Exeter City fall in the first round of the FA cup

Report: Peterborough 2 Exeter City 0

Exeter City’s FA Cup campaign was ended for another season at the hands of Peterborough United, who were 2-0 victors at London Road.

City were good with and without the ball, but two goals in the space of seven minutes by Britt Assombalonga and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing sealed a Posh win.

The Grecians were creative and dynamic with the ball but couldn’t quite dissect through the home defence, and Peterborough had the killer instinct to pick off City when the chances came.

Alan Gow was the most notable absentee for the Grecians, missing out on the matchday squad completely. Jake Gosling – who had a noteworthy involvement in last year’s FA Cup first round as a loanee at Dorchester, returned to the bench.

Matt Gill made his first start for Exeter since his return on loan from Bristol Rovers against his hometown club, while Peterborough’s Friday morning loan signing, Hogan Ephraim of Queens Park Rangers, was on the bench for the home side.

The Posh were first to threaten, with the clock barely ticking past 3pm. Wing-back Mark Little hung up a cross for Tyrone Barnett to leap at and head goalwards, which needed batting away by Artur Krysiak.

While City were containing well and looking comfortable in possession against their League 1 hosts, it was the home side that had the more of the threat around the penalty area. Two wasted free-kicks by the Posh were aggravating for the home fans, and a Chris Alcock effort was blocked and looped into the arms of Krysiak.

City were posing a typical counter-attacking threat and an advance down the right flank by Arron Davies, who began as a wing-back, was just beyond the reach of Parkin who was muscled out.

Centre-forward Barnett was the chief threat for the hosts as his athleticism and movement were making life difficult for the centre-halves. A towering header from the forward drew a great low save by Krysiak, but the Polish stopper was relieved to see a curling shot from Bennett fly just beyond the post shortly after.