Exeter City 2-0 Plymouth Argyle: FLW reports as Grecians dominate hapless Pilgrims | OneFootball

FLW reports from the Devon Derby, as Exeter City hosted Plymouth Argyle in the latest instalment of this historic rivalry.

Exeter City won the first Devon Derby since 2023, with goals from Reece Cole and Akeel Higgins ensuring the Grecians have the county bragging rights.

Exeter started the brightest, smashing the post through Ilmari Niskanen inside ten minutes, before Reece Cole pounced on a calamitous Conor Hazard clearance to open the scoring for the Grecians. A lead that would last until half-time.

The Grecian doubled their advantage just before the hour mark. Ethan Brierley played a sumptuous through ball which carved the Plymouth defence open, and allowed Akeel Higgins to go one-on-one with Hazard, and neatly dink it over him.

The victory was a crucial one of the hosts, who not only dominated their bitter rivals, but collected a massive three points to lift them further clear of the danger zone.

As for Argyle, it was yet more misery and another turgid performance to boot. The fury in the away end at full-time wasn't a pretty sight, and further sank the Pilgrims into even more trouble.

Exeter City 2—0 Plymouth Argyle

The party atmosphere began long before the players even took to the field for their warm-ups, with plenty of Exeter supporters flooding into the Big Bank early.

Exeter almost got off to the perfect start inside the first minute. Cole's cutback deflected off Brendan Wiredu and fell nicely for Danny Andrew, who fired a shot from distance well over the away stand.

The Argyle number four was then involved at the other end of the pitch, lashing an effort from the back post past Joe Whitworth to give the visitors the lead, or so he thought. The defender was judged to have been offside, which saw the goal ruled out.

Exeter then had three good chances to take the lead. The first came through Jayden Wareham, who found himself clean through on goal, but hesitated on the ball, which allowed Brendan Galloway to track back and turn his eventual shot behind for a corner.

The second came from the corner, as Cole received the ball in the box, and tried a speculative effort which dipped towards goal and had to be tipped over by Hazard, with an equally special save.

City then went one better by smashing the post. Cole was involved again as his square pass found Niskanen, who somehow smashed the inside of Hazard's far post. All of this came before the clock had even struck 10 minutes.

Just eight minutes later, Exeter drew first blood in the derby, and deservingly so. An awful clearance from Hazard fell straight to the number 12, who beat the stranded Northern Irishman to send St James Park into bedlam.

Plymouth looked flat in the opening 30 minutes, and couldn't deal with Exeter's high press. The sole shot they managed came from Lorent Tolaj from a deep throw, which was comfortably gathered by Whitworth.

The Greens improved towards the end of the half, but didn't see the fruits of their labor, as Exeter went into the break with a 1-0 lead, leaving Tom Cleverley with plenty of questions to answer at the interval.

The Pilgrims head coach was forced to shuffle his deck defensively at the break, as he replaced Alex Mitchell, who'd picked up a knock, with Danish powerhouse Mathias Ross.

Exeter had the first chance of the half when Wareham darted past a bewildered Wiredu, and found Jack McMillan, who blasted a speculative effort well over the bar, and into the Big Bank.

Hazard was then called into action to deny Wareham from close range, before Wiredu produced a superb block to prevent a certain goal from the rebound.

It wouldn't matter though, as just minutes later Higgins doubled Exeter's advantage with a brilliant breakaway goal. Brierley's perfectly-weighted ball carved through an Argyle defence which was in disarray, and the West Brom loanee dinked over Hazard to give his side breathing space.

The home supporters were loving life, and rightly so. Gary Caldwell's side had been in total control, and rendered Plymouth completely unable to cough up any sort of threat on Whitworth's goal.

Things in the away end weren't particularly joyful, with chants of 'you're not fit to wear the shirt' being bellowed by the disgruntled Green Army, whose team had firmly been outfought on the night.

After five minutes of stoppage time, referee Alex Chilowicz had seen enough, and drew the Devon Derby to a close. It was a massive three points for Exeter, who not only get the bragging rights, but elevated themselves further away from the drop zone.

As for Plymouth, the away end was seething after the whistle went, and the staff and players quickly walked down the tunnel and away from the furious fans.

Exeter City player ratings

J. Whitworth - 7

I. Niskanen - 7

P. Sweeney - 7

J. Fitzwater - 7

E. Turns - 7

D. Andrew - 7

J. McMillan - 7

E. Brierley - 8

R. Cole - 9 (K. McDonald 83'(6))

A. Higgins - 8 (J. Aitchison 71'(6))

J. Wareham - 7 (J. Magennis 71'(6))

Unused substitutes: J. Bycroft, L. Oakes, K. Wilson

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Plymouth Argyle player ratings

C. Hazard - 5

J. Edwards - 5 (B. Mumba 61'(6))

B. Wiredu - 4 (O. Dale 71'(6))

A. Mitchell - 6 (M. Ross 46'(6))

B. Galloway - 5

M. Sorinola - 5

M. Boateng - 5

B. Ibrahim - 5

J. Paterson - 5

A. Pepple - 5 (O. Oseni 81'(6))

L. Tolaj - 6

Unused substitutes: L. Ashby-Hammond, K. Szucs, C. Roberts

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Match attendance

Unsurprisingly, St James Park was at full capacity, with a sell-out crowd of 8,262 fans, including 1132 from Plymouth.

Gary Caldwell basks in Devon Derby delight after Exeter City triumph

Speaking to the Dunfermline Press post match, a delighted Exeter boss Caldwell said: “I’m delighted for our supporters first and foremost. Devon is red.

“I said before the game, derbies are for the supporters and our players put in a hell of a performance to give them something to remember. I didn’t manage to win my first two, and I stressed the importance of winning, but I thought we were outstanding in the way we did it.

“The way we pressed and how we were out of possession was outstanding. We changed things on Wednesday as we weren’t too happy with it on Tuesday, but I thought we were excellent from the front – the job Akeel [Higgins] and Jayden [Wareham] did for the team was excellent. We defended well throughout the team, and I am delighted for everyone.

“In these kind of games, you have to throw the first punch and I thought we created some good chances. They had a goal that was offside and a few set pieces, but I thought we were exceptional in that first 25 minutes and could have scored more goals.

“They caused us a few problems at the end of the first half, but I thought we always looked dangerous on the counter-attack and once we got that second goal, I thought we saw the game out comfortably."

Speaking with the press post-match, a dejected Argyle boss Cleverley said: “We were nowhere near it to be brutally honest.

“We were not dominant in any phase of the game, defensively or from an attacking perspective, or from a competing perspective, and if that is the case, then you struggle to take anything from the game.

“We had a 10-minute spell before half-time that I could cling onto from that performance, but I’d be clutching at straws looking for anything else.

“I don’t think we were defensively stable to build anything from. When the opposition has to do very little to score a goal, then that’s a hard foundation for any football team to build from.

“The most successful teams I have played in build their confidence and flair and are solid. That’s what we have to work on now, but creatively we weren’t good enough either. But first and foremost, we have to be more defensively solid.”