Match Report: Exmouth Town 1-0 Shaftesbury

Exmouth Town ended a fine week with a close 1-0 win against Shaftesbury, at the Search4Local Stadium.

Ben Steer’s goal was enough to keep Town’s solid Southern League Division One South form going, and the defence battled well to ensure Chris Wright kept a clean sheet on his starting return.

It was a quiet beginning to the game, with the best chance in the opening exchanges, with a Dawid Regula cross swept away from trouble by Joe Belsten.

Harry Baker would be next to try his luck, but his long-range effort going well wide.

It could have been a controversial opener for Exmouth, as a poor corner came straight back to Owen Johnson, and despite the linesman’s flag going up, the referee played on, with Steer heading over.

Regula, who has caused Town plenty of problems in the past, continued to provide a threat, breaking down the right-hand side, with his cross diverted into the side-netting by a returning Mike Landricombe.

The hosts would come up with an inventive free-kick routine, as Morison slid the ball through to Ross Edwards, but he was unable to test the goalkeeper.

Steer would get another chance to open the scoring, after capitalising on a defensive error, with his first time lob going over the bar.

The number 11 would get the game’s first goal, after Matt Wright hooked a ball back into the box, and it was met with a superb header from Steer.

Perhaps buoyed by the goal, Steer would turn into a target-man for Town, although this time around he couldn’t connect with Josh Cann’s cross.

The second half would die down early on, with the first real chance coming 15 minutes into it, as a Wright flick saw Belsten half-volley, but it would go over.

Exmouth would be the team having the half-chances, as Callum Shipton slipped in Steer, with the forward taking too long before being intercepted.

Shaftesbury would eventually rally late on, and it took a parry from Chris Wright to deny Kyle Tooze a clean opportunity at an open goal.

Rhomey Ashby-Hammond would soon have a test of his own, reacting well to deny Steer’s left-footed effort, with Shipton’s touch being too heavy to get the rebound.

Wright would make a match-winning stop as we reached added time, getting up well to stop Tooze’s fierce effort.

Exmouth would hold on to earn their second win of the week, and they will be straight back into action on Tuesday, as they face Barnstaple Town away from home.