2016–17 Exeter City F.C. season

Pre-season

On 19 May 2016, seven friendlies were announced on the club website. The majority were played against non-league West Country teams, but City also played Bristol Rovers, Burton Albion and a Cardiff City XI, the former of League One and the latter two of the Championship. City won all seven of the pre-season friendlies, conceding only two goals.

Season summary

August

Exeter City began the season with an away fixture against Blackpool, which resulted in a 2–0 loss for the Grecians. Then followed two consecutive home fixtures, both of which the Grecians went on to lose. Against Hartlepool United, City were up 1–0 at half-time thanks to a 31st minute goal from Liam McAlinden, but conceded two goals within just two minutes in the final half-hour to lose 2–1. The Grecians also went down to a late goal four days later versus Crawley Town, when Josh Yorwerth scored in the 83rd minute. After these three opening losses, City were bottom of the table. Up next was a trip to Accrington Stanley, where the Grecians won their first league match thanks to two goals in a frantic six minutes in the second half. Ryan Harley opened the scoring for Exeter in the 66th minute before Arron Davies (who left Exeter City in the summer after his contract expired) equalised four minutes later. City were very quickly back ahead when Jake Taylor scored the winning goal in the 72nd minute. The Grecians lost their final August fixture at home to promotion-chasing Portsmouth because of an 85th-minute penalty, but City again failed to take their chances. City scored only three goals in August, picking up a mere three points from five matches. The Grecians sat in the relegation zone at 23rd place, ahead only of Cambridge United.

September

Exeter City's first fixture of September was a tit-for-tat match away at Colchester United. Robbie Simpson scored his first league goal since signing in the summer to open the scoring. However City were 2–1 down at half-time, but goals from Ollie Watkins and Joel Grant sealed a narrow win for the Grecians, their second of the season in League Two. City's next match was at Crewe Alexandra and lost this game 2–0 to goals either side of half-time. Then followed the Devon Derby against rivals Plymouth Argyle which City also lost 2–0 with both goals coming early on in the game, causing Exeter to slip back into the relegation zone. Exeter City bounced back out of relegation zone by picking up their third win of the 2016–17 League Two season away at Stevenage with two quickfire goals in the second half from Lee Holmes and Ollie Watkins. City's miserable start to the season was made worse by a record-breaking streak of home losses. After a 2–0 loss at home to Notts County in which the opposition scored two early goals much like Plymouth Argyle a week earlier, the Grecians had lost every one of their first five home matches. However, the two wins away from home that month saw City out of the relegation zone, finishing the month's action in 22nd place.

October

The Grecians fared slightly better in October despite an opening 1–0 away loss at Wycombe Wanderers after a late goal from Adebayo Akinfenwa. City finally picked up their first point at home on 8 October with a goalless draw with Grimsby Town in which goalkeeper Bobby Olejnik didn't feature on the starting line-up for only the second time in over 50 league matches. Instead, Christy Pym featured in goal and would stay in the starting lineup for months to come. In contrast to the Grecians' poor start to the season, City thumped Barnet 4–1 in the following fixture away from home. The League Two top scorer at the time John Akinde opened the scoring for the opposition before Jake Taylor equalized just before half-time. After the break, City scored another three goals while former Grecian Alex Nicholls failed to find the back of net. Despite this heavy win, City once again lost at home the following week to Cambridge United to two early goals, with Robbie Simpson scoring a consolation goal towards the end of the match. Like their previous away fixture, the Grecians picked up another strong win at Morecambe, with first-half goals from David Wheeler, Joel Grant and Lee Holmes. By the end of October, the Grecians had earned 16 points, 15 of these away from home and stood at 19th in the league table, six points below the play-off places and one point above the relegation zone.

November

The Grecians' first league game of the month was a 3–1 loss to Doncaster Rovers. Reuben Reid opened the scoring in the 51st minute by converting a penalty kick but City conceded three goals in the final twenty minutes of the match, subsequently dropping back into the relegation zone. Exeter City also threw away a result the following week at Carlisle United, going behind in extra time to lose 3–2. Reid again opened the scoring, after only 40 seconds, but Charlie Wyke equalized. Lee Holmes then regained the lead for Exeter after 54 until Shaun Miller equalized in the 89th minute. Wyke scored the winner in the seventh minute of extra time. After two consecutive losses, the Grecians were bottom of the table for the first time since mid-August. City escaped from the drop zone the following Tuesday after their sixth away league win of the season, at Leyton Orient. The Grecians won 1–0 after a first-half Ollie Watkins goal. Orient manager Alberto Cavasin was sacked soon after this match City stayed in 21st after earning only their second point at home after a 0–0 draw against Luton Town.

December

After elimination from the FA Cup, the Grecians did not have a fixture for the first Saturday of December. City's first match was away at Cheltenham Town, which was won 3–1, seeing the Grecians rise to 17th in the league table. Exeter City won their first home match in the League the following week against Mansfield Town, with Ollie Watkins scoring both goals. The Grecians drew 0–0 at Yeovil Town on their Boxing Day fixture. New Years Eve saw Exeter City beat Newport County 4–1 at Rodney Parade. Ollie Watkins scored his first hat-trick in professional football, the first hat-trick any Exeter City player had scored in the league since 1993. This result meant City rose to 11th place in the league table.

January

City began the year with a 4–0 thrashing of Leyton Orient, extending their unbeaten run to seven matches. This run saw the Grecians rise from 24th in the league to 11th in only seven matches. City were without a match on Saturday 7th January due to their fixture against Wycombe Wanderers being postponed because of the Chairboys' involvement in the third round of the FA Cup. After the few fixtures that took place that day, City dropped to 12th in the league table. The Grecians bounced back up the table with a 3–0 win at Grimsby Town, with Ollie Watkins, David Wheeler and Reuben Reid scoring their 10th, 9th and 5th goals of the season respectively. City won 3–0 again the following week, this time at home to Colchester United. Reid, Wheeler and Liam McAlinden scored with Ollie Watkins gained a hat-trick of assists. After this result, the Grecians rose to 9th in the League Table, only one point off the play-offs. Exeter City climbed into 7th place in the league table, the final play-off spot, after a 1–0 win away at Portsmouth, whom are also play-off contenders. City again triumphed over a fellow promotion contender by beating Wycombe Wanderers 4–2, moving up to fourth place.

February

The Grecians carried their excellent form into February with a 4–0 thrashing of Crewe Alexandra with David Wheeler breaking the all-time Exeter City record for consecutive matches scored in after his brace, meaning he had scored seven matches in a row. Jordan Moore-Taylor and Lloyd James also scored in the match. City were now only four points behind third-placed Carlisle United. Exeter City also won seven consecutive matches in the league (within a single season) for the first time. Exeter's unbeaten run was ended by rivals Plymouth Argyle in a 3–0 drubbing at Home Park. This was the Grecians' heaviest defeat of the season so far and the club dropped to 5th in the league table. Exeter dropped further down the league table to 6th after losing a 2–0 lead at 90 minutes to draw 2–2 at Notts County. Jake Taylor was sent off in the 87th minute. City drew again in their next game at home against Stevenage, with Reuben Reid equalizing early in the second half. Another draw was to follow the next game at home against Blackpool, though City fought back after finding themselves 2–0 down after 39 minutes. This stretched their home unbeaten run to 8 matches.

Results summary

Last updated: 25 February 2017.
Source: BBC Sport

Results by round

Last updated: 18 February 2017.
Source: BBC Match result pages
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

Matches

On 22 June 2016, the fixtures for the 2016–17 season were announced.

August

September

October

November

December

January

February

Score overview

  Win   Draw   Loss

Note: Exeter City goals are listed first.

FA Cup

The Grecians were beaten 3–1 at home in the FA Cup First Round by Luton Town after conceding two penalties The first penalty was conceded after 11 minutes and was converted by Danny Hylton. Reuben Reid then equalized in the 39th minute. Luton regained the lead after 71 minutes when Glen Rea scored. Despite Town going down to 10 men soon after, they finished off the game after Hylton scored his second goal from the spot after 86 minutes. This penalty was given After a shove by Troy Archibald-Henville, in his first appearance for the Grecians after a long injury lay-off.

EFL Cup

Exeter City won their match against Brentford in the first round after Ryan Harley scored in the 100th minute. Ethan Ampadu became the youngest ever player to be fielded by the club in this match, aged just 15 years, 10 months and 26 days. In the second round of the EFL Cup, City lost 3–1 to Premier League side Hull City. Jake Taylor had opened the scoring after 24 minutes but Adama Diomandé equalized after two minutes and scored again in the second half. Robert Snodgrass scored straight from a free kick to ensure Exeter's elimination from the competition.

EFL Trophy

Exeter City began their EFL Trophy campaign with a loss to League One side Oxford United. The Grecians were 2–0 down after 36 minutes but Matt Jay scored his first goal for the club just before half-time and Liam McAlinden equalized after 61 minutes. However, the Oxes scored twice in three minutes to condemn City to an opening defeat.

The Grecians won their next match against the Chelsea F.C. Reserves and Academy. Ollie Watkins opened the scoring after only 2 minutes before David Wheeler scored in the 25th minute to give City a 2–0 lead at half-time. Liam McAlinden made it 3–0 shortly after the break. Iké Ugbo scored twice in the second half but Exeter held on to their lead.

City were then knocked out of the League Trophy after a loss on penalties to Swindon Town after Wheeler cancelled out a Luke Norris opener. Striker Robbie Simpson played as a centre-back for the first half of this match due to club's ongoing injury crisis. Swindon won the shoot-out 4–2 after Lloyd James and Lee Holmes missed from the spot.

Goals and assists

Source: Exeter City FC website