The Grecians' unbeaten run comes to an end
Exeter City's 11 match unbeaten run was brought to an end as they fell to a 2-1 defeat against Forest Green Rovers at St James Park.
Reece Brown found the net early in the second half with a good finish before Liam Shephard made the points safe for the away side. Aaron Martin found the net in bizzarre circumstances when goalkeeper Robert Sanchez miskicked a clearance in the dying moments of the game.
Grecians’ boss Matt Taylor made two changes to the starting eleven from Tuesday’s draw against Crawley, with Jayden Stockley returning to fitness in place of Matt Jay, while the injured Christy Pym dropped out of the matchday squad – James Hamon starting in goal for City. Former City player Lloyd James captained Forest Green on his return to St James Park.
FGR showed a clear commitment to a possession-based system in the opening stages, frequently opting to play short from defensive dead-ball situations, but they were nearly caught out as City won the ball high up the pitch - quick interplay released Jonathan Forte on the inside-right channel, but the City striker was flagged for offside.
The visitors were the more incisive in the first 20 minutes, and had a great chance to take the lead after 16 minutes as a rapid breakaway found Brown, who cut inside Aaron Martin but delayed his shot just long enough to allow the centre-half to recover, making a last-ditch block.
The Grecians’ first real chance came after 22 minutes, as a pass from Rovers’ Lloyd James hit the heel of another visiting player – Jayden Stockley picked up the loose ball and unleashed a shot from the edge of the box that FGR goalkeeper Sanchez held comfortably.
City were then an inch or two away from opening the scoring – a lovely diagonal over the top from Pierce Sweeney on the right-hand side found Stockley and Nicky Law with an overload, and the former’s header released Law, who dribbled past the goalkeeper but hit the post from an incredibly tight angle.
The game opened up towards the end of the first-half, and Hamon was called into action on 37 minutes, diving low to his right-hand side to get down to Dayle Grubb’s effort. A speculative effort from Jayden Stockley a couple of minutes later then went well wide of the Forest Green goal.
A well-worked move for the visitors would have then given them a great chance to take the lead going into half-time, but a superb recovering slide from Luke Croll took the ball away from Forest Green’s attack at the vital moment.
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