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Exeter City v Macclesfield Town Matchday Thread

SEA Grecian

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For the first 5 or 10 minutes of the second half I thought it was going to be a repeat of last year's home game against Macclesfield where we completely ran out of ideas and never looked liked scoring. However, we upped the urgency and tried to do a few different things; although most of them didn't come off and we barely tested the keeper the ball finally fell to us in the box and we got the goal we just about deserved. I thought all of the defence played well, especially Deano, and if you keep a clean sheet you've always got a chance of sneaking a winner. Conversely, I don't think any of the midfielders or attackers will be happy with their performance and for most of the match looked like they'd never met each other before. Randell was the stand-out but for all his eye-catching dribbling and possession in dangerous areas he didn't actually create very much. However, I don't want to be too critical as we shpwed good spirit to grind out the win when it would have been easy to get frustrated. Plenty of positives to build-on going forward and I'm still reasonably confident we will have a good season.
 

jrg333

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From the Posh forum:

Absolute rubbish.

Keeper is a midget. We’ll concede loads from free-kicks.
:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 

SEA Grecian

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The only positive from that game was that we've definitely signed a capable keeper, definite man of the match. Pym would have got nowhere near that curling shot that Ward parried around the post.
I disagree. The shot was accurate and placed without much power and Ward in the end saved it pretty comfortably as would Pym have.
 

scottus86

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Not a great performance but I'll take 1-0 against a team we couldn't beat last season. The good news is the defence and goalkeeper looked solid defensively, but need to work on distribution.

Midfield improved second half, especially once Martin came on. Our inability to keep possession is concerning though, sometimes we might just need to slow our game down a bit and let the opposition do the running.

Bowman actually did mean his goal looking at the reply, on first sight I thought it was just a deflection. Ajose will need to do more to retain his first team place, but he deserves a chance.
 

PeteUSA

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I disagree. The shot was accurate and placed without much power and Ward in the end saved it pretty comfortably as would Pym have.
No sorry, Pym wouldnt have got across to that.
 

ramone

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If i had to agree with you we would both be wrong
Very strange game where I thought it could have gone either way numerous times tbh just a pity Macclesfield seemed to want to resort to timewasting to get a draw which didn't happen in the end and were undone by City.
Williams and Law ran their a$$e$ off and Williams was MOTM before the cross that gave us the goal.
For a first proper game it was nervy at times but onwards and upwards UTC.
Goalie made a couple of very good saves especially the one in the second half that could have put them 1 up.
 

dontpassback

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A win,but must do better than today or we will come unstuck against better opponents,too many misplaced passes and the midfield looked like they have never played together,three points are always welcome but it needs to improve !
 

PeteUSA

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Goalie made a couple of very good saves especially the one in the second half that could have put them 1 up.
That would be the one where at full stretch he put the ball around the post; Pym would have been rooted to the spot on that.
 

iscalad

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Hopefully won't see too many poor games like that.
Sweeney had an absolute shocker. I only noticed Ajose when he got substituted.
Still 3 points. Onwards and upwards.
 

hillview red

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We won. That is all!

Well not quite but we were very poor. A couple of bright spots but that was a very worrying performance against a makeshift team that many thought would “do a Bury” and not make it to day 1 of the season.

Ward - Excellent debut. Solid and made a couple of great saves
Sweeney - Can deliver a great cross but too often gives the ball away ridiculously cheaply.
Moxey - Not a left back anymore for me. Hope he ends up back in the left centre back role because...
Parkes - Very shaky debut. Lost the ball a number of times, missed a glorious chance to score and generally looked uncertain. Hope he can improve and provide some leadership asap
Martin - People will like the fact that he sweeps things up well but for a 6ft+ league 2 centre half he barely wins anything in the air and his distribution is nothing to wax lyrical about.
Williams - Looked bright and got more involved second half. A key player this year IMO.
Collins - Not as good as normal. Looked a little lost to me as we got overrun in midfield. Saw more of the ball when we moved to 4-4-1-1
Taylor - I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll... not really affect the game very much. Runs around a lot but never seems to stamp his authority on a match or provide the leadership to change the course of a game or the pattern of play.
Law - Looks lost without intelligent footballers. I think that part of the reason he was so effective last year was that he was surrounded by players who were comfortable in possession and were on his wavelength (e.g Boateng, Lee Martin, Forte, Woodman). When Lee Martin came on he was noticeably more involved but Law won’t be as effective this year without Hiram to link with.
Bowman - Battering ram and worked his socks off. The ineffectiveness of our midfield meant that he had precious little service but kept going and got the goal his work rate deserved.
Ajose - Felt for him a little and unsure how we are going to solve this conundrum but... Without full backs that bomb on we will struggle to play 2 up top. It will be interesting to see how Matt solves this one. Clearly bright but wasted coming deep. Needs to be on the shoulder of the last man. On a bizarre note - he wore an undershirt!!! If he’s wearing that in this heat I look forward to the full scarf, hat and gloves in January!

Martin - Bright with no end product but the change of shape transformed the momentum of the game. 5 in midfield is important going forward I think...

Overall - Ward, Williams and Bowman - well done!
Need to get our full backs to bomb on somehow...
I wonder if Parkes and Martin will become Moxey and Cundy by the end of the season...
Need to get control in the middle of the park and look to keep and pass the ball...

Good to win but lots of work to do...
 
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