Matt Jay scores twice and Tom McCready nets a free-kick in City win
Line-UpsExeter City: Hamon, Down, Tillson, Read, Egan, McCready, Oyeleke, Jay, Watkins, Gill, Reid.
Subs: Charles (Gill 46’)
Goals: Jay 48’, 52’, McCready 62'
Bodmin Town Goal: Liam Thornton 75’
Report
TWO GOALS from Matt Jay and a Tom McCready free-kick earned the Grecians a 3-1 win at Priory Park.
Exeter City took a youthful squad over to Cornwall to meet the South West Peninsula League club, though the majority of the starting eleven boasted first-team league experience.
Toby Down and Kyle Egan both continued both put in strong showings as they continued their step up to this level at the opposing full-back positions, while there the experience of Tom McCready and Manny Oyeleke to hopefully brush off on the young players.
Jamie Reid had the best chance of the first half, but his duel with Kevin Miller, star of two spells at St James Park with the Grecians, ended in crisis averted for the Black & Ambers, the first half finishing goalless.
HALF-TIME: BODMIN TOWN 0-0 EXETER CITY
Joe Charles replaced young frontman Cameron Gill at half-time, and the new introduction carved open the chance which brought the breakthrough for the Grecians within just three minutes of the restart. Charles found the lively Matt Jay, who put the Grecians ahead, and Jay was on the scoresheet again a mere three minutes after that, with Ollie Watkins the provider this time.
In-between the sticks for Bodmin in the second half was a familiar face. After an injury to Kevin Miller took the 46-year-old out of the game, with no replacement available within the Bodmin ranks, young City goalkeeper Kavanagh Keadell went on to face his team-mates and gain some vital, testing minutes’ experience on the pitch.
Keadell, however, could do nothing when City took a commanding 3-0 advantage. Tom McCready, winning a free-kick twenty yards from goal, picked himself up to fire the ball sweetly into the top corner.
Despite a late headed consolation from Liam Thornton, who powered in from a corner, City played out the final fifteen minutes with their lead never in danger. 3-1 the final score.
FULL-TIME: BODMIN TOWN 1-3 EXETER CITY
Man of the Match: Matt Jay