Caldwell Praises Exeter City's Pre-Season Win

Gary Caldwell insisted his Exeter City side had been given a ‘brilliant work-out’ as their build up to the new Sky Bet League One season continued with a 3-1 pre-season victory at Yeovil Town.

An early strike from Sonny Cox had given the Grecians the lead, the young frontman netting after just four minutes when he timed his run to perfection to latch onto a ball from Josh Magennis to nestle it past Ollie Wright in the home goal.

Ilmari Niskanen, Magennis and Reece Cole all had decent enough chances to add to City’s lead before the break, but they were unable to find the target as Caldwell took the opportunity to run a number of his youngsters in the second period.

With both sides keen to get game minutes into their squad, it was City who doubled their advantage around the hour mark when Santi Ohanaka – having been upended in the box – picked himself up to fire in the resultant penalty.

City cheers, however, proved short-lived as almost immediately former Torquay United and Plymouth Argyle striker, Frank Nouble, capitalised on a mistake in the City defence to fire past Joe Whitworth.

The visitors, though, were not to be denied, adding a third goal when Kieran Wilson produced a composed finish for his first goal this pre-season.

Even then there was still time for more drama, Whitworth keeping out a late Yeovil penalty after Dylan Morgan had been tripped in the area.

“I thought we had total control and then it got quite exciting at the end,” said Caldwell. “It was a brilliant work-out for us. Both sides tried to play, they were very good, and we pressed in a different way against a better quality team.

“The first goal came from winning the ball back and counter-attacking – and I thought we had some good moments in the first half. You could start to see relationships building within the team and then second half the young boys came on and did brilliant.

“It was a brilliant run and penalty from Santi and a fantastic finish from Kieran, but all of them can be happy with their work.

“For all of them, when you get a chance to train or play with the first team, you have to leave an impression on myself, the staff, the older players – and I think a few of the players have done just that.

“This is what this club is all about, we develop academy players. I still think they have a long way to go to make a real impact on the group, but it’s great they have had that opportunity. It should give them the motivation to keep working hard and get more chances.”

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