64th Second Goal To End City’s Promotion Bid?

A misplaced pass by Scot Bennett was all that Ben Pringle to run at our defence who stood off him giving a free run at goal. The ball finding the back of the net on 64 seconds. The 222 travelling fans instantly deflated.

With Rotherham jubilant at the early goal lead, City looked unsure and lacking in confidence. It took, though, until 28 minutes before Rotherham scored their second. Former Grecian Dan Nardiello scoring right in front of the City faithful, and with due respect he didn’t celebrate his goal.

With City all at sea and wondering how to respond, Michael O’Conner ensure that the Millers had a commanding lead. 3-0.

Half time talk for the travelling fans was “could we do what we did at Oldham”? The view being though that this team didn’t have what that team that came back from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 had.

The 2nd half brought about changes to the City team with O’Flynn and Keohane on the field and change of formation. City started well, and looked in control of the match, however Rotherham took advantage of some loose play and stole a fourth goal. It was at this point, that City fans finally sat down. Don’t think I’ve so many supporters under their own volition  sit down en masse before!

Job done for Rotherham United. They took their foot off the pedal, and allowed City to dominate the remainder of the game. The introduction of loanee Anton Rodgers spurred City on to better things, with Danny Coles finally get the ball to cross the line 77th minute.

So who played well and who played poorly. I’m not going to fault Artur, and well done him to come to applaud the away fans at the end of the game. Dawson doesn’t look ready for League 2 football and Scot Bennett is just unable to put in a consistent 90 minutes. Tommy Doherty was my man of the match, despite playing with an injury. Coles and Baldwin were not commanding enough. D’ath, Molesley and Davies put plenty of effort in, but not effectively. Cureton saw too little of the ball, and Woodman was good enough. The subs all did well, and I would hope that we will see more of Anton Rodgers.

4 defeats in a row leaves Exeter City out of the play offs, with Bradford City’s win over Bristol Rovers last night. Whilst some injuries to some crucial players has occurred, there was some questioning of Paul Tisdale’s ability to get us out of this crisis. 9 points to play for means that a play off place is potentially there, but it’s no longer in our hands.

Kingsmeadow on Saturday. A large away crowd, and a committed home support as AFC Wimbledon seek those points that will guarantee their safety.  May be some of what we saw at the end of the Rotherham game will be carried forward to Saturday and renew the hope of Grecian fans.