Oxford United 3 Exeter City 0

23rd September 2023

Exeter City suffered a disappointing defeat on the road, conceding three to Oxford without response. An early goal from Ruben Rodrigues put City on the back foot before two second-half penalties from Cameron Brannagan secured three points for the hosts.

Manager Gary Caldwell named one change from last weekend’s 1-0 league win against Cheltenham, with Harry Kite coming straight into the starting XI in his first appearance of the season following a summer injury. 

Oxford took an early lead as Kyle Edwards found himself in space on the left-wing, putting in a low cross to find Rodrigues in even more space. An unmarked Rodrigues leapt forward and put Oxford 1-0 up with a powerful diving header.

City looked to respond quickly with some wing-play of their own. This time it did not prove to be as fruitful. Demetri Mitchell, who looked bright in the opening 15 minutes, whipped a venomous cross across the face of James Beadle’s goal. Although Will Aimson was unable to find an equaliser as the ball flew straight into his chest and rebounded over the Oxford bar. 

Ten minutes later, Aimson gave away a free kick on the left-wing, along the touchline, ten yards out from the corner flag. A one-man Reece Cole wall stood between the ball and the goal, ensuring the free kick became a cross: A cross which Viljami Sinisalo gathered and quickly set City away on a counter. However, Sinisalo’s quick-thinking did not pay dividends after the counter-attack crescendoed with Kite smashing the ball wide. 

After a frantic opening to the first-half, City were able to find a moment to breath – chaining together several composed passes in their own third. Composure quickly became complacency as Pierce Sweeney’s pass along the floor is intercepted by Kyle Edwards who found Bodin with enough space and time to get a scintillating shot off – met by an even more impressive diving save from Sinisalo to keep City in it. 

Halfway through the first-half, Zak Jules became a thorn in the left-hand side of the Oxford defence. First, he galloped past every yellow shirt on his side of the pitch, winning City an unfruitful corner. A few minutes later, Jules popped up in a pocket of space, found by a needle-threading Sweeney throw-in, he was brought down to win a free kick in shooting range. Cole stood over the free kick, and despite hitting the ball with venom, the ball ricocheted against the Oxford wall, sapping any momentum it had – leaving the Oxford defenders able to gather and clear. 

City’s best chance of the first-half began with a sweet, lobbed ball across the pitch from Reece Cole to the feet of Yanic Wildschut. Wildschut then took on the Oxford left-back with a burst of acceleration before striking a powerful blow against the near post. 

Towards the end of the first-half, Oxford’s corner was delayed as Ryan Trevitt received treatment. After a moment of suspense, all anticipation built by the delay was soaked up by Sinisalo as he gathered Brannagan’s high ball. The last piece of action in the first-half came from a Sweeney cross beyond the back-post, headed back in by Jules for the Oxford keeper to gather. After two minutes of added time, the teams went in with one goal separating them. 

City started the second-half on the front foot. Mitchell’s quick feet left the Oxford defence dizzy. Using both feet, Mitchell shimmied between defenders along the edge of the box before spinning and playing through Jules. The referee’s whistle calling a dubious foul on Mitchell was the only thing that stood between Jules and the Oxford goalkeeper.  

Midway through the second half, Jules won a corner that was subsequently cleared by Marcus McGuane, sparking an Oxford counter-attack. Possession found its way to Stan Mills in dangerous territory, before Will Aimson smashed the ball away, winning City a free kick in the process. Later on, Mitchell was tripped 35-yards out. Cole stood over the freekick, forcing a save from Beadle, who was lucky there was a yellow shirt on the end of it to clear, forcing City to recycle. 

City controlled possession in the final 15 minutes as Oxford defended attack after attack. However, their efforts were undone as City were caught on the counter and Will Aimson was caught out twice, giving away two penalties, both of which were converted by Brannagan, putting to bed any hopes City had of a late comeback. 

Exeter City: Sinasalo, Jules, Aimson (C), Hartridge (Harper), Carroll, Mitchell, Trevitt (Watts), Cole (Cox), Wildschut (Scott), Kite (Taylor), Sweeney.

Subs: Woods, Fitzwater.

Oxford: Beadle, Brown, Thorniley, Moore (C), Brannagan, Bodin (Goodrham, McGuane, Rodrigues, Long, Mills (Murphy), Edwards (Leigh).

Subs: Eastwood, McEachran, Negru, Stevens.

Referee: Daniel Middleton

Attendance: 10022 (909 away) 

U18 Match Report: Cheltenham Town 1 City 1

Derek Baker reports on last weekend's point.

Exeter City’s Under-18s secured their first points since the opening weekend of the season with a 1-1 draw away at Cheltenham Town U18s at the weekend.

Despite dominating for long periods, the Grecians went into the break scoreless, however, they opened the scoring through an own goal.

Town upped the ante in the closing stages however, and they bagged themselves a late leveller to take a share of the spoils.

The draw puts an end to a minor dip in form from Exeter’s youngsters, and they now sit in eighth position in the Youth Alliance South West division, with four points from their opening five league games.

ECFC Under-18s Lead Coach, Tom Donati, took his young squad up the M5 in the hope that the three-game losing streak that had built up in the league would come to an end.

Joe O’Connor, Pedro Borges and Jake Richards came into the starting XI for City, while Sam Joce and Scott Simmons dropped down to a relatively strong looking bench.

And those personnel changes looked to have the desired effect as the away team started brightly and looked to get on the front foot early on.

The Devon outfit, however, were unable to make the most of the openings they created for their forward line, which was led by Kieran Wilson in Theo Cutler’s absence.

The Robins created opportunities themselves, however, Dylan Shanahan in the Grecians’ goal looked relatively comfortable, and was equal to everything Cheltenham threw at him.

The teams went in level at the interval however as neither side could find the cutting edge in the final third. After half-time though, Exeter looked to step things up after some words of wisdom from Donati at half-time.

The City pressure told after 68 minutes when some bright play meant one home defender could only turn the ball past his own goalkeeper to break the deadlock.

The visitors looked in control for the majority of the second period, however, their opponents did try and muster a response when they did fall a goal behind.

It looked as if the Devonians might have been able to hold on for a much-needed victory, however, the Robins were able to score from an attack in the dying minutes to level the scores, meaning the points were shared when the referee blew for full-time not long after.

Exeter City’s Under-18s Lead Coach, Tom Donati: “We started the game again really well. We controlled the game much better than in previous games, and it was probably the best we've been throughout the season in terms of the controlling possession element to be honest.

“We still gave up a couple of chances where we needed to be better, but as time went on, we were mostly in control and we looked less vulnerable, which is good to see. It looks like we're moving in the right direction.

“Some players played particularly well, while there were also a couple of good performances, or better performances from some individuals. It was good to have Kieran Wilson and George Birch back in the team as well.

“We conceded another late goal, which has become a common theme unfortunately, and conceding goals has become a common theme so we need to put a stop to this run really, but it is a point away from home, arguably, that is a positive. But from being in the lead, you feel a bit gutted about losing that.”

Exeter City Under-18s: Dylan Shanahan, Tom Dean, Max Edgecombe, Jack Anthony, Liam Cartwright, Liam Oakes, Guilio Marroni, Joe O’Connor, Jake Richards, Pedro Borges, Kieran Wilson

Subs: Sam Joce, Scott Simmons, Aamir Stanford-Daniels, Alfie Cunningham, George Birch