Exeter City’s Under-18s began 2024 in the best possible way with a dominant 5-0 victory over Cheltenham Town U18s on Saturday, writes Derek Baker.

While both sets of players might have been forgiven for easing their way back into competitive action following the festive break, the Grecians began the game with real intent, and reaped the rewards for their positivity just a few minutes in.

The Devonians displayed a real precision to their early possession play, and their patient approach saw Jude Horn slip a through ball into the path of Theo Cutler. Despite the opposition goalkeeper rushing out to meet him, the City striker showed total composure to tuck the ball into the back of the net, much to the delight of the home crowd watching on.

With the game played on Exeter’s artificial pitch, that meant the zip in build-up play wasn’t affected. The Grecians capitalised on that after 14 minutes when a promising attack down the right flank saw the ball played into Tom Dean’s feet, before the Devon club’s captain curled a 25-yard effort into the bottom corner to make it 2-0.

City winger, Lloyd Asamoah, went close on several occasions, but up at the other end of the pitch, home ‘keeper Dan Layer needed to be at his best when he pushed away a Robins effort to maintain the two-goal lead.

Town looked to up the ante on the half-hour mark, and after seeing two chances in as many minutes spurned, you would have been forgiven for thinking the next goal might’ve gone Cheltenham’s way.

Six minutes before half-time, however, Exeter had their third goal of the morning when Callum Graham flicked the ball in from a corner, extending the Grecians’ advantage.

The early exchanges in the second period were rather competitive, with no real clear-cut opportunities created as both teams realised the next goal was potentially crucial.

As the clock ticked past the hour though, the scoreline changed again. The visitor’s goalie parried a cross away, and although Dean saw his rebound blocked, Jake Richards converted from close range for another goal in favour of the Grecians.

The Robins custodian continued to be the busier shot-stopper, and he made a nice double save after 65 minutes when he denied Richards and Cutler in quick succession.

Despite the hosts ringing the changes, their momentum never halted, and they scored their fifth of the day courtesy of an instant impact from one of their replacements. In the 71st minute, Kieran Wilson displayed a lovely turn of foot to dribble around the challenge of one defender, before firing a low shot beyond the ‘keeper.

Both Dean and substitute Giulio Marroni squandered late chances as the clock ticked down but, in truth, there was never any sign of City losing control of this contest. The referee called an end to proceedings after two minutes of stoppage time, meaning Exeter's youngsters secured a well-deserved three points to lift themselves up to fifth in the Youth Alliance South West league standings.