Saints Tame Park

Exeter City`s return to League Cup action ended, as did so many of our previous games in this competition, in defeat.

Craig McAllister replaced Richard Logan in the City side, with Bertie Cozic and Dean Moxey added to the eighteen man squad.

City started brightly, and can claim to have perhaps shaded the first half. However, on the half hour, a through ball chipped into the corner let an offside-looking Paul Wotton scamper away down the left. His pull back was lashed left-footed into the Big Bank goal by Lee Holmes.

There were opportunities for City before the break, with a McAllister blast well saved and a Ryan Harley shot parried and the rebound kept our by a last ditch block.

Southampton dominated the second half, although a Seaborne header from a corner had to be cleared off the line by a Saints defender. It wasn`t until thirteen minutes from time that Southampton sealed their win. David McGoldrick waltzed through a stand-offish City defence to double the lead.

City pulled a goal back near the end. Dean Moxey - only on the pitch for a couple of minutes - leaped well to nod home Richard Logan`s flick from a long Steve Tully throw. The Saints keeper didn`t seem happy with the challenge, but having stood rooted to his line with no serious attempt to claim the ball, Bartosz Bialkowski can only have himself to blame. He certainly seemed to get a few hard stares from his defenders.

There were no complaints about Southampton`s third, Danny Seaborne bringing down McGoldrick who sent Paul Jones the wrong way with his injury time penalty. As at Darlington, the City defender somehow escaped a booking.

The crowd of 6,471 was a definite plus and one of the highest of the round. The gate was helped by a good away following, but some 5,500 home supporters certainly bodes well for City.

Finally, we at Vital Exeter take no delight in having correctly predicted the 1-3 scoreline in our match preview. We`d never bet on a City defeat, but we hope our friends at Vital Saints had a few quid on our correct score tip.

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