Exeter City concede last minute equaliser

SUBSTITUTE LUKE ROONEY scored a stoppage-time screamer to deny the Grecians all three points in a hard fought game at St James Park.

Exeter twice took the lead, first through an Alex Nicholls strike and then a sensational volley from Tom Nichols, but were pegged back twice by a determined Crawley Town side.

The Grecians made two changes to the team that beat Didcot Town in the FA Cup last Sunday, with Joel Grant and Alex Nicholls coming in to replace David Wheeler and the injured Manny Oyeleke.
  
Following an impeccably-observed minute’s silence in memory of those who died during the events in Paris on Friday night, Exeter took the lead in the opening stages. Having been played down the left-hand side by Tom Nichols, Alex Nicholls blasted an unstoppable strike off the underside of the crossbar to beat Crawley goalkeeper Darryl Flahavan.
 
Crawley responded well to going behind. Left-back Mitch Hancox’s long-range effort went narrowly wide of Bobby Olejnik’s right-hand post, before a corner whipped in by Simon Walton was met powerfully by the head of captain Sonny Bradley to level the scores just before the half-hour mark.

Exeter twice went close to regaining the lead shortly after Bradley’s equaliser. Clinton Morrison had an effort tipped over the crossbar following a tricky run from Nichols. From the resulting corner Jordan Moore-Taylor struck on the turn only to see his effort deflected just wide.

After a spell of pressure, Exeter regained the lead just before half-time. Joel Grant fed the ball to Tom Nichols who spectacularly volleyed past the keeper into the bottom corner to make the score 2-1.

HALF-TIME EXETER CITY 2-1 CRAWLEY TOWN

Read more at http://www.exetercityfc.co.uk/news/article/match-report-exeter-city-2-1-crawley-town-2801173.aspx#4Vtfc4uY1k3VdYBY.99