Exeter City rue errors as Grecians knocked out of EFL Trophy by Birmingham City

Exeter City may have been knocked out of the EFL Trophy, but manager Gary Caldwell said that the competition as a whole has been positive. The Grecians more than matched Birmingham City at St James Park on Tuesday night, but were beaten 2-1 by the high-fliers.

Luke Harris against his former club broke the deadlock midway through the first half when City were finally punished for failed attempts to play out from the back, pouncing on a mistake, and coolly finishing. Pierce Sweeney drew the Grecians level when he scored directly from a corner, his first goal in 18 months.

Jay Bird missed two golden opportunities to put Exeter ahead when he saw efforts cleared off the line when it looked easier to score. And that was costly as with the minutes to go, Keshi Anderson volleyed in on the angle to make it 2-1 and put the Blues through.

READ MORE: Exeter City 1 Birmingham City 2 - late goal sees Grecians out of EFL Trophy

READ MORE: Exeter City 'punished' as Grecians bow out of EFL Trophy

City tried to find an equaliser to send the tie to penalties, but it proved in vain as they were knocked out of the competition, while Birmingham moved closer to Wembley. While the result was the same as the league defeat a fortnight ago, the performance of the Grecians was a lot better, and they left disappointed to not take the chance for cup progress.

“The performance was excellent,” Caldwell said. “We caused the best team in the league a lot of problems, but conceded two terrible goals. We have a fantastic chance at one each and so many things we did well.

“I am gutted for the supporters when we don’t win but what we are up against and the improvement from the first game against them, we were excellent and can take a lot of heart from the performance. But we still have to be better as all these little things, if we improve them, will give us a brilliant season in my opinion.

“They scored a goal from us giving the ball away in our box and from a hopeful cross which is really disappointing as they didn't play through us at any time.

“We learned from last year from the teams we picked. We gave academy players chances in the group stages, Jake played again tonight and he was outstanding. On the whole it has been a positive but we drew the best team and came up just short. We can take pride in that but out of the competition, but it still can be a big season ahead.”

Following the 2-0 defeat to Stockport County on Saturday, Caldwell made six changes to his Exeter City side. In came Shaun MacDonald, Jack Fitzwater, Ben Purrington, Kevin McDonald, Jake Richards, and Bird, with Joe Whitworth and Ilmari Niskanen on the bench, with Tristan Crama, Ed Francis, Ryan Woods and Caleb Watts not involved. Birmingham made eight changes, with Harris among those starting, while Jay Stansfield was on the bench.

In the ninth minute, the Blues should have gone ahead. MacDonald produced a woeful clearance as City tried to play out from the back, but passed it straight to Anderson. He had almost an open goal to fire into it, but somehow, he blazed the finish wide. It was a huge let off and almost a gift of Exeter’s own making.

But in the 22 ^nd minute, Birmingham took the lead and it was gifted to them. Again City tried to play out from the back, but Jack McMillan was caught in possession. The ball broke to Harris, and the Fulham loanee calmly slotted the finish in off the post to make it 1-0. The goal had been coming as City failed to heed the warnings.

The equaliser came ten minutes later from an unlikely source. Sweeney was pulled up by referee Sam Mulhall for trying to take the corner from well outside the circle – having got away with one earlier in the game. But having moved the ball into the quadrant, the skipper swung in a delicious cross that evaded everyone and flew into the far corner. Half-hearted appeals for a foul on Bailey Peacock-Farrell were waved away, as the captain celebrated his first goal since April 2023.

On the hour though, Exeter should have gone ahead. Millenic Alli nodded the ball down from a Vincent Harper cross to Bird. The striker had not one but two chances from inside the six yard box, but a combination of Ben Davies and Peacock-Farrell made brilliant blocks to both of them to keep it out, but he should have buried the chance.

Both sides were going for the winner and Anderson thought he had restored Birmingham’s lead with a drilled finish from the edge of the box, only to see the assistant’s flag raised for offside, much to the outrage of the visiting players.

In the 78 ^th minute though, Birmingham did restore the lead. Taylor Gardner Hickman teased in a cross, Anderson got the wrong side of Purrington, and he guided a volleyed finish back across goal to make it 2-1.

Five minutes of stoppage-time were added-on. In the third of them May had a goal ruled out for offside. It didn’t matter though as the game was won, and City were out.

“We have had a tough run of games, have improved performance levels, but not got the points we wanted,” Caldwell said. “But we have to know in the bigger games the details are so important and if we get everything right, we can beat these teams.

“It is a big Christmas period but with the health of the squad and players coming back, a period where it is important to pick up points and hopefully looking up and at an FA Cup run as well.

“The way we adapted to the best team at this level and the problems we gave them, we can do that to teams. We have to do it with energy and play our way and when we do, the results will come.”

Exeter City are back in action on Saturday when they host Barnsley in League One.