A pair of late goals from Leyton Orient dashed Exeter City’s hopes of an away victory, as the Grecians slipped to just one place above the relegation zone.
With Josh Magennis away on international duty with Northern Ireland, manager Gary Caldwell was forced to reshuffle his lineup, while Orient named former Exeter star Demetri Mitchell in their starting eleven for the first time in over a month.
Early on, Leyton Orient thought they were to going to be awarded a penalty when City defender Ed Turns appeared to have handballed it in the penalty area, only to see the referee blow for a foul in the visitor’s direction. It was then Exeter themselves who received a penalty when the referee judged Orient defender Sean Clare to have fouled Reece Cole. Jayden Wareham made no mistake from the spot, putting Exeter in front with his fifth league goal of the season.
The hosts appealed for a spot-kick again in the run up to half-time when Dom Ballard felt he was pulled down by Jack Fitzwater, but the referee was unmoved once more. O’s manager Richie Wellens saw himself booked for dissent as a result of his reaction to the decision.
A rather flat start to the second half passed by without any major chances for the two teams. The first to come almost resulted in a doubling of Exeter’s lead, when Cole called O’s keeper Killian Cahill into action by forcing a save, only to head his second bite of the cherry against the post.
Mere moments later at the 76-minute mark, Grecians keeper Joe Whitworth did well to keep a close-range effort from Idris El Mizouni out, but was rendered a mere spectator as the rebound bounced off an unaware El Mizouni and into the goal. Exeter’s unbeaten run of five games was confirmed as over minutes later when a cross from Charlie Wellens was met by a cushioned header from Jack Simpson and rifled into the back of the net by substitute Tyreeq Bakinson.
A win would’ve seen the visitors rise to fourteenth in the table, but a loss sinks them to 20th instead, only two points above the relegation zone. In his post-match assessment, Caldwell again saw the positives in his side’s performance, choosing to focus on the 74 minutes where they were ahead, and how they can work to ensure that turns into 90 minutes next time out.
The Grecians’ next outing comes at home against 12th-placed Burton this weekend.
St James Park itself was damaged this week by a fire. Estimates suggest the damage to the club’s control room, medical room and the Adam Stansfield Stand could equal a cost of £100,000, but in spite of this, the Gofundme page set up by the club to recover the losses has already raised £40,000.
