Exeter City 2 Eastwood Tn 1

FA Cup 1st Round 

BY ROSS REID

EXETER City completed a profes- sional job against Bryan Chambers' Eastwood FA Cup braves despite being reduced to 10 men just after the hour when Shane Bradley was dis- missed for a second bookable offence. Striker Steve Flack and midfielder Shaun Gale both marked their return to the City starting line-up with goals to put the Grecians two-up before the visitors first timers in the first round pulled one back in the 56th minute through Richard Smith. City's on-loan Southampton striker Bradley was booked for a 62nd minute foul on Badgers' central defender Paul Gould. Two minutes later Bradley saw red after a second bookable offence, following a tan- gle with visitors' sweeper Carl Flint, who received a yellow card. It meant City's defence had to dig in but they came out on top. The Unibond Division One side from Nottinghamshire had opened by winning the first corner and former Exeter loan signing Gavin Warboys had an early spooned his effort wide. City countered with visiting 'keeper Danny Bryant forced to punch clear from Flack as he rose to meet Jamie Robinson's cross. Eastwood's recalled skipper, and top scorer, Paul Tomlinson flashed a shot in from long range, but City 'keeper Stuart Naylor was rarely troubled in the first half. In the 14th minute, his opposite number Bryant made a good block on City danger- man Flack as he fed on Bradley's flick. City scouts predicted this would not be an easy tie for the home side and so it proved, with Bryant again denying Flack on 26 minutes. But eventually the big man found the net. Home skipper Jon Richardson was fouled by Richard Smith on the halfway line for which both players ended up in referee Scott Mathieson's book -and from the free kick City went one-up. The ball was fed to Gale and his deep cross was superbly met at the far post by Flack before planting a header past Bryant. When Gale made it 2-0 early in the second half, slotting in Kofi Nyamah's cross from close-range it all looked over for the minnows. But Eastwood responded by grabbing a 56th minute goal when Smith met Scott Bonsall's cross into the box with a stinging drive. Chambers' hopes of an upset increased when City lost Bradley and he threw on two more strikers, forcing Naylor to deny Tomlinson and Warboys. City made their own changes with fit-again midfielder Paul Buckle re-introduced. for the last 20 minutes, City managed 10 efforts on goal and limited Eastwood to five on-target efforts.

Exeter City 
Naylor. Richardson.Gittens. Curran Robinson Nyamah Gale Rees Smith Flack. Bradley Substitutes: Breslan (for Nyamah, 82), Buckle (for Smith, 74). Not used: Speakman, Waugh, Matthews (gk)

Eastwood:
Bryant, King (Breach 46), Easton, Gould (Kennerdal 76), Flint, Bonser, Castledine Tomlinson, Warboys (Todd 76), Smith, Bonsall. Not used: Chadbourne, Parkin (gk)

Scorers:
Exeter Flack, 40; Gale 47:
Eastwood - Smith, 56
Bookings:
Exeter - Richardson, 39, Bradley 62: Eastwood – Smith Tomlinson, Flint
Sent Off
Exeter - Bradley 65

Referee: S.Mathieson (Stockport)

Attendance: 2.441

Star Man: Steve Flack- Never stopped chasing