Wycombe Wanderers 0 Exeter City 3

City start the season with a blinder

Exeter City began the 2023/24 in style with a rampant and convincing 3-0 at Wycombe Wanderers. Jack Aitchison's strike after 28 seconds set City on their way, before Will Aimson's prod made it two by the 4th minute. James Scott added gloss in the final ten minutes as the Grecians set Adams Park alight. Manager Gary Caldwell named a starting XI which included six new signings making their full competitive debuts, with a further two more on the bench, alongside Kyle Taylor, who would come on for his first league minutes in 16 months.  It was a fantastic start to the season for the Grecians as they took the lead after only 28 seconds. A header won by Alex Hartridge was headed up high causing an issue for the Wycombe defence, leading to a miss kick at the back. Jack Aitchison latched onto Demetri Mitchell's ball, slotting past Max Stryjek with ease. Minutes later and a corner into the box from Pierce Sweeney pinballed around the six-yard box before City captain Aimson scrambled the ball home to make it two, barely 180 seconds into the match. Everything was going City’s way in the opening ten minutes; this time City were awarded a penalty. After beautiful link up play between Sam Nombe and Mitchell, the latter was felled in the box by Stryjek. Up-stepped Nombe but his strong penalty was met by the even stronger hand of Stryjek to send it away for a corner, as City missed the chance to take an incredible lead. There was an early un-planned change for City as Mitchell was taking from the field with a suspected injury, being replaced by debutant Vincent Harper for his first outing in a competitive City fixture. After a period of fireworks courtesy of the Grecians, the game finally started to settle down halfway through the first half, but the game was starting to frustrate Wycombe with two yellows for the home side, coming by way of Kane Vincent-Young and Harry Boyes for two late challenges. As the half was ticking on City kept the pressure on the home side, this time it was Tom Carroll aiming to turn provider as he sent a free kick into the Wycombe box. It was only cleared as far as Rankine who smashed a rocket of a strike straight down the neck of Stryjek who gathered it up. It was a much stronger start to the second half for the home side as they were seeing more of the ball in the attacking third. Their first chance came via Boyes who sent a looping cross to the back post but a fantastic diving header interception from Hartridge cleared the ball away. There was an early second half booking for Sweeney as City’s Irishman took one for the team stopping what could have been a promising attack for the home side, but City were still in charge of the game with a quarter left to play, showing their strength from set pieces, whether that be from Carroll or Sweeney. It was a Carroll delivery which caused a problem for the Wycombe defence next up, but it was Stryjek with a strong punch to clear away whilst also clearing out a few of his own players. It was a double change for City on the 72nd minute as Gary was looking to keep City on for a win. Leaving the pitch were Rankine and Carroll, to be replaced James Scott and another City debutant in Reece Cole. City made it 3-0 with eight minutes of normal time remaining as another defensive mistake for Wycombe had the ball find kindly to Scott, who took his opportunity. As he spun round, he rifled the ball into the top right-hand corner, right in front of the travelling Grecian support. Straight after the goal, City made a double change with goal scorer Aitchison and Jules replaced by Cheick Diabate and Taylor, with the latter getting a raucous round of applause after a 16 month lay-off.

Wycombe Wanderers: Stryjek, Grimmer, Jacobson © (Forino), Breckin (Scowen), Leahy, Boyes, Keogh, Hanlan (Vokes), Potts (McCleary), Taylor, Vincent-Young Subs not used: Shala, Low, De Barr

City: Sinisalo, Rankine (Scott), Sweeney, Aimson ©, Hartridge, Jules (Diabate), Carroll (Cole), Trevitt, Aitchison (Taylor), Mitchell (Harper), Nombe Subs not used: Woods, Cox

Referee: Charles Breakspear

Attendance: 5369 (766 away) 


U18 Report: City 2 Swindon Town 0

Derek Baker reports on an opening day win for the U18s. Exeter City’s under-18s began the 2023/2024 in the best possible way with a 2-0 victory over Swindon Town U18s on Saturday.

The Robins had the better of the opportunities in the opening half, but Josh Keyes received a red card for a bad challenge in the lead-up to the interval to really swing the momentum. The Grecians controlled large periods in the second period, and they broke the deadlock on 66 minutes when Tom Dean bundled home Guilio Maroni’s cross-shot. Moments later Theo Cutler displayed his predatory skills firing in his side’s second to seal all three points, to hand Tom Donati’s team the dream start to this year’s Youth Alliance South West division. Following a successful pre-season, a sense of optimism buzzed around the City youngsters in the build-up to their first fixture of the new campaign. Conditions at the Cliff Hill Train Ground were continuously changing, a little like the Exeter lineup as Liam Cartwright, an Under-16, slotted in at the heart of the defence, while utility man, Liam Oakes, started the match as an advanced playmaker. The opening exchanges saw both teams try and settle, and while the two sets of players both enjoyed positive passages in possession, very little came from those phases in the opening 10 minutes. The game did settle down a little later, however, and it was the visitors who began to build up a rhythm. In the 12th minute, Dean was robbed of the ball, which led to a Town striker one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but the shot was dragged horribly off target. Swindon continued to knock at the door, and they saw a goal rightfully disallowed for offside after 17 minutes when a neat move saw an initial effort charged down, before the rebound was tucked away ahead of the lineman’s flag. A minute later, the wasteful Robins spurned another opportunity when a poor first touch meant the ball got stuck under the forward’s feet when he was trying to get a shot away. Although Dylan Shanahan was the busier shot-stopper, he hadn’t been forced to make any crucial saves, however, as the game ticked into the second quarter, the ‘keeper made a significant contribution to keep things goalless. Dean’s loose pass could only find a Town shirt, and the away midfielder got himself within shooting range before trying to guide the ball into the net, however, a big stop by Shanahan’s left foot deflected the ball away from danger. Up at the other end, the Devonians had little to shout about, but a glimmer of positivity shone through when an attack down the right saw play move into the attacking third. A pullback located Maroni, before the midfielder flashed a volley over the top. A minute later, Shanahan was again denying Swindon with a variety of different saves, before arguably the turning point of the contest came six minutes before the interval. As the ball broke free, Alfie Cunningham was felled by a dangerous sliding challenge from Keyes which gave the referee very little option but to brandish a red card to hand the home side the man advantage with more than 50% of the match still to play. The Grecians used that extra space to control proceedings after the break. Despite not really opening the Robins' defence in any way during the first 10 minutes of the second period, they passed the ball with more precision and decisiveness as they looked to wear the opposition down. Some good link-up play in the 56th minute saw Cunningham release Dean down the right flank. Dean, now wearing the captain’s armband and operating further up the pitch, tried to pick out Cutler inside the six-yard box, however, some tight marking meant the attacker couldn’t get any clean contact on the ball, and eventually the ball was cleared. The threats were beginning to come from all across the pitch, and on the left side, Stanford-Daniels advanced just after the hour mark following another accurate ball from Cunningham, however, a tame centre meant the attack came to nothing. Just before the midpoint of the half though, the deadlock was broken courtesy of another sweeping move put together by the City players. Another surge down the left wing saw Cunningham get to the byline, however, the playmaker’s cross was initially repelled. Maroni picked the ball up in a dangerous position, and his first-time attempt was drilled across the face of goal, before Dean converted from close range to open the scoring. The confidence grew in the Exeter players, and they continued to play with a swagger as they looked to kill the game with another against their deflated opponents. The lead was doubled on 72 minutes when Maroni clipped a lovely ball over the defence for Dean to run on to. Dean sent in a low ball into the box, which one Town centre-back was unable to deal with. That allowed Cutler a sniff of an opportunity, and the poacher took possession and slotted a snap-shop inside the far post to send Donati and the rest of the coaching staff wild. The visitors tried to get a foothold in the game, but they rarely had the ball long enough to make a dent in the Devon club’s defence. With 10 minutes remaining, Swindon perhaps should have done better from a set-piece when a free header was glanced wide with the goal at the forward’s mercy. But some solid game management meant the Robins never really had a hope of getting back into the game, as Jake Richards’ speculative, but decent long-range effort late on was the closest the match came to a third goal. The referee blew for full-time not long after, which meant City’s youngsters took all three points from the opening weekend, and they sit second in the standings before they travel to Portsmouth U18s for their next league game on Saturday.



Exeter City Under-18s: Dylan Shanahan, Aamir Stanford-Daniels, Kye Cooper, Max Edgecombe, Liam Cartwright, Tom Dean, Guilio Maroni, Jake Richards, Alfie Cunningham, Liam Oakes, Theo Cutler