Hopes and Expectations 



Pre Season Friendlies 

8th July 2011 Dorchester 1-1 Exeter City 

City's first half starting XI: Krysiak, Furzer, Duffy, Troy, Jones, Noble, Dawson, Shepherd, Bauza, Frear and Logan.

Second half XI: Pidgeley Tully Keane Coles Golbourne Bennett Dunne Sercombe McNish (trialist) Nardiello Nichols.

Subs Gosling and Ingham

Very enjoyable evening this evening. Second half team better than the first half team with Nardiello head and shoulders above everyone else on the pitch. Every touch simply oozed class and quality.

Not far behind were Dunne and Sercombe, and in the first half Shepherd, Frear and Troy all looked the better side of decent.

None of the three new guys overly impressed, however Bauza was pretty much crowded out every time the ball went near him, Coles only lasted quarter of an hour and Pidgley was pretty much a spectator anyway. He does have a massive kick on him though.

Keane wasn't much and will be lucky to figure unless Troy, Duffy, Coles and Bennett are injured, and Dawson and Furzer showed promise, with Furzer in particular looking like he's got both the build and attitude to last the course.
by Ant Moxey - On Exeweb 




12th July 2011

Mangotsfield 1-3 Exeter 

Tour of Norway 

Exeter City will give their best young players a taste of first team action on their pre-season tour to Norway. Paul Tisdale's squad will be based in Bergen and play three games in three days against local sides. "It's great young professionals get the chance to see how the first team do it," reserve team boss Andy Tilson told BBC Radio Devon. "Sometimes you end up with three or four left behind, but Paul Tisdale includes everyone."

15th July 2011

Fana IL FC 2-3 Exeter City 

16th July 2011

OS Turn Fotball 1-4 Exeter City 

17th July 2011

Follese Fotballk Club 1-1 Exeter City 

Back Home 
20th July 2011

Torquay United 3-0 Exeter City 

22nd July 2011

Clevedon Town 1-4 Exeter City 

"Shephard and McNish pulled the strings adeptly in midfield, backed up by Ingham, who added a little combativity to the mix.

Nichols was an effective spearhead, with good movement, and looks to have a proper striker’s instinct. And to think that he won’t be 18 until next month! Alongside him, Gosling to the right and Frear to the left were also constant threats to the home side. And finally a special word for Aaron Dawson. The highly rated young midfielder impressed this correspondent far more than he has done in the past, really looking dangerous when breaking forward from right back, and carrying on the good work when playing further forward in the second half. He may yet follow in the footsteps of Liam Sercombe."
Report by Ian Tarr (abridged)


26th July 2011

Ottery St Mary 0-5 Exeter City 

Micklewright 5’, (pen) 20’, Reid 13’, 70’, Grimes 72’ 
Attendance 212

In the 1st half, Ottery rarely attacked apart from in the first minute when Exeter’s left back, Jacob Wannell was caught well out of position but the chance came to nothing. The youth side only needed 5 minutes to take the lead when some excellent play down the left led to a cutback which found Jamie Micklewright who sidefooted past Matt Slark in the Otters goal. The Exeter side’s attacking strengths were too much for the Otters as when they won a free kick on the edge of the area, Jamie Reid rifled the ball into the bottom corner on 13 minutes and all 212 (roughly) people in the ground knew that the game was pretty much over. Exeter Youth though were using this as great preparation and so continued to attack attack attack. And were rewarded with a 3rd on 20 minutes when a great through ball put a striker on 1 on 1 and as Slark ran out, he completely took out the Exeter striker and it was a penalty. (No card was given – but if it was a competitive game, then it was probably only a yellow) Micklewright stepped up and easily dispatched the penalty to make it 3-0. There were no other goals in the 1st half, but that wasn’t for the lack of trying as Exeter played some really good stuff and deserved a lot more than 3. Jacob Cane alone hit the post twice as the Otters were just ripped apart.
The start of the 2nd half saw Ottery actually manage some attacks on the Exeter goal but goalie Jake Viney was more than comfortable with what was fired at him as Martin Loader had the best chance for the home side. It wasn’t long until the Ex XI started back up again though and before long it was one way traffic, albeit with slightly less intensity as the 1st half. They still scored another two goals though, firstly on 70 minutes when a ball from the left found its way to the back post where Jamie Reid volleyed straight in for a top finish. Two minutes later it was number 5 as Slark saved a long range effort but only spilled it out where Matt Grimes lashed home to complete the scoring.
A top evening of football as the Otters can still be proud of celebrating 100 years of football and forget about the 5-0 defeat in this game. Exeter Youth have some top players that could be making an appearance at a Football League game soon enough. Jacob Cane and Jamie Reid were the two that impressed me so good luck to them in their careers. Another pleasing aspect from the Exeter side was the lack of gob and constant questioning of the referee.
Abridged report by "The travelling fan"

30th July 2011

Exeter City 1-0 Derby County

Exeter City's first (and final) pre-season friendly at The Park saw man of the match Chris Shephard's 25th minute goal seal a well deserved win.

Shorn of forwards, Richard Logan, Guillem Bauza and John O'Flynn, the Grecians started with Dan Nardiello and young Tom Nichols up front with Chris Shephard just behind in a relatively new role for him.

The impressive newly grown pitch witnessed a quiet start to the game. City knocked the ball around with the usual style at Richard Duffy and Troy Archibald-Henville coped comfortably as the team's enthusiastic attitude began to bear fruit.

Nardiello had made a great run down the left, beating several defenders before playmaker David Noble played him in only to see a narrow offside decision go against him.

Despite being on top, a short James Dunne back pass allowed Nathan Tyson to get a shot in which Artur Krysiak saved at the near post but the impetus was with City and they took the lead in the 25th minute with a crisp and concise passing movement. On the ball in midfield, Noble spotted a great run from Dunne down the left and efficiently found him.

Dunne saw the movement in the centre and cut the ball back to the penalty spot where Chris Shephard firmly slotted in a right foot shot for a super goal.

After the goal, Derby showed more of a threat, particularly in the form of Tyson but competent defending blotted out all chances without a genuine chance on gaol, Troy in particular shining at the heart of the defence.

Following the break, the away side continued to have half-chances but Krysiak was forced into action only once, to pouch a shot from distance from Maguire. Meanwhile the strong running from midfield of Dunne posed problems for Derby, although his one direct chance did see him trouble a fan on the Big Bank rather than the keeper!

2nd August 2011

Chippenham 0-2 Exeter City 

A thumping long range effort from new signing Callum McNish helped a young City side to a 2-0 win at Chippenham last Tuesday in our final pre-season friendly.

The former Southampton man drilled home a 30 yard belter in the first half before Jake Gosling finished off a smart passing move to make it 2-0 minutes into the second period.

The travelling Grecians were then treated to cameos from Paul Tisdale, Marcus Stewart and Rob Edwards as they helped an inexperienced 11 see out the win.

Trialist Jimmy Keohane, formally of Bristol City, started in the City midfield while 17-year-old Tom Nichols started up front with Richard Logan. And it was Logie who had the first chance of the game when a miss-kick allowed him a sight of goal but his effort was well saved.

McNish was officially unveiled as City's number 31 last week and he showed just why the club have snapped him up with a stunning goal on 16 minutes. Receiving the ball around 30 yards out, McNish knocked the ball infront of him and drove a thunderous right footed shot into the top corner.

City continued to threaten after the delightful opener with Elliot Frear coming close twice in two minutes. First he span his marker superbly but drilled a shot into the side netting before firing the ball across the goal and wide after a quality move involving City's strike duo.

Chippenham did have chances of their own with Lenny Pidgeley making a fine save on 36 minutes to keep Guthrie's effort out and Powell shooting just wide shortly after,

McNish then came very close to grabbing another barn-storming goal when his right footed volley was tipped over the bar just before the break.

Just two minutes into the second half it was 2-0, Nichols put Gosling through with a clever ball and the first year pro fired home. Nichols could have been celebrating himself minutes later after a lovely ball from Billy Jones put him through but he fired at the keeper.

Youngsters Jamie Reid and Roger Ingham were introduced before two far more experienced pros entered the fray. Tisdale and Edwards received rapturous applause from the City following when the double change took place and the City boss played in the centre of midfield, talking his young side through the final 15, while Edwards slotted in at left back.

Then with four minutes left fellow coach Marcus Stewart headed on and almost instantly tracked his man for 20 yards to the edge of the box and won the ball.

It was great to see the retired trio in action again, one of the delights of pre-season matches, and the youngsters on the pitch will have enjoyed playing alongside the hugely experienced trio.

Exeter City lined up:
Pidgeley, Dawson, Furzer, Bennett, Jones, (Edwards 75) Gosling, (Tisdale 75) McNish, (Stewart) Frear, Keohane, Nichols, (Ingham 60) Logan. (Reid 60)

Other Information 

The Squad 

Manager: Paul Tisdale

1 Artur Krysiak

2 Steve Tully

3 Billy Jones

4 James Dunne

5 Troy Archibald-Henville

6 Richard Duffy

7 Liam Sercombe/Jamie Cureton 

8 David Noble

9 Adam Stansfield

10 Daniel Nardiello

11 Scott Golbourne/Luke O'Brian

12 Nicholas Bignall

13 In Memory Of Dom Sanders

14 Chris Shephard

18 Danny Coles

19 John O 'Flynn

20 Richard Logan

21 Guillem Bauza

22 Jimmy Keohane

23 Kallum Keane/Jonathan Fortune

24 Elliott Frear

25 Jake Gosling

26 Scot Bennett

27 Jack Furzer/Pat Baldwin 

28 Aaron Dawson

29 Tom Nichols

30 Roger Ingham/Lauri Dalla Valle

31 Callum McNish

34 Rohan Ricketts

35 Jake Taylor 

36 Alan Gow

40 Lenny Pidgeley