Match Report: 11th November 2023
Fleetwood Town 3 Exeter City 0

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Exeter City fell to a 3-0 defeat away to Fleetwood Town.

All three goals came in the first half, with City, brighter but unable to find a response in the second.

Gary Caldwell named one alteration to the starting eleven. Admiral Muskwe returned to the lineup ahead of Yanick Wildschut, as Ilmari Pa Pop Niskanen made his long-awaited return to the squad.

It took just five minutes for Fleetwood to open the scoring. Ryan Broom exploited a gaping hole in the City defence and slotted the ball past Vil Sinisalo.The Grecians keeper was called back into action, just seconds later. The Finnish number one made an expert double save denying first Promise Omochere, and then Jack Marriott. The home side dominated the opening ten minutes as Josh Earl rose highest from a free kick, heading wide. City steadied the ship and created a half-chance of their own. Vincent Harper was sent down the right channel and pulled the ball back to Pierce Sweeney. Sweens’ pop-shot led to an eventually cleared corner. James Scott had a slight shout for a penalty mid-way through the first half. The City man nipped in front of a Fleetwood defender before going to ground. “Nothing doing” said referee Thomas Kirk.

Zak Jules was finding pockets behind the Cod Army’s defence, nodding high balls back across the face of goal. Unfortunately, for all Jules’ toil, there were scarce grey-shirted options in the centre. Despite City’s forward efforts, the defensive frailties that have bugged City lately returned on 32 minutes. A simple corner. A simple header. And Brendan Wiredu the happy recipient of Fleetwood’s second. James Scott drove high and wide as the Grecians sought any foothold into the game. The home side soon found had a third just before the break. Phoenix Patterson cleverly beating Sinisalo at his near post with a free kick. Vil, probably City’s player of the half considering, made a great stop to deny Broom from picking up his second with the last kick of the 45.

Caldwell raided the bench at half time with Cheick Diabate, Yanick Wildschut and Ilmari Niskanen thrust into the fray. It was Wildschut who powered through for City’s first chance of the second period, driving past two Town defenders and forcing a double save out of keeper Jay Lynch.   The adjustments at the break began to spark City into life. Yannick again productive down the left, pulling the ball across the face for Niskanen who struck wide.

Vil made a few more smart stops before the hour. One to deny another free header from a corner, and the second to react to a deflected shot low to the keeper's right. With twenty minutes to play, Marriot skied high as Fleetwood sought a fourth. Diabate found his way into the book with an ineloquent body charge on Omochere. City pressed forward six minutes later. Kyle Taylor’s deft touch fed Yannick through. Wildschut cut onto his right and fired at goal. The stubborn Town defence stood firm. Taylor was a nuisance in the box and flicked a header over. Ever in the game, Vil again got down well to a Ryan Broom volley to stop the home man getting his second of the afternoon.  Kyle Taylor’s saved shot with the last kick of the game was in vain as City slipped to defeat.

Fleetwood Town: Lynch, Wiredu (Simons 68’), Lawal, Mayor, Broom, Marriott (Tshimanga 84’), Heneghan, Omochere (Robertson 79’), Rooney, Earl, Patterson (Stockley 84’)

Subs: McMullen, Holgate, Graydon

Exeter City: Sinisalo, Harper (Taylor 73’), Sweeney (Diabate 46’), Aimson, Hartridge (Niskanen 46’), Jules, Trevitt, Kite, Aitchison, Muskwe, Scott (Wildschut 46’)

Subs: MacDonald, O’Connor, Cunningham,

Referee: Thomas Kirk

Attendance: 2268

Football League Youth Alliance
Under 18's
Exeter v Portsmouth 
Report by Derek Baker 

The points were shared as Exeter City’s Under-18s drew with Portsmouth U18s in a six-goal thriller at the Cliff Hill Training Ground on Saturday.

Pompey’s Mitch Aston broke the deadlock in an edgy first period just five minutes before half-time, however, goals from Theo Cutler and Tom Dean turned the game around in just a few minutes shortly after the restart.

Cutler extended the City lead at the midpoint of the half through a Cutler penalty, but the visitors hit back through Luke Staight’s 73rd minute header to set up a thrilling finale.

After securing their second win of the season last weekend, Exeter’s youngsters were hoping to record another three points as they looked to continue moving themselves up the Youth Alliance league standings.

Pompey themselves were coming into the fixture off the back of a bright run of results, and had previously beat their opponents 4-0 at the start of the campaign.

The hosts opted for Ollie Saunders in between the sticks, while Aamir Stanford-Daniels and Callum Graham were selected as the wide men in the hope they could stretch the game and cause the Portsmouth backline some issues with their direct running.

The game, however, started rather cagey, as both teams looked to gain the upper hand in the early exchanges, trying to force one another into a mistake that they could take advantage of.

Both sets of players enjoyed some long spells of possession, but arguably, the defences were the real winners inside the opening quarter of an hour with neither goalkeeper properly tested.

City’s first real opportunity came on 16 minutes when Scott Simmons located Graham on the wing, but the resulting cross was just beyond Theo Cutler at the near post, before the ball was cleared away by the visitors.

The contest became a real tactical battle, with neither club able to establish a dominance. It took until the 32nd minute before the first shot on target came about, as Grecian skipper, Tom Dean, picked out Sam Joce with a set-piece, but the centre-back’s header was comfortably saved.

Pompey were perhaps edging the territory battle though, as they used the flanks to move up the pitch. And with five minutes of the first half remaining, they opened the scoring in spectacular style.

After winning a free-kick within shooting distance, Portsmouth’s captain, Aston, curled a beautiful free-kick beyond the reach of Palmer and into the top corner to stun everyone associated with the Devon outfit.

The two sides traded chances during the latter stages of the half, but, when the referee blew for the break, there was a sense that the game was still waiting to ignite.

Dan Layer and Giulio Marroni entered the fray for Exeter with the hope they could help turn the tide, and swing the match in the home side’s favour.

And following on from a strong restart, the equaliser arrived not long after when Graham lofted the ball over the opposition backline for Cutler to race on to. The City forward kept his composure, and slotted the ball just beyond the away goalie to restore parity after 53 minutes.

The momentum had truly shifted, and a confident Grecians started to look a lot more threatening.

Just a few moments on from their leveller, the Devonians netted again following some good all-round  build-up play. Cayless retrieved possession and fed Graham on the right wing. His centre was missed by the ‘keeper, before Dean tucked the ball into the unguarded net to turn the game around.

Exeter’s youngsters possessed a real threat down the right hand side, and on the hour mark, the high energy levels of Aidan Bown were added to the visitors’ ranks.

The lead was doubled on 66 minutes when City moved forward down the right once again. The ball worked it’s way into the 18-yard box, and following a bit of a scramble, the ball was adjudged to have been handled by one scrambling defender, resulting in a Grecians spot-kick. Cutler stepped up and guided the ball into the bottom corner to make it 3-1.

Pompey, however, with their experience and physical advantage, never backed down, and refused to believe they were beat. Just seven minutes later, they pulled a goal back when a cross from Brian Quarm’s was converted by a committed diving header from Staight.

The impetus had been stolen back by the Portsmouth players, and, as the match entered the final 15 minutes, two efforts from the away team both went narrowly off-target.

Pompey thought they had grabbed their third of the day in the 81st minute following a surge down the left, and a cross into the danger zone.The ball was thumped in from close-range, however, the assistant referee flagged for an offside, keeping it at a five-goal game.

Portsmouth really turned the screw during the closing stages, and Layer denied the away team with a routine stop not long after, while they also clipped the top of the crossbar when they attacked through a set-piece routine.

In response, Stanford-Daniels blazed a half-chance wide for the Devon club, but seemingly it appeared that if the afternoon’s sixth goal did arrive, it was only going to go one way.

In the 89th minute, with more bodies sent forward, Pompey shifted the ball to the right once more through some intricate passing. Folarin outmuscled Cayless, and powered home an effort that was too good for Layer to level the scores in dramatic fashion.

The full-time whistle sounded not long after, and naturally, the hosts were disappointed not to hold on, however, a positive result and performance against a talented Portsmouth team can only give the Exeter players huge confidence going forward, ahead of their FA Youth Cup second round tie against Hemel Hempstead Town U18s on Friday.

Exeter City’s Head of Coaching & Player Development, Brad Miller: “It was certainly an entertaining game. I was particularly impressed with how the young group coped with what was thrown at them. There were challenges for them throughout the match - physically there was a mismatch with defender Louis Cayless going up against their striker. We rode our luck at times, but ultimately, I think a draw was a fair result.

“There wasn’t much going on at either end in the first period, and we cancelled each other out. We had a lot of possession trying to build something, but there wasn’t a lot of space to play through, and Portsmouth were used their mid-press well which restricted our front three. In the first half we showed some good build-up play, but couldn’t progress with it, and ultimately they scored a quality free-kick which was the difference at that stage.

“At half-time we spoke about our quality in possession, and mentioned about using different spaces and some creative moments to get into certain positions. We wanted more belief and bravery on the ball, and looked to get Tom Dean higher up the pitch. We knew it as going ok up until that creative phase of play, but I thought the lads took that on board, and were good value for their three goals when we managed to break through.

“Understandably, the lads were gutted at full-time. But we were playing a young lad at 14-years old in the middle of the defence, who I thought was outstanding, so there were going to be moments when he would physically wouldn’t be able to cope, and that ended up happening for their third goal. But we are happy to sacrifice that for his and the team’s development. We want the boys to have a winning mentality, but there is a positive outlook on all of this.

“We ended up taking a few of the older scholars off, and the younger lads who have come in have really helped and had an impact for us. Their impacts are nice to see in Under-18s football, because we have a thin group, and they have rather complimented the rest of the squad.

“We play away at Hemel Hemstead in the FA Youth Cup on Friday, which will be a good experience for the lads. It will be a long distance travel game, meaning the lads will have to eat right and prepare professionally. But the boys love the FA Youth Cup, and hopefully we can progress into round three with a good performance and positive result.”

Exeter City Under-18s: Ollie Saunders, Louie Cayless, Scott Simmons, Sam Joce, Liam Oakes, Harry Crees, Tom Dean, Aamir Stanford-Daniels, Callum Graham, George Birch, Theo Cutler

Subs: Dan Layer, Kye Cooper, Aidan Bown, Jude Horn, Giulio Marroni