Exeter City have more questions than answers - success of Reading FC transfer in the balance for now | OneFootball

Jayden Wareham made his Exeter City debut on Saturday but the Grecians still registered no shots on target in defeat at Doncaster Rovers.

We were hoping for new beginnings and a renewed sense of excitement. In the end, it was the same as it ever was.

Exeter City headed to Doncaster Rovers last weekend to kick off their 2025/26 League One campaign and came home disappointed as a combination of wasteful finishing and terrible refereeing decisions saw City's injury-hit squad succumb 1-0 via a late penalty.

It was a battling display in the face of what looked a fairly-tricky opening fixture at Donny who were in high spirits after storming to the League Two title last term.

But a mind-boggling decision by referee Ross Joyce to award an 87th-minute penalty for a handball, the kind of offence that Grecians boss Gary Caldwell said he had been told would no longer be awarded, left the former Scotland international fuming.

What's new, eh? Well, there is plenty new at St James Park, actually.

Exeter trying new things with same result

In a change of formation Caldwell went with two up top as Sonny Cox paired with key signing Jayden Wareham in attack and the former Reading man was one of three debutants at the Eco-Power Stadium.

The other two were Brentford loanee Ethan Brierley, who struggled to assert himself on his League One debut, and borrowed Aston Villa defender Sil Swinkels, who was unfortunately adjudged to have handled the ball and gave away the penalty.

You feel Brierley will grow into his role and Swinkels was largely solid on the left of a back three, while Wareham offered a tantalising but ultimately fruitless hint at what he can bring.

He, like the rest of his City teammates, started brightly, and he showed hustle to break in behind on the right-hand side.

It looked prime for a shot across goal, but he opted to square it to his unsuspecting strike partner Cox, who, frankly, bungled an effort from a central position six-yards out, scuffing a golden opportunity well wide.

This was the kind of move that bore fruit in pre-season, but you wonder if next time Wareham will try his luck rather than pass.

Cox then completely missed a header from a similar distance, a Donny defender rattled his own bar trying to defend a free kick and Ilmari Niskanen failed to round the keeper when put one-on-one by Cox.

City survived a major scare when Donny's Damola Ajayi squandered a great opportunity after good work from the excellent Luke Molyneux, firing at Jack Fitzwater on the line with the goal gaping.

While the Grecians had the lion's share of the game's better chances, in the end they registered zero shots on target and amassed an xG of 0.39, which feels a little harsh, but if you don't technically shoot you're not going to score.

Jayden Wareham's disappointing on Exeter debut

Which brings us back to Wareham.

Perhaps he wasn't 100% fit, but he started brightly and showed good athleticism, battling for the ball and challenging for headers, just like Reading fans promised he would.

He should have opened his City account with an assist or goal, given the quality of the chance he created for Cox in the first five minutes.

Obviously, if that goes in, whoever scores it, the game is completely different and perhaps City maintain their good start and go on to get something from the match.

It was a bit of a surprise to see Wareham withdrawn just before the hour mark with last season's forgotten man Jack Aitchison thrown on to try and create something.

However, the 22-year-old was brought in as City's great hope up front this year, but he clocked the lowest FotMob rating (5.5/10) of the 22 players who started on the opening day.

He only completed 50% of passes (four of eight) and won just two of 12 aerial duels.

Perhaps the plan is for Wareham to play the role that Cox did on Saturday once Josh Magennis is back to full fitness and to use the Northern Irishman as the battering ram. It certainly might be more effective for all involved.

Either way, it was a disappointing debut that could have been a great one if that split second in the opening five minutes had gone differently.

There's still plenty of hope for Wareham and plenty of time for him to get up and running but, for a side desperately lacking in attacking output, it wasn't the kind of debut that immediately convinced that he will single-handedly fix the Grecians' many issues going forward. For that, there are more questions than answers.