THE GAME
Watched by incoming manager Inigo Calderon Rovers, who had taken the lead through Promise Omochere, conceded three goals in the final 20 minutes to lose 3-1 against Exeter City at St James Park.
The home side began on the front foot and might well have taken an early lead but, thankfully for Rovers, Ilmari Niskanen headed into the side netting from Millenic Alli’s cross.
Josh Magennis was denied a goalscoring opportunity by a last ditch block by Rovers’ defence, while at the other end Isaac Hutchinson’s shot was blocked before Wd Francis saw his effort come back into play off the foot of the upright.
Alli had an overhead kick blocked, while Francis and Niskanen both went close as Exeter pushed for the opener. For Rovers, a Shaq Forde effort was deflected for a corner, but the half ended goalless.
It seemed as though Rovers had broken the deadlock with 58 minutes on the clock, when Hutchinson netted for his side at the end of a flowing move, but celebrations were cut short as he was ruled to have been in an offside position.
Three minutes later, though, the first goal arrived as Exeter keeper Joe Whitworth could only parry Forde’s shot into the path of Omochere who slotted in his second goal in as many games to give Rovers the lead.
The equaliser arrived on 72 minutes when Fitzwater headed past Josh Griffiths from a Francis corner. Rovers were then denied again by an offside decision, Forde’s effort being ruled out.
Substitute Scott Sinclair’s first touch should have seen him restore Rovers lead, but he blazed his shot over the bar and shortly afterwards the home side were in front when Alli, unmarked in the box, had time to turn and fire a shot past Josh Griffiths.
Whitworth then made an outstanding save from Forde as Rovers pressed for a second goal of their own. However, in the sixth minute of time added on the hosts scored a third as Griffiths parried a shot from Kamari Doyle into the path of Jake Richards who fired a low shot into the net to seal a Grecian victory.
THEY SAID WHAT?
‘That one’s a bit of a sickener, to be honest. I thought it was a cagey game in the first half, though they perhaps shaded it a bit in terms of getting behind us on the left hand side a couple of time, but we had a couple of moments.
‘I felt when we came out second half, we addressed a couple of bits and I thought we created probably the most we have in weeks and always looked a threat. The game kind of descended into madness, I think, with no particular help from the referee because the first offside goal seemed harsh, especially as they said Isaac Hutchinson was offside and he’s definitely not.
Then there’s the stonewall penalty on Scott. He’s about to kick it in . The boy doesn’t touch the ball, he just takes his leg and we’re not in a place where actually we haven’t come back from that quick enough. I thought we played really well for large parts of the game and, hopefully, the new manager can see there’s potential to work with within the group.’ (Rovers interim manager David Horseman)
I thought we did well at times. At about 70 minutes we were probably comfortable in the game. We had taken a deserved lead and we were on top. We should have had a penalty, but we should have been two or three goals up. We can take positives out of it, with the new head coach coming in, and move on.
We created a lot of chances today. We’ve just got to put them in the back of the net. We made some really good chances and the lads know we have to perform in front of goal. It will get us up the table if we do that.
‘It’s brilliant to be back in the side. It was at left wing back, but I’ll do anything to help the lads and the side out. I hope I can take my chance and stay in the team now. There is a lot of potential in the team but we’ve not stopped talking about that. We find ourselves in a difficult situation and it’s up to us as a group of lads and staff to get us out of it.’ (Rovers midfielder Luke Thomas)
‘That was not the kind of game we wanted, as we should have been leading at half time. We created some great chances. Then, in the second half, it was like a basketball game which didn’t suit us. The character and personality. to go a goal down twice in a week and score five goals, is incredible and the players deserve a lot of credit.
‘It’s been a hard week and we are depleted, but I’m delighted for the players. We keep saying it’s a group full of personality. All the finishers were superb. The squad is needed, especially over this period, and they all added something to the team.
‘We were missing our first choice back three through injury and we asked three players who have never played together, one of whom is a midfielder, one’s an attacking full back and one is an out and out defender and so it was a makeshift back three and I thought they were outstanding.’ (Exeter manager Gary Caldwell)
