Two poor goals in both halves meant that Exeter City Under-18s came away from their first competitive fixture of the season with a 4-1 defeat to Gillingham.
Headers from a corner and a free-kick in the first half, the first of which an own-goal, and two lapses in concentration in the second meant that Theo Cutler’s goal ultimately counted for nothing in a tough afternoon for City’s youth team.
For the first fixture of the Under-18s Youth Alliance South season, Nicky Ajose named Jacca Cavendish in the starting lineup for the first time in almost 18 months following his recovery from an ACL injury.
The young Grecians had a shaky start in Kent, allowing their opponents to gain early dominance, which led to a series of early corners for the hosts.
While City managed to deal with the initial few, they failed to clear their lines enough further up the pitch. Four minutes in, a corner to the back post took an unfortunate deflection off a City player and ended up in the back of the net.
Despite the early setback, City responded positively by dominating possession, although they struggled to create clear-cut scoring opportunities. Callum Graham and George Birch combined well several times playing behind Theo Cutler upfront, but they couldn’t carve out a decisive chance before the Gills doubled their lead in the 22nd minute.
Disappointingly for the Grecians, Gillingham’s second came from another set-piece. Poor marking from a wide free-kick left a free man in blue at the back post, who headed home from close range.
City continued to struggle in the final third for the remainder of the first-half, but held their opponents at bay to keep the score at 2-0.
The Grecians emerged with renewed energy in the second half, and managed to half the deficit through those two number 10s in the middle. Graham found a pocket of space outside the box and slid the ball through to Cutler on the right-hand side of the box, who calmly finished across the goalkeeper.
While that goal gave City momentum, another sloppy moment in possession gifted the home side the opportunity to restore their two-goal advantage 15 minutes after Cutler’s goal.
Jack Anthony played a poor back pass to Dan Layer in Exeter’s goal, a moment which allowed a Gills striker to nick the ball off City’s stopper and square to his teammate to tap into an open goal.
The game became increasingly stretched after that point, with plenty of space opening up in the midfield. However, it was Gillingham who made the most of those gaps, creating several chances. With five minutes remaining, one of those chances left City with no way back into the match.
Another cross into City’s box was brought down by a Gills striker, who quickly turned away from a defender before launching the ball into the roof of the net to seal a comprehensive win for the home side.
Meanwhile, the Under-16s also faced Gillingham simultaneously, winning 1-0 in their first competitive fixture of the season.
The young Grecians are next back in action on Saturday at the Cliff Hill, where they host AFC Wimbledon with a 1pm kick-off.
City line up: Dan Layer, Liam Oakes, Jack Anthony, Jacca Cavendish, Liam Cartwright, George Birch, Harry Crees, Santino Ohanaka, George Willams, Callum Graham, Theo Cutler
Subs: Dylan Shanahan, Luke Hodgetts, Tobias Alsop