Exeter 9 - 0 barrowford (374520293)

The crowd of 25548 turning up at St James Park today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Nuutti Hurskainen was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Władysław Lew and Jack B. Jeppsson. A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Exeter. Lineup: Parry - Caerts, Barreiros, Meyer, Lopez - Lore, Heiermann, Omur, Regidor Reyes - Reichertz, Grenouilleau.

barrowford started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. The following players took the field: George - Wing, Chalk, Lakhani, Wong - Austin, Carter, Baker, Beardsley - Mansbridge, Trevelyan.

It seemed as though Exeter considered the game won before even taking the field, which resulted in a very uninspired start to the game. Today, Exeter's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. O. Heiermann was struggling to make the ball dance with his usual trickery and panache, and the opposing players had little trouble shutting him down in these muddy conditions. Exeter took the lead after 14 minutes as a result of G. Barreiros's peach of a shot from the right hand side of the box - placed beautifully in the top corner. 1 - 0. After 26 minutes, Exeter raised their score by one when L. Lore's dangerous low cross was cleverly tucked in at the near post by E. Reichertz. 2 - 0. Confident in their lead, Exeter's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. With 36 minutes played, Exeter's J. Grenouilleau almost extended the lead, but his shot from the left glanced off the top of the bar to fall behind the net. After 37 minutes, Exeter's E. Reichertz fell awkwardly, but was determined to stay in the match. That's the spirit! J. Regidor Reyes slipped and slithered in the wet grass. His usual rapid runs were nowhere to be seen today. E. Reichertz should probably have put his team up another goal after 42 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by C. George kept the visitors in the game. A speedy charge from the left side of the field increased the lead of Exeter to 3 - 0 as J. Grenouilleau finished it off competently, firing in from an acute angle. O. Heiermann increased Exeter's lead to 4 - 0 with a penalty spot cannonball. M. Meyer of Exeter received a yellow card after 44 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. After 44 minutes Exeter's S. Omur contracted a slight foot injury, but didn't want to leave the game. 4 - 0 was the score after the first half. Exeter had most of the ball, with 78 percent of possession.

After 47 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and J. Regidor Reyes gave the Exeter supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 5 - 0. With 58 minutes played, Exeter put themselves up 6 - 0 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to F. Caerts, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. 62 minutes into the game, Exeter were awarded a penalty that O. Heiermann turned into 7 - 0 without a problem. Exeter put themselves up 8 - 0 when J. Grenouilleau broke through on the right, leaving the entire defence trailing in his wake. Exeter's L. Lore increased the lead to 9 - 0, after he saw his shot go between the legs of the advancing goalkeeper following some good play down the right wing after 75 minutes. Exeter claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 81 percent.

O. Heiermann performed admirably for Exeter. F. Caerts on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important barrowford player was A. Carter. C. George was a disappointment, however. The match ends 9 - 0.