Exeter City's season ends in defeat as unbeaten run comes to an end

Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell was left disappointed to finish the campaign with a defeat which ended a nine-match unbeaten run for the Grecians. City were beaten 2-1 at home to Oxford United on the final day as the Yellows secured their play-off spot as Exeter ended the season in 13 ^th place.

Mark Harris put Oxford ahead with just 12 minutes on the clock, pouncing on a mistake by Pierce Sweeney, bursting forward, and slotting home a cool finish. Cameron Brannagan doubled the lead from the penalty spot just before half-time after Will Aimson had brought down Josh Murphy.

Millenic Alli halved the deficit early in the second half when he nodded home from a corner. City dominated the second half, but couldn’t find the equalizer, as they slipped to a first loss since March 2.

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At the start of the day, Oxford needed one of Lincoln City or Barnsley to slip up to sneak into the play-offs. Both did, which meant Des Buckingham’s men finished fifth, and will take on Peterborough United in the play-offs. Exeter’s loss meant they finished 13 ^th in the table, with Caldwell admitting that the first half performance let them down, and that just ran out of legs in the end,

“The first half was really disappointing and I blame myself, our shape wasn’t right,” Caldwell said. “We tried something different and it didn’t work, but our intensity was a bit low in that first half an hour period.

“We changed after 25 minutes and I thought we looked a bit better after that and we went back to what we normally do with wing-backs high. We had more threat and with the changes in the second half, I thought we were much better, but we couldn’t get that goal. They hung in and all credit to them, but we just lacked a bit compared to what we have had in recent weeks.

“We got back into the game and showed a lot of spirit, but we just ran out of legs after a long season and didn’t recognise where we could win the game. As disappointing as today is, the challenge is there to be better. We are clear on what we need to do for next season to improve.”

Following the 2-1 win at Northampton Town last Saturday, Caldwell made four changes to the side. In came the fit-again Sweeney, Reece Cole and Sonny Cox, while Caleb Watts was given just a second League One start. Jack Fitzwater, Dion Rankine and Jake Richards dropped to the bench, while Ryan Woods was out with suspension. Jack Aitchison was fit enough to be among the substitutes.

City came out of the traps quickly and inside two minutes had the first chance. Luke Harris drove forward, found Alli on the edge of the box, who cut inside, but dragged a shot wide. In the 12 ^th minute though, the Yellows took the lead. Sweeney tried to play a pass on half-way, but Harris intercepted the ball and was clean through on goal. Out came Vil Sinisalo to narrow the angle, but the forward clipped the ball past him to give Oxford the lead.

Harris had a chance for a second when Sinisalo’s headed clearance fell straight to the attacker, but he volleyed wide. A better chance to double the lead came when Ciaron Brown was unmarked from a corner. He looked for all the world to have scored as his header looped towards the top corner, but Sinisalo incredibly managed to claw it away.

In the 39 ^th minute, Oxford doubled their lead. Murphy drove forward and as he made his way into the box, he cut inside Aimson, who tripped him, and referee Tom Reeves had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot. Up stepped Brannagan, and he smashed the penalty low into the bottom corner, beating the dive of Sinisalo.

Caldwell reacted by making a double change at half-time, with Rankine and Aitchison replacing Watts and Cox. And with their first shot on target though, City halved the deficit in the 52 ^nd minute. Carroll’s corner was met by Alli, and the Irishman powered home a header to make it 2-1. The goal had come from nowhere, but it was suddenly very much game on.

Ilmari Niskanen should have equalised when he was on the end of a raking long ball by Aimson, but he dragged the effort wide. Then, after Alli drove down the left, Elliott Moore’s attempt to clear ended up rattling the post, and went behind for a corner.

Harry Kite replaced Cole on 70 minutes for what was a 102 ^nd and final appearance for the academy graduate, who was also handed the captain’s armband. Aimson headed narrowly over for City from a corner as City kept going for it, but they couldn’t equalise and slipped to defeat.

“Overall, I am really pleased with the season,” Caldwell added. “We had some really difficult moments this season but came through it with a spirit, a resilience and a quality that showed progress from last season, but today showed that we have to improve.

“The challenge for whoever wants to be here is to come back on June 20 ready to work and be even better because we have played a team that got into the play-offs and even though we were poor in the first half, there is not much in the game. We have to be ready next season to improve again.”

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