Home comforts help Exeter City

It has been an excellent few days for Exeter City, securing two wins at St James Park to virtually confirm the Grecians will remain in Sky Bet League One for another season.

After a rotten recent run, City settled some nerves with a solid 2-0 victory over struggling Shrewsbury Town on Saturday and a midweek defeat of Mansfield Town, also by a score of 2-0, now has Exeter ten points clear of the relegation zone with 11 games still to play.

The Grecians enjoyed a flying start under the lights of SJP, Demetri Mitchell adding to his growing reputation with a fine finish on just eight minutes. Hiram Boateng had a pop for Mansfield but the game generally settled into a quieter spell.

Will Evans possibly should have done better with a header from a decent position and Boateng’s radar again let him down before Pat Jones steered a shot wide for City to complete a satisfactory first period.

Jones was replaced by Caleb Watts at the interval and he was soon celebrating with Angus MacDonald, who bagged his first goal for the club with a powerful header from an Ed Francis cross.

City had a cushion and they were suddenly playing with huge belief, Josh Magennis forcing a top save from the Mansfield custodian before Watts had an effort charged down.

The game turned scrappy in the closing stages and when Aden Flint spurned a good opportunity for the visitors, City had the points in the bag. Next up is a weekend trip to Rotherham and Exeter can soon start thinking about a relaxing summer break.