Exeter City 2 – Leeds United 0
Regular time couldn’t separate the two teams so it goes into extra time. Ollie Watkins receives the ball and passes to Jamie Reid on the edge of the box. Jamie skips past the defender and smashes the ball into the right corner. The movement is great considering that he just recovered from an injury.
Ribiero clears the ball from the defence as Leeds press for an equaliser. The clearance falls straight to Ollie Watkins, who finds himself in a two-on-two situation. But Watkins doesn’t need Reid and he shows his strength and pace as he gets past his marker and bursts down the wing where he cuts in and bullets the ball inside the keeper’s near post at a very narrow angle. Leeds are now officially out and Exeter City continue their amazing form.
Our best performer: Glen Mabil (Glen was crucial today and he made some amazing saves to keep out Leeds! Credit to Ollie Watkins who changed the whole course of the game when he came on)
Rotherham United 1 – Exeter City 2
Rotherham lose possession from an Eastmond tackle and the ball rolls to Albian Ajeti on the edge of the box who lofts the ball over the defenders to Sinclair. The goalkeeper runs out but Sinclair dives and heads the ball past the keeper.
Ryan Hall receives the ball in the middle and passes to Lee Frecklington who hits the ball through the legs of the sliding Ryan Inniss and past the goalkeeper. The shot was only a little to the right of Mabil but for some reason, his dive for the ball was not good. Mabil should have saved it.
Cowan-Hall takes a corner from the right. He whips the ball into the box. Jake Flannigan makes a run from the edge of the penalty area to head home.
Exeter City 2 – Oxford United 0
EXE – Ajeti (10’)Jamie Reid gets a free kick on the right. He whips the ball into the back post where Albian Ajeti rises above everyone to nod home.
Ajeti lifts the ball over the defence and onto the boot of Jamie Reid who hits it first time and the ball dips at the last moment for the ball to go into the top corner.
Our Best Performer: Albian Ajeti
MK Dons 3 – Exeter City 4
Ben Reeves breaks down the right and delivers a cross into the sliding Louisy-Daniel who gets his toes to it to poke the ball into the net.
Liam Sercombe skips past his marker in the midfield and slots the ball into the path of Jake Sinclair who slips the ball under the goalkeeper and past the line.
Jake Sinclair dummies on the left and pretends to cut in. He uses his pace to run past the defender and further down the wing. He whips the ball into the unmarked, Albian Ajeti, who nods the ball into the far corner to put Exeter City into the lead.
Only three minutes after the previous goal, Appiah bombs down the right where he gets away from a slide tackle to just keep the ball in play. He then lifts the ball over to the back post where Jake Sinclair is unmarked again and easily nods home. Can MK Dons get a grip before it is too late?
The half-time break doesn’t seem to give MK Dons a lift and a bad touch from Dons keeper, David Martin, rolls straight to Albian Ajeti who flicks the ball past the desperate goalkeeper and he manages to finish coolly from a tight angle and on the half turn. MK Dons look like they’re out of the game now...
Ben Reeves dispossesses Jordan Moore-Taylor and finds himself through on goal. Reeves lifts the ball over the rushing goalkeeper and into the net. Could they come back into this?
MKD – Louisy-Daniel (63’)
The new signing for MK Dons puts them back into the game. Awful defending by Ribeiro leaves Ben Reeves on the left who can slot the ball into Louisy-Daniel who hits the crossbar but the ball creeps across the line.
Our Best Performer: Kwabena Appiah (He was amazing today. He made the most runs, the most successful passes and the most successful crosses and he also got an assist.)
Exeter City 1 – Yeovil Town 0
Bee decides to play a different team in preparation for the cup tie against Stoke. Eastmond wins the ball in the midfield and drifts to the right wing where he delivers a low cross into the box. Jay manages to poke the ball past the goalkeeper and into the net. Jay’s first game of the season and he has already scored.
Our Best Performer: Jordan Moore-Taylor
STO – Shawcross (RED) (33’)
Albian Ajeti receives the ball on the half-way line and attacks on the break. Ajeti busts a gut getting into the box where he tries to shoot but Ryan Shawcross cynically slides in and gets the player before he could shoot. Shawcross gets a red and marches of the pitch. The challenge is in the area but for some reason, the referee decides it is a free-kick. An awful decision by the referee there!
Three minutes after the red card and Exeter City get the first goal of the game. Reid sprints down the left where he manages to cut inside and pass to the unmarked Ajeti in the middle of the box. He takes a touch which allows him to spin around and he then just slots the ball into the bottom of the far corner with his weaker left foot. Stoke look wounded without Shawcross and there was way too much space in the box for Ajeti.
Stoke go big and bring on Mame Diouf and he manages to get the equaliser. Steven Ireland skips past a challenge by Inniss and then manages to slot the ball into Diouf who just flicks the ball around the keeper and into the net.
A clearance falls all the way to Diouf who finds himself through on goal. He puts the ball past the goalkeeper’s outstretched leg and into the bottom corner. Bee is outraged because Diouf trips Jordan Moore-Taylor to make him through on goal.
Eastmond makes a crunching tackle but a fair one to win the ball in the midfield. The ball rolls to Cowan-Hall who wastes no time slotting the ball into Watkins who coolly puts the ball past Butland and into left corner. It will be a great moment to remember for Ollie.
The game goes into extra time and Sinclair manages to roll the ball over the line at the back post after a lovely ball from Appiah from the left. So many chances have been missed for both teams and the score line could easily be four – four.
Marc Wilson boots the ball up field to Arnautovic who takes a touch to fool Moore-Taylor and manages to slip the ball into the near corner. Bad defending by Moore-Taylor...
Cowan-Hall whips the ball into the box where the unmarked, Jake Sinclair, chests the ball in the air and then hits the ball on the volley into the bottom right corner. That goal was a great display of technique and skill and it finishes the game off. Surely if Ryan Shawcross was on the field, it would have been different...
Our Best Performer: Paris Cowan-Hall (It was an extremely difficult decision between Cowan-Hall and Sinclair but I choose Paris because he was always threatening with his pace and found himself behind the defenders numerous times. He also got two assists.)
Blackpool 1 – Exeter City 3
Sercombe collects the ball on the half-way line and drifts to the left where he gets past the defender and delivers a ball into the near post. Rikard Ostlin dives out in front of his own goalkeeper and tries to take a touch but spills it, allowing the ball to roll over the line. If he had just left that then it wouldn’t have been a goal.
Ollie Watkins starts over the tired Jake Sinclair and it works well! After great link-up play on the half-way line, Ajeti sprints into the box to pull the ball back to Watkins who slots the ball home.
Steven Davies skips past a challenge in the area on the left and pulls the ball back to Joan Oriol who just hits the ball into the empty net.
A clearance from the Blackpool goalkeeper is headed by six foot five Ryan Inniss, which goes to Ajeti who easily spots the run of Watkins and he finds himself through on goal. He nudges the ball to the right and then slips the ball under the goalkeeper and into the net.
BLK –Mellis (Two Yellows) (64’)
Jacob Mellis’ first yellow was in the ninth minute for a silly outstretched leg on Liam Sercombe. His second was on Eastmond just outside the box. Craig was about to shoot and Mellis slides in recklessly and doesn’t get the ball.
Our Best Performer: Ollie Watkins
Exeter City 3 – Peterborough 1
Grimes passes to Jake Sinclair who uses his pace to get away from the defender and then he manages to squeeze the ball past the goalkeeper and into the corner.
Kane Ferdinand receives the ball on the left and quickly lifts the ball over Jordan Moore-Taylor and into the path of Conor Washington who hits it first time with his weaker foot past Mabil and into the bottom right corner.
In three minutes, there have been three goals! Appiah uses his pace to get past the right back and run into the box where he finds the unmarked Matthew Grimes at the back post who nods the ball home easily.
Appiah switches to the right wing where he receives the ball from Ribiero. The last fifteen minutes have been relentless attacks from Exeter City and finally they score. Appiah drifts into the middle where he shoots with his weaker left foot. It takes a slight deflection and goes into the left corner of the goal.
Our Best Performer: Kwabena Appiah (He has been really doing well now!)
Exeter City’s Player of the Month:
Kwabena Appiah
1. Exeter City - 31 points
2. Sheffield Utd - 24 points
3. Barnsley - 23 points
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4. Peterborough - 23 points
5. Brentford - 23 points
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8. Chesterfield - 17 points
9. Doncaster - 16 points
10. Yeovil Town- 15 points
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21. Oldham Athletic – 9 points
22. Bradford City – 9 points
23. Oxford United – 6 points
24. Port Vale – 4 points
Q: Your form at the moment is amazing! It’s similar to your start last year. Do you think you can keep it going?
A: Hopefully, we will be able to maintain our form. Obviously, form won’t always be high and I want to make sure that when we have a dip in form that we are still getting points.
Q: Kwabena Appiah has had a massive impact on the team. What do see in his future at the club?
A: If he keeps performing the way he does, then he’ll have a slot in the team and he’ll get plenty of play time which will also allow him to hone his skills even more.
Q: There was a recent news column on the club website that said that you have been getting a lot of offers from International teams. What offers have you received and will you be accepting any?
A: Yes, I have had a few but none of them I accepted. I only have a couple of nations that I would actually like to go to but unfortunately I have not had an offer from them.
Career Record (W: D :L): 46-13-6