MATCH REPORT | Swindon Town 0-1 Exeter City

Swindon headed into their final group game of the EFL Trophy with their fate already sealed.

Swindon's opponents Exter County also could not progress and like Swindon were in torrid form having lost four of their last five games and three in a row.

Michael Flynn named a heavily rotated side knowing a tough clash with Mansfield awaited his side at the weekend. With a scattering of fans at the County Ground ahead of kick-off the hopes were not high for a Swindon win.

First Half

The fans who did make the trek in the bitterly cold conditions were treated to a poor start. Exeter controlled the opening exchanges and it took only six minutes for the League One side to open the scoring. 

Jamie Scott's ball into the box was not closed down and found Exeter man Yanic Wildschut who then finished wonderfully to make it 1-0. Despite early confusion around it being a Liam Kinsella own goal, the Dutchman did score. 

The visitors were not going to sit back and defend as they continued their bright start with Harry Kite and Scott both having big chances and testing Lewis Ward early on. Exeter had named a full-strength side and the gap in quality was certainly showing. 

With fifteen minutes gone, there was still only one side in the game. Kyle Taylor forced Ward into another save then Kite was played through on goal but a strong run by Kokolo allowed him to get to the ball and clear it away.

Half an hour came and went and despite no real pressure on the Swindon goal since the first fifteen the hosts had still not registered a single shot and had been dominated on possession. 

The first half had been by no means a half to remember with some of the few notable moments being a 32nd-minute substitution from the visitors with Dion Rankine being replaced by Vince Harper. The second was the attendance announced as 644 Swindon's lowest turnout since 1910.  

It took 40 minutes for Swindon to have something that resembled an attack, Brooklyn Genesini made a run into space and played it out wide to Joel McGregor who tried cutting the ball back to Genesini but an Exeter man managed to intercept. 

The chances were starting to flow with McGregor making a run out wide and lofting a cross into the box to Fletcher Hubbard who volleyed towards goal but a defender managed to clear it away. 

Swindon made some changes of their own before half-time Kokolo and George McEachran making way for Harvey Fox and Jaxon Brown. 

Halftime would come with nothing much of note happening aside from the early goal, a youthful Swindon side found themselves a goal down at the break. 

Second Half

Exeter got the game underway but not before a triple substitution that included goalscorer Wildschut the visitors clearly were confident of securing the win that both sides needed as an answer to poor runs of form. 

Any hope that the second half would provide more entertainment was shut down within a few minutes as neither side could string more than a couple of passes together before losing the ball. 

The first chance of the half would fall to Swindon with Miles Obodo trying to find an angle to shoot but taking a heavy touch and being dispossessed by Shaun MacDonald in the Exeter goal.

Exeter would have a decent chance in the 65th minute, Cheick Diabate made himself some room before unleashing a powerful strike but Harrison Minturn got down quick enough to block the effort. 

With only two shots between the two sides in the second half the game had definitely slowed to a crawl, neither side had cemented a grasp on the game and both looked content just to settle for the result at hand. 

Swindon's best chance of the second half came with just 10 minutes to go and they had nothing to do with it. Jack Aitchison overhit a backpass and left MacDonald to race back to stop a certain goal. 

The remainder of the game fizzled out with nothing to speak about, ultimately the game meant absolutely nothing as both sides knew their fates before the game even kicked off.

Summary