Exeter City vs Portsmouth Match Day Thread (7.30pm KO)

[crocks]

City were light in the striker dept before the season started. Nombe the only one with the ability to put the ball in the net. As said above, i dont think Amond provides enough. A Newport supporter friend was not upset when he came to City. And Seymours failings are well documented. Cox is probably not quite ready for first team action. So, i dont care how we do it, but getting a forward in has to happen

 

[Sexton Blake]

I stand by this, I thought Taylor played it just right - bloodied some fringe players or those returning from injury / illness, held out until half time, made great substitutions, dominated the 2nd half and deserved to win. Couldn’t quite hold on, but we had an inexperienced centre of defence and Caprice had a 5 minute brain melt, these things happen.

Agree 100% with everything you have said.

 

[STURTZ]

I stand by this, I thought Taylor played it just right - bloodied some fringe players or those returning from injury / illness, held out until half time, made great substitutions, dominated the 2nd half and deserved to win. Couldn’t quite hold on, but we had an inexperienced centre of defence and Caprice had a 5 minute brain melt, these things happen.

Nobody works harder than Caprice, he's up and down and across the pitch all game and at speed I was quite surprised to see him starting in this game and even more surprised he wasn't releived considering his physical collapse at the end of the Sutton match. Seems like we have no one else at left back, and he's not even a left back!

Brilliant player though.

 

[grecIAN Harris]

Mmmmmm, could have been dead and buried inside 30 minutes, should have won it after 90. If David Hirst lad had scored the hattrick he should have done with the chances he had in the first half hour that should have been it. But with a bit of wasteful finishing and some grit and determinations we hung on in until half time. Second half we came out and took the game to Pompey and should have more than Collins goal to show for it. But then came the lino's naivity to fall for the oldest con on a football field and gift Pompey a free kick which they used effectively with the extra bit of quality they had bought off the bench. Then came the only real mistake we made in the second half when Stubbsy went marauding into a situation that Harry Kite had under control and Pompey made hay from there.
The positives were many Sweens back into action earlier than many expected. Another 90's minutes for Stubbsy. A very solid performance from Chieck Diabate. The best performance I've seen all season from Archie Collins (although I understand he was outstanding on Tuesday night). The negatives Edwards again, I know he's raw but you need to have some idea what your end product needs to be. I don't think he has. Seymour, despite his best efforts, getting manouvered around like a rag doll. He lack of strength and physicality is going to see him out of the door at the end of the season before anything else does. And of course the result, much as we got taught a few lessons in the first half we more than made up for it in the second half to deserve the victory. If we play like that against Scunthorpe we may need a cricket scoreboard and not a football scoreboard to keep count.

 

[Egg]

If we play like that against Scunthorpe we may need a cricket scoreboard and not a football scoreboard to keep count.

Unfortunately, we're struggling to sort the latter never mind the former! ;-)

 

[Rosencrantz]

You have to hope this restart to our season will be a case of the good performances leading to good results before long. We played really well tonight would have deserved the win just like on Tuesday.

The first half had a bit of game management about it. After a slow start to hit back with a quality MJ goal right after going behind was a bonus. After that we settled in to being compact, in order possibly to limit the space to run at the back three against a good opposition. With the more mobile and match fit Kite on in the second half that wasn't so worrying. We rode our luck at times with Hirst looking a handful but spurning a couple of glaring chances. Looking up his (non) goalscoring record came as a surprise as he looked a good player with height and pace.

Being compact we relied on taking advantage of Pompey mistakes to counter attack. Edwards looked dangerous in this up to the passing element which too often went awry.

Second half we came out and dominated territory and possession. We played some really good football, created a few decent chances but again as against FGR our play around the penalty lacked some composure and quality to fashion consistent chances. MJ, Ben and Cheick all had good chances though. Eventually Archie did hit an unconvincing shot which deflected in slow motion and somehow avoided Bass's hand enough to trickle in. It was no more than we deserved.

And then comes the funny five minutes again. This time a soft free kick given with Jake switching off. Followed by I think some tired decision making from the otherwise impressive Stubbs (Harry had that under control) leading to panic and the consequent winner.

More positive than negative performance wise. Hopefully the results will soon start to reflect them.

 

[SEA Grecian]

Nobody works harder than Caprice, he's up and down and across the pitch all game and at speed I was quite surprised to see him starting in this game and even more surprised he wasn't releived considering his physical collapse at the end of the Sutton match. Seems like we have no one else at left back, and he's not even a left back!

Brilliant player though.

Hopefully Jack Sparkes coming back will provide some competition and/or the opportunity for some rest and rotation of our wing backs.

 

[SEA Grecian]

You have to hope this restart to our season will be a case of the good performances leading to good results before long. We played really well tonight would have deserved the win just like on Tuesday.

The Scunthorpe game is now starting to look massive in the context of our season. Play well and win comfortably and we'll be set up nicely for the rest of the season; fail to win and the doubts really will start to creep in.

 

[Hants_red]

I wonder if we're able to organise a behind doors friendly next week? Would help on game fitness.

 

[Red Devon]

This will be a really interesting month to see who we can bring in, and if we lose anyone. In a weird way, I'm not sure I'd mind us losing Key (for decent money), as it might force Taylor to balance the team out, and bring Sparkes back to play on the left.

Key would be a huge loss, it’s become so noticeable when he’s pushed forward in the second half of games our whole attacking impetus and threat goes up a couple of levels and we suddenly look a much better team for it, I very much doubt moving Caprice over to his favoured right hand side will have the same effect.