Not long after the restart, Forest Green had their first real effort on goal with Robson sending the ball towards the City goal but left Blackman untroubled.

After a shaky start to the second half, The Grecians found themselves a goal down after 55 minutes with new signing Garrick found unmarked at the back post to tap the ball home following Jamie Robson's delivery.

With 60 minutes played, Gary had clearly seen enough and made a double change, introducing Jevani Brown and new signing Joe White to the frey. 

The subs had made a difference with Brown making an impact instantly, a cross field pass from Caprice found Brown on the left-hand side, he then sent a cross to back post and there was Stansfield, but pressure from the Rovers defence forced his header over the bar.

With 74 minutes played, City equalised after an outstanding finish from the magic man Brown. A whole comedy of errors led to the goal with multiple shouts from City players for fouls on White outside of the box and then what looked like a definite penalty to City after a Rovers defender seemed to gather the ball up in the area. However, in all that kerfuffle Brown produced some magic to make it level. 

City should have taken the lead just minutes later when Harry Kite's low effort struck the post, sparking chaos in the Forest Green area. From the rebound, Josh Key hit the bar from close range before the ball pinged around the box. The scramble came to an end as Rovers hooked the ball away, but the Grecian remained determined. 

It was an impressive half-an-hour cameo from debutant White, who displayed some fine skill and vision on his first appearance, setting up Hartridge for an effort that poked wide.

Despite the chances, City had to settle for a point.

Exeter City: Blackman, Caprice, Sparkes (Brown), Hartridge, Collins (White), Stansfield, Nombe, Key, Kite, Sweeney ©, Diabate

Subs not used: Lee, Stubbs, Harper, Chauke, Grounds

Forest Green: Doohan, McGeouch (Hendry), Casey, Stevenson ©, Garrick (Bakayoko), Robson, McAllister (Bernard), Godwin-Malife (O’Keefe), Cooper (Cargill), Peart-Harris, March

Subs not used: Thomas, Stevens

Referee: David Rock

Attendance: 7008 (316 Away)

Under-18 Report:
City 4 Newport County 1

Derek Baker reports on a fine win!

A dominant second-half performance saw Exeter City’s Under-18s go one better than the draw they mustered against Newport County U18s last week, as the Grecians ran out worth 4-1 victors over their Welsh counterparts in the reverse fixture on Saturday.

Tom Dean’s excellent finish handed City the advantage, but they were pegged back just before the interval when the Exiles capitalised on their opponents trying to play their way out of defence. But a commanding performance after half-time saw the Devonians retake the lead when Mitch Beardmore’s free-kick ricocheted into the County net on 61 minutes. Late goals from George Spencer and Pedro Borges wrapped up the points for the home side, who have moved up to fourth in the Youth Alliance South West division. Brad Miller’s men welcomed Newport to the Cliff Hill Training Ground at the weekend just seven days after the two teams shared a dramatic 3-3 draw in South Wales. The ECFC coach welcomed back several members of the usual youth team squad back into his starting XI, while scholars, Ed James, Gabriel Billington, Joe O’Connor and Spencer were all named on the bench after their weekend matches with their respective loan clubs were called off. But those in red and white who started on the pitch began the game in a lively manner, and just a few minutes in, they tested the away goalkeeper after Dean and Alfie Clark combined effectively in midfield. The Welshmen matched their opponents however in the opening stages, and they almost capitalised on some sloppy play a few minutes later, but Scott Simmons applied enough pressure on the Exiles striker for him to waste the chance. In the 14th minute, a wonderful piece of ingenuity from Beardmore saw the playmaker tee up Alfie Cunningham with a scooped pass, which was eventually halted by an offside flag, while up the other end, Andrew Sowden kept matters goalless when he tipped an effort from the edge of the area around the post. Beardmore, sporting the captain’s armband this week, was becoming more and more influential for his side, and he almost broke the deadlock with another piece of magic as he raced onto a pass down the side of the 18-yard box; The midfielder’s rabona shot, however, was parried away. Sowden continued to be just as important for Exeter though, and after 32 minutes, he came to his side’s rescue as County floated a cross to the far stick. Rushing in came the unmarked full-back, but his attempt was wonderfully stopped by the City goalie. The Devon outfit ended the opening 45 minutes strongly, as Cunningham and Borges both saw strikes kept out by the opponent's ‘keeper. But some quick thinking by the hosts five minutes before the break saw them get into an advanced position on the left flank through Clark. The forward crossed the ball towards the back post where there was plenty of room, and, on the run, Dean half-volleyed the ball into the back of the net to open the scoring. Newport tried to respond in first-half injury time, and, after stealing possession in the middle third, they sent one drive over the crossbar. Moments later though, the visitors grabbed a leveller just when Miller’s men were looking to begin building an attack once more. Robbing the ball in the centre of the pitch, the Welsh club moved play on quickly, before sending their attacker in on goal with a direct pass. His dinked effort was too good for Sowden, as he handed his team the goal that brought the two sides level when the referee whistled for the interval seconds later. Conditions worsened as both sets of players came out for the restart, which saw the early stages produce little highlights. Jake Richards headed a corner off-target, but the first real talking point after half-time came when Exeter introduced Kye Cooper and James into the fray.