Blue
Square Premier - 10th March 2008
At KitKat Crescent - Att 1,567 (76 Exeter)
Report
City got back to winning ways in the televised home clash against
Exeter. Never was the adage 'goals change games' more apt as,
after a soporific first half hour, City opened up a two goal
lead before a nervy finish as the Grecians came back, albeit
in vain.
There really is precious little to say about that opening thirty
minutes. City lined up in a 4-4-2 with two genuine wingers,
a system that Exeter's 4-3-3 seemed well able to counteract.
If it was a boxing match, the points would have been split pretty
evenly, with the visitors perhaps landing the harder blows.
Try as either side might, goal chances were few and far between.
And so it came as a surprise when City went in front on 31 minutes.
Science shows us that short corners never work, but City confounded
modern thinking as Nicky
Wroe and Sam Duncum engineered one and pulled it back for
Martyn Woolford
who lashed a low drive to the bottom corner. Despite seeming
to have it covered, it squirmed through Andy Marriott's arms
and into the net. And with that, the game changed completely.
A Woolford corner was a portent of things to come, but David
McGurk's powerful header drifted wide, but Exeter were rattled
- rattled to the point of making a change as early as the 35th
minute when Steve Basham replaced Andy Taylor and the formation
switched to 4-4-2. The switch didn't repel City. Ben
Purkiss gave Marriott the chance to atone for his earlier
blunder as the Exeter keeper turned a rasping 30-yarder around
the post. After some good work from Richard
Brodie to win a corner, Woolford swung in a good, deep ball
which Danny Parslow
- rising above the defence as Blackpool Tower does over the
Fylde coast - powered in a header past Marriott and in for 2-0.
It could have got better as Duncum forced Marriott to parry.
The ricochet almost fell to Manny Panther, but he couldn't turn
it goalwards and so it looked as though the whistle would come
with City two to the good. However, the best laid plans... In
the last minute of the half and following an Exeter corner,
Tom Evans could only
divert a shot back into the mixer and Basham won the goalmouth
scramble, nudging it home from close in.
That may have soured the half-time teas, but it was as nothing
when, eleven minutes into the second period, McGurk limped out
clutching his leg and shaking his head. Darren Kelly replaced
him, quickly talking himself into the referee's notebook, and
Stuart Elliott
came on for Duncum. Not to worry though, as the two goal advantage
was restored not long after. Woolford bust a gut to get to the
byeline and pulled it back for Brodie. His shot was shanked
badly, but, rather fortuitously, it fell to Onome
Sodje at the back post to turn home. Brodie almost got on
the scoresheet himself with a curling effort, but Marriott saved
well.
Exeter raised their game in response. Substitute Lee Elam had
a shot blocked well by Kelly. From the corner, City only got
it half clear and it was lobbed back in and Richard Logan looped
a header up and over Evans and inside the far post to set nerves
jangling. City could have wrapped it up late on as Wroe did
really well to turn the defence inside out, but his shot, with
Brodie and Sodje available either side, was right at Marriott,
though the former Barnsley playmaker had earned the right to
have a go himself. He then fed Woolford for a final chance,
but his shot was weak.A good result, then, if a slightly less
than convincing performance. After recent disappointing results,
the main thing was to get back on the horse and if it's possible
to be disappointed to only score three, then that's generally
a good sign. All eyes now turn to Saturday and if City can go
two up inside the first half as they did here, Wembley could
suddenly hove into view.
All
information on this website is copyrighted by: Cybernic
Internet Services - Site design, layout and some graphics, York
City Football Club - Text and other graphics, Dave
Potter - Some photos. And any use requires consent from the appropriate
party.
