Exeter City FC v Cheltenham Town FC Official Matchday Thread (3pm kick-off)

[grecIAN Harris]

Can’t miss chances like Taylor and Wilmott did and not expect to get punished.

The keeper stood up well to Wilmott. Maybe Wilmott could have enticed a challenge from the defender to win a penalty.
Taylor just needed to hit the target, he laced it well enough.

 

[WXF]

Not a bad effort today but disappointing outcome nonetheless. Never got to see Exeter in 1989/90 as I was too young and my family never followed Exeter City (weirdos). I believe the current squad is the best we have had in tier 4 since I have been a fan and that we may look back at the current first eleven and think to ourselves "gosh, that was a strong side". If we don't go up this time, then I think there should be more pressure to do so next season.

 

[arthur]

Well that was unfortunate. As they said, I thought one goal would win it and it could easily have been us that scored it. They are ever so slightly better than us, but I don't think any other teams in this league are.

Good tactics by Matt I thought - contain them for 60 minutes and guard against being overrun early on. Cheltenham away and Northampton POF would suggest that once this happens, we can't recover. I thought Jake T looked a bit weary and surprised Atangana didn't come on, though I'm not sure if that would have made much difference. They even had the board up and Nigel standing there ready.

One other thing - has the law changed re dropped balls (not McArdle's)? What used to happen was that the ball was either given to one side to kick harmlessly and deeply into the opposition half (e.g.out for a goal kick) or it was dropped between two players who contested it. Now it seems to be "Here's where you were when play stopped, here's the ball, now carry on. I will keep the opposition a safe distance away to allow you to do it" Have I missed something?

 

[grecian-near-hell]

This was a game that City needed to win if they have any ambitions for promotion.

No! Disappointing result and had the better opportunities, but we move on, we will get promoted, there will be setbacks, but with players coming back over the next few weeks and pitches improving we shall come to the forefront and get into the autos, top scorers, solid defence, jokull UTC. Cheltenham one dimensional whereas we can change

 

[Rosencrantz]

The thing with set pieces is that the attacking team only has to get a good first contact once in a game and they have a good chance of scoring. We actually dealt with their set pieces well all game until that moment. It's a sickener because of the timing and because we had done most things right apart from that final thing - putting the ball in the net. I thought tactically we got it right, we defused their threat's, limited their chances and grew into the game and probably had the three best chances (four if you discount a questionable offside flag against Randall). All of those chances came where we got behind them. Bowman in the first half, Taylor and Willmott in the second. Against as good and organised team as Cheltenham it will come down to fine margins and we couldn't make them go our way.

The change to put Willmott on and go back to our more normal formation was well timed and worked, Archie got on the ball more from that point as well. We looked the more likely team to score from there on. McArdle and Hartridge were solid. Jokull pulled off the one save he had a chance with from May who looked lively when he came on. I thought Taylor was poor on the ball today.

Cheltenham are well organised and have a core of experienced players at this level mixed with a few good loanees which is why they were close last year and should go up this year. We showed that we are not quite there with them at this moment in what is supposed to be a transitional season with a core of young players making their way into league football. It should be seen as a benchmark to aim at for those young players.

 

[RedPaul]

Well that was unfortunate. As they said, I thought one goal would win it and it could easily have been us that scored it. They are ever so slightly better than us, but I don't think any other teams in this league are.

Good tactics by Matt I thought - contain them for 60 minutes and guard against being overrun early on. Cheltenham away and Northampton POF would suggest that once this happens, we can't recover. I thought Jake T looked a bit weary and surprised Atangana didn't come on, though I'm not sure if that would have made much difference. They even had the board up and Nigel standing there ready.

One other thing - has the law changed re dropped balls (not McArdle's)? What used to happen was that the ball was either given to one side to kick harmlessly and deeply into the opposition half (e.g.out for a goal kick) or it was dropped between two players who contested it. Now it seems to be "Here's where you were when play stopped, here's the ball, now carry on. I will keep the opposition a safe distance away to allow you to do it" Have I missed something?

Drop ball law did change last season. No such thing as a contested DB. The side that had possession gets the ball. Everyone else has to be 5m away.

 

[arthur]

Robbie Wilmott made a big difference when he came on and I thought he was going to win it for us. Once again we've played well against a top side but have got nothing. Another tough game next week at Tranmere. I think it's unfair to say we can't defend the long ball from throws into the box, we had dealt with everything all afternoon and Rory and Alex looked solid again. Jokull only had one save to make, which he did brilliantly. After a dodgy first 20 minutes I thought we did really well and caused them plenty of problems and we created a couple of good chances but didn't take them. That's why they are top and we aren't! The other results couldn't have been any worse either, but heads up, still 13 games to go and 39 points to fight for.

Yes, an amazing save - I was sure that was in. I was sat just behind the player and had a perfect view as it flew into the top corner.

I don't know what the stats are, but there seemed to be far fewer Tozer throws than there were at their place. But it only takes one....

 

[ECFC89]

Emotions running high after a last minute loss. If I was a Cheltenham fan I’d be happier, even if they didn’t score. They played their game, dictated the opening phase, despite us being at home, and we changed our team because of the way they play. 0-0 would of been fair enough, but you cannot begrudge them the win. We set up as if 0-0 suited us, and we didn’t get it.
Some arrogance on these forums saying ‘play offs it is then’ we weren’t even in them at the start of play!!!
It was always going to be to Tough to create rhythm in our play second half, when we were clearly set up to get in 0-0 at half time, and as such, didn’t.
Not calling anyone happy clappers, but that sums up why we our outside the play offs and they are top of the league.
We didn’t do a lot wrong today, but we sure as hell didn’t try our upmost to win it.

 

[ECFC89]

Also, ref was brilliant.

 

[arthur]

Drop ball law did change last season. No such thing as a contested DB. The side that had possession gets the ball. Everyone else has to be 5m away.

Thank you