Exeter City extend unbeaten run to 5
Report: Exeter City 1 Morecambe 1
Following a bizarre finish which saw referee Andy D’Urso awarded the Grecians a penalty before changing his mind, Exeter City’s Sky Bet League 2 match against Morecambe ended 1-1 at St James Park.
Tom Nichols fired City in front with barely a minute on the clock, but Padraig Amond found a second-half equaliser.
The big talking point, though, was the final few minutes, as David Wheeler went down in the box, and was initially awarded a penalty before that decision was overruled. Jamie Devitt was dismissed for violent conduct after some unpleasant scenes following that decision.
Christy Pym made his home debut for Exeter City, having made his first start in Saturday’s 3-2 win over Southend United at Roots Hall. Otherwise, Paul Tisdale made two changes to his weekend starting line-up, with Eliot Richards coming in for his first Grecians start and Tom Nichols coming back in to lead the line as duo Jimmy Keohane and John O’Flynn took a place on the bench.
For Jim Bentley’s Shrimps, Andy Wright and Ryan Williams were included having signed new deals with the Globe Arena club on Monday, though joint top-scorer Kevin Ellison started among the substitutes.
This encounter was originally scheduled for mid-January, but after a downfall of biblical proportions put paid to that, this was a much drier occasion at SJP. Evidently eager to get underway having waited over a month for this one, the Grecians flew out of the traps, as Tom Nichols, fed by Liam Sercombe, worked his way away from some slack Morecambe defending and thumped an excellent finish beyond Barry Roche after just two minutes for the opener for his fifth goal of the season, and his first in 2014.
Eliot Richards turned and fired a shot wide from about 20 yards a couple of minutes later, the Grecians looking very positive in the early exchanges.
Richards was a man on a mission on his first start, producing some magic to ghost past Shrimps left-back Robbie Threlfall, but Sercombe’s effort at the conclusion of the move was blocked by Morecambe captain Mark Hughes. Arron Davies brought a routine save out of Roche from the left-side of the penalty area on nine minutes, but made him work harder with a second effort from a similar position. The rebound eluded the offside Nichols, but Sercombe reclaimed possession and gave it back to the young striker, Roche less troubled by this one.
Andrew Wright’s attempted ball-over-the-top was headed away by Scot Bennett as Morecambe started to edge their way back into things around the 20-minute mark. Padraig Amond wriggled away from Bennett only to drag one wide five minutes later, before Jamie Devitt struck one over the bar. Jack Sampson used his long flow to bring the Grecians’ defence into action on a number of occasions, but the backline marshalled by Danny Coles held firm.
After a deft backheel from the unlikeliest of candidates in Craig Woodman, Tom Nichols was denied a stonewall penalty as at least two Shrimps defenders made more contact with the City striker than anything else as he was about to pull the trigger. Arron Davies headed over from a Danny Butterfield cross as Eliot Richards blew Threlfall out of the water as both ran onto a ball played beyond the Morecambe defence.
An offside Mark Hughes then headed a Ryan Williams free-kick over the bar before Barry Roche tipped a Davies strike over the bar. Matt Grimes’ free-kick brought a comfortable save out of Roche as the half drew to a close.
Half-time: Exeter City 1 Morecambe 0
For the full report go to http://www.exetercityfc.co.uk/fixtures-results/match-report/?matchid=370...
