Blackpool 2 Exeter City 0

13th January 2024

City beaten at Bloomfield Road

Vil Sinisalo saves a penalty although two strikes either side of the half-time whistle for Blackpool's Albie Morgan proved to be the difference as City suffer a 2-0 defeat at Bloomfield Road.

City travelled 278 miles north to face the side with the best home form in League One, Blackpool. Having picked up seven of the last 12 available points, City were starting to find their feet following a poor run of form earlier in the season; however, the Grecians’ away form still leaves a lot to be desired and few teams have successfully taken points home from Bloomfield Road in the league this season. This game promised to be a real test for Gary Caldwell’s Exeter City.

Caldwell named no changes to the starting XI that beat Carlisle on the previous weekend, although the bench saw the inclusion of new signing Ben Purrington and Will Aimson, who returns from injury. Pierce Sweeney captained the side, making his 350th appearance for City at the same ground where he made his debut in 2016. 

Jack Aitchison kicked City off, and played the ball back to captain Sweeney, who played a long diagonal ball to Zac Jules, just overhit and out of Jules’ reach. The game then went on to provide a cagey opening five minutes, giving no clues as to which team would take the points early on. 

Alex Hartridge picked up a yellow for a foul on a Blackpool attacker as the ref played advantage, later giving Blackpool a freekick for a following challenge closer to the City area. Morgan stood over the free kick and struck it cleanly, almost too cleanly as Vil Sinisalo was able to read its path and comfortably catch the ball. 

City’s first corner of the game came in the 18th minute. Tom Carroll stood over the ball with Dion Rankine to his side, a familiar sight for City fans in recent games. Although, instead of playing the ball short, Carroll whipped the ball into the area and it sat in the six-yard box. In the scramble, Sweeney thundered the ball from close range into the chest of a Blackpool defender who was lying on the floor at Sweeney’s feet. 

Sinisalo then made a rare error, misplacing a pass, giving the ball away in a very dangerous position. In the race to close the attack, City’s number one then brought down a Blackpool attacker in the box, being punished with an undisputed penalty kick. The average keeper would let those chain of events get to their head but as City fans well know, Vil Sinisalo is not the average keeper. Jordan Rhodes stood over the penalty and placed it well to Sinisalo’s left, but City’s Finnish international went the right way and kept the ball out with a strong hand. The game remained level and all was forgiven as the away fans chanted “Super Sinisalo in goal”. 

Shortly after, Aitchison was having his praises sung by the travelling City supporters. Chasing down a through ball, Aitchison shrugged off his full back on the right flank, leaving the centre back to come across and cover, creating space for Sonny Cox in behind. Aitchison played an, almost, inch-perfect ball through to Cox, but Blackpool’s keeper, Dan Grimshaw was the first to it.  

Blackpool took the lead in the 38th minute courtesy of an impressive strike from Morgan. Morgan, who had been playing well in central midfield, found space on the edge of the City area and picked his spot in the top-right corner, putting the hosts ahead before the break. Once play had resumed, it quickly paused again as Morgan alleged that Aitchison had brought him down off the ball, the pair’s disagreement was settled by the referee who awarded them both a yellow card for their verbal scuffle. 

The first half drew to a close with City needing to overcome a one-goal deficit if they were to take anything from this tough away fixture. 
 
City came out fighting in the second half with a point to prove, although Morgan quickly deflated the City fans, scoring again from the edge of the box. This time, Blackpool’s corner was deflected to the edge of the area and Morgan volleyed it home. Despite this early setback, City still played with confidence and very few in Bloomfield Road were counting them out at this stage. 

The following twenty minutes were an affair of few chances and depleting confidence for the Grecians. In a bid to spark a change and inspire his side, Caldwell made four changes in quick succession, including bringing on Purrington for his debut.  

Aitchison came close as a stray ball was lofted into the Blackpool area. The ball came plummeting down with Aitchison running onto it, timing his run well and hitting the ball on the volley. Aitchison did well to keep it down, although his effort ended up being weak and it was collected by Blackpool’s keeper. Following that, Reece Cole had a freekick on the edge of the D that beat the wall and the keeper but unfortunately went wide of the post. 

City continued to ask questions of Blackpool but were unable to find the edge to get the ball in the net as the game drew to a close after five minutes of added time. 

Exeter City: Sinisalo, Rankine (Taylor 70’), Sweeney (C), Diabate, Hartridge (Purrington 66’), Jules (Wildschut 70’), Carroll (Niskanen 66’), Cole, Aitchison, Harris, Cox (Scott 83’). 

Unused Subs: Macdonald, Aimson. 

Blackpool: Grimshaw, Connolly, Husband, Norburn (C), Morgan, Joseph, Dembele, Coulson, Rhodes, Casey, Hamilton. 

Subs: O’Donnell, Gabriel, Dale, Carey, Virtue, Lavery, Expiteta. 

Referee: Thomas Bramall. 

Attendance: 9,734 (425 away). 

U18 Match Report:
Plymouth Argyle 1 Exeter City 2

Derek Baker reports on Devon Derby delight.

Exeter City’s Under-18s secured an impressive and vitally important 2-1 victory against rivals, and table-toppers, Plymouth Argyle U18s, on Saturday.

Argyle started on top, but the Grecians worked their way into the contest and broke the deadlock through Pedro Borges when he netted from a corner in the 27th minute.

The second half mirrored the first period, and Tegan Finn restored parity just five minutes after the restart to set up an intriguing contest.

Both sides pushed for a second goal, but it was City who got it, courtesy of substitute Kieran Wilson, whose goal six minutes from time sealed the win, and the three points that has moved Exeter’s youngsters into the top three of the Youth Alliance South West division.

The Grecians travelled down the A38 with the hope they would be able to continue the good run of form they had built up with another strong performance in the small matter of a Devon Derby.

Giulio Marroni and Kye Cooper lined up from the beginning following their respective spells out of the City starting XI, while Harrison King was brought in as he looked to continue his journey back to full fitness following his injury earlier on this campaign.

The Pilgrims side looked to start proceedings quickly, and they won themselves an early set-piece following a foray down the right. After everyone thought a cross was to enter the box, a neat short-corner routine saw Plymouth work the ball into Joe Hatch at the near post, however, his shot cannoned back off the post and away from danger.

Those early warning signs continued to come for the away side, and in the seventh minute, after Argyle won possession through Caleb Roberts, Finn and Hatch combined, but, Dylan Shanahan in the Exeter goal denied the latter’s strike at goal.

The Grecians struggled to get a foothold in the game until a quarter of an hour in, and their first attack forward might’ve led to something had their accuracy been better; Tom Dean advanced down the right, and his cross just evaded Cooper, who was creeping in around the back.

The belief and confidence in the City play was ever-growing, and while the opposition enjoyed the bulk of the ball and territory, the visitors’ charges up the pitch displayed more ambition as time went on.

That determination led to Exeter winning a corner on 27 minutes following a quick break forward involving Dean and Cooper. The Grecians captain swung a dangerous cross in, and with Dan Holman unable to deal with it properly, Borges tapped home from close range to make the breakthrough.

The hosts, alongside their supporters, were stunned, but they looked to make amends shortly after with some more controlling spells of possession.

In the 34th minute, Argyle’s Fin Wilkes teed up Roberts, however, the midfielder saw his effort turned away by some desperate defensive efforts, before the Pilgrims wasted the rebound.

Plymouth conjured up one more meaningful attack just before the interval when they attacked down the left wing. After play managed to switch sides, home captain, Lewis Colwell, fired over from 20 yards, much to the frustration of his teammates.

The 15-minute break perhaps came at a good time for Argyle, while Nicky Ajose and the Grecian players were hoping to make it through their opponent’s second-half response unscathed.

But, like the first period, the Pilgrims picked up the tempo and their intentions to score early were very clear.

In the 50th minute, Plymouth’s attacking pressure told after City initially defended a corner. The ball bounced kindly for Roberts, who let fly from distance, and Shanahan reacted well to push the strike away. But the fall fell to the feet of Finn, who reacted quickly to tuck the rebound beyond the Exeter goalie and into the back of the net to level the scores.

The away side reacted by bringing on Wilson and Tobias Alsop for a completely different structure to their left side. But it was Shanahan who was continuing to shine for the Grecians, and he magnificently tipped Josh Bernard’s header over his own crossbar to keep it at a two-goal game.

Five minutes later, the hosts attacked through Joel Sullivan on the left, before his cross located Hatch, just a few yards out, however, the Argyle number nine squandered a great opportunity by diverting his header off-target.

The Grecians’ threat at the other end of the pitch remained though, and a promising attack at the midway point of the half saw Theo Cuter played through one-on-one with Holman; Although the City striker converted his chance, play was brought back as he had just strayed offside.

Shanahan continued to thwart the Pilgrims, and after saving another shot on 68 minutes, he then played a part in Hatch only finding the side netting when the Plymouth forward looked to round Shanahan after beating the offside trap.

Dean also was becoming more and more influential for visitors after he moved into midfield, and he was desperately unlucky not to score when he wriggled his way amongst a crowd of bodies to send a shot goalwards. His attempt, however, rattled the post, before the second phase of the attack saw the Exeter number eight denied by a brave block.

Arguably, that phase helped open the game up as both sets of players backed themselves to find a second goal. Both benches continued to be utilised as the coaches looked to swing the match in their favour in the final 10 minutes.

On 84 minutes, that advantage fell the visitors’ way when another promising attack meant they got into the red zone down the right-hand side. A low ball into the middle found Dean, whose shot was turned away by the Argyle ‘keeper, but the ball fell into Wilson’s path, and he maintained his composure to score from close range to send the Grecians’ fans wild.

Wilson’s confidence was up, and the substitute caused more havoc down the wing a few minutes later as he looked to wrap up the three points. The forward cut in and shot at goal, but Holman parried the ball away.

Injury-time saw the hosts throw everything forward, and they won a late corner as they looked to grab a dramatic equaliser, however, City’s defence were resilient and turned away anything that was sent into the danger area.

The referee blew for full time in the 94th minute, sparking celebrations form the Exeter players and fans after their victory put an end to their opponent’s four-game winning streak, and was their first win over their rivals since September 2022.

Exeter City’s Under-18s Assistant Coach, Chris McPhee: “It was a game we expected to a degree. We weren’t quite at our usual high standards on the ball as we have been, and early on, that was down to some good defending by our opponents. But we were one goal up at half-time which was good, as we identified that set-pieces would be important. We were pleased with the way the players battled.

“With the opposition being our rivals, we have faced them a lot, and we know they like trying to start on the front foot. They tried to put us under pressure, but our boys weren’t flustered. The first half was a bit scrappy, and there were lots of changes in possession, but we were composed and grew in confidence. I think the players were clear about how they had to adapt their games to the situation.

“It was great for Harrison King, after five months out to step in as we try to help him get back to full fitness. While Louie Cayless has looked more and more settled every time he plays. I thought Liam Oakes showed intelligence when he was brought on, and Kieran Wilson got a well-deserved goal at the back post.

“The boys are growing in confidence. They have never had a regular lineup, so there were personnel changes once again. But despite a different opponent, posing different problems, this was a game we had to stay as a collective, and exploit the opposition at the right time.

“We’ve had a good couple of weeks, and the players are getting the rewards in terms of points now. I have been really encouraged by everything, and the players are reaping the rewards for their hard work and persistence. We are on the right track, but we have to keep focused, and look to continue to build and evolve, and push to be better every single day.”

Exeter City Under-18s: Dylan Shanahan, Louie Cayless, Liam Cartwright, Harrison King, Tom Dean, Pedro Borges, Giulio Marroni, Jake Richards, Callum Graham, Kye Cooper, Theo Cutler

Subs: Tobias Alsop, Liam Oakes, Aidan Bown, Santino Ohanaka, Kieran Wilson