a Deano flick from the left found Stewart 15 yards out towards the comer of the box where in one swift movement he turned and launched a ferocious drive across goal and wide. With ten minutes left manager Paul Tisdale showed his urgency to get something from the game by bringing the more attack minded Liam Sercombe on to replace Tully at right back, but little happened until the fourth official raised the board for three minutes stoppage time. Gill and McAllister combined well down the right where McAllister's cross was deflected to Harley lurking deep. His blistering drive was spectacularly headed off the line for a comer, then Taylor could only succeed in butting that comer agonisingly wide from close range. Completely in contrast to how we finished last season, this was, hopefully, just a one off, and that performances will be back to what we've become accustomed to recently in the near future. If not, we're in for a long hard season and one of attrition rather than free flowing football. We must also realise that the opposition is just a little bit more clever, a little bit stronger and a little bit tougher in this division, so when we have the opportunity to look for a pass and keep possession at the back then we can play it about a bit instead of slamming it aimlessly up to Logan and, Stansfield, and also that when a shooting opportunity comes along we must make the keeper eam his com instead of always wanting to take that extra touch, make that unnecessary pass or just line it up that little bit better. But it's early days and there's still an awful long way to go. No-one's ever won the league or been relegated before September, so although disappointed, we should still hold our heads high and be proud to be City supporters.

BBC Match Report –

Sam Parkin boosted heavily-penalised Luton's bid to escape from relegation as his solitary strike secured them a vital 1-0 win against Exeter. Parkin, who began his career at Chelsea, headed the only goal of the game just after the break, rising to nod home Kevin Nicholls' free-kick. Home side Exeter rarely troubled visiting goalkeeper Dean Brill. The closest they came to a goal was when Ryan Harley saw a shot headed off the line in the closing stages.

Exeter: Jones, Tully (Sercombe 81), Seaborne, Matthew Taylor, Friend (McAllister 74), Edwards, Harley, Gill, Logan, Stansfield (Moxey 65), Stewart. Subs Not Used: Marriott, Panther.

Luton: Brill, Gnakpa, Pilkington, Spillane, Davis, Jarvis, Nicholls, Keane, Emanuel, Martin (Charles 80), Parkin.

Subs Not Used: Logan, Roper, Hall, Watson.

Goals: Parkin 47