Wanderers delivered an early present in their last home game before Christmas as a fantastic fightback extended their unbeaten record at the Toughsheet Community Stadium and strengthened their hold on a top-six place, writes Pete Oliver.
After being gifted a half-time lead, Exeter threw up a wall of red and white shirts to try and protect their advantage and made it tough going at times for the Whites as they tried to repair the damage and get the win their dominance deserved.
But a superb second-half performance triggered by substitute Thierry Gale ultimately powered Steven Schumacher’s men to a seventh home success to further lift the spirits heading for the festive programme.
Gale provided the spark and after fellow substitute Sam Dalby had equalised – on an afternoon when Wanderers’ squad depth again came to the fore – fittingly scored the late winner with a peach of a goal to claim his second league goal for the club.
Schumacher, whose second-half changes ultimately proved key, had brought joint leading scorer Amario Cozier-Duberry and fellow wideman Ibrahim Cissoko back into the Whites’ starting line-up – along with play-maker Josh Sheehan – following the mid-week win at Mansfield.
It was the two wingers who saw much of the ball in the early part of the game as the pattern was set. Exeter, fighting for their lives just above the bottom four but on the back of two morale-boosting home wins, set up with virtually a back five and a bank of four in front of them to limit Wanderers’ opportunities.
And it certainly made life hard for the Whites to find space in the attacking third, Mason Burstow – switched to playing behind Marcus Forss – going closest to an early goal with an effort he curled past the post.
The visitors were content to soak it up and try and pick up something on the break or via a mistake and with 20 minutes gone they got what they wanted.
Wanderers’ keeper Teddy Sharman-Lowe was playing almost like a sweeper and having once ventured out of his penalty area to successfully head clear, when he tried it again it went badly wrong.
Instead of locating a team-mate his header went straight to Jack Aitchison, who still did very well to side-step into space and then from some 45 yards locate the empty net with a well-judge finish.
The Grecians weren’t going to come out to play then and in a game of attack against defence it was then a question whether Wanderers could raise their game and work out a way to try and break through after a first half in which City keeper Joe Whitworth made only one fumbling save.
His first touch at the start of the second wasn’t much better as he kept out a deflected Mason Burstow effort and he then dropped a cross-shot from Cyrus Christie to add to the Whites’ hope.
It had certainly been a more purposeful, dynamic start from Wanderers, with Gale introduced in place of Cissoko on the left flank and delivering a string of dangerous crosses which at least made the City defence earn their corn.
With an hour gone, Schumacher sent for further forward reinforcements in the shape of Dalby and Jordi Osei-Tutu – the mid-week match winner – as more attacking full-back option and with Whitworth flapping at everything that moved George Johnston saw a header cleared off the line.
And the two were the key players as the Whites’ pressure finally paid off with a 70th-minute equaliser. Osei-Tutu’s low drive hit a post and Dalby was in the right place to ram home the rebound to bring relief almost all around the stadium as he also bagged a second league for the Whites.
Sheehan then sent a free-kick curling only inches wide after Gale had again tormented the City back line to win a free-kick right on the side of the penalty area and with the fans urging Wanderers on it was attack after attack.
Cozier-Duberry stung the palms of Whitworth but it was Gale who had been the real difference and with seven minutes of regular time to go he scored the winner.
Kyle Dempsey’s pass released the Barbados international, but it still took a fantastic touch to pull the ball out of the sky, beat a man and then front up Exeter’s last defender before curling a lovely finish into the far corner. Having scored his previous league goal in a win over Wigan in September, Gale knows when to come to the party.
Wanderers: Sharman-Lowe; Christie (Osei-Tutu 60), Toal, Johnston, Conway; Sheehan, Erhahon (Dempsey 71); Cozier-Duberry, Burstow (Dalby 60), Cissoko; Forss (Simons 83). Substitutes: Miller, Forino.
Booked: None
Exeter City: Whitworth; Niskanen, Sweeney, Woodhouse, Swinkels, McMillan; Aitchison, Brierley (Oakes 87), Doyle-Hayes (McDonald 87), Cox (Higgins HT); Magennis (Wareham 63). Substitutes: Bycroft, Francis, Cole.
Booked: Niskanen, Swinkels, Doyle-Hayes, Sweeney
Referee: Benjamin Speedie
Attendance: 20,622 (335 Exeter)