Former Exeter City midfielder Matt Grimes proud to be captaining England under-20s By Exeter Express and Echo | Posted: March 29, 2015 By Simon Larkins Matt Grimes training at Home Park ahead of England under-20s match against the USA Former Exeter City midfielder Matt Grimes admitted he will feels very proud to have been chosen to captain England under-20s in their international against USA today. An attendance of around 10,000 is anticipated for the f international at Plymouth Argyle's Home Park. It promises to be a memorable return to Devon for Grimes, who learned his trade at his hometown club Exeter before moving to Swansea in January. Grimes will be making his fifth appearance for England at under-20 level, but it will be the first time he has been captain. Grimes, said: “I feel very privileged. It’s a great honour to represent your country but to be the captain for it is going to be an unbelievable experience, and a very proud one for both myself and my family.” Speaking about playing at Home Park, Plymouth Argyle's ground, Grimes said: “The last couple of times I have been here (to Home Park) it has been playing for the great rivals, Exeter, so it’s going to be a little bit different on Sunday. “I’m looking forward to having the fans behind me for once.” Read more: http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co....tory-26249621-detail/story.html#ixzz3VsIWYX2v Follow us: @expressandecho on Twitter | expressecho on Facebook
Luton Town 2 Exeter City 3: Match report By Exeter Express and Echo | Posted: April 03, 2015 By Simon Larkins at Kenilworth Road Exeter City's players celebrate the winner against Luton Town - Picture: Pinnacle Comments (0) Exeter City kept their hopes of reaching the play-off places this season with a remarkable second-half fightback against Luton Town at Kenilworth Road. The Grecians, despite playing well in the first half, looked down and out at half-time thanks to goals from Luke Guttridge and Mark Cullen but, not for the first time this season, they fought back to win. Harley got them back on the comeback trail with a volley, before Moore-Taylor and David Wheeler added goals in the final 15 minutes of the match to win the game. City manager Paul Tisdale made three changes to the side that drew 1-1 with Morecambe last Saturday. However, only one of those changes was a voluntary switch as Graham Cummins came into replace Clinton Morrison. The other changes saw Alex Nicholls replace the suspended Tom Nichols and Liam Sercombe took the place of injured Tom McCready. The Grecians were much the better side in the first half and would have been unfortunate to be only a goal down at the break let alone two. Luton took the lead in the 21st minute when Luke Guttridge’s deflected shot from 12 yards found its way into the bottom corner. However, the strike came against the run of play, with Luton hitting the visitors on the counter after Lee Holmes had lost the ball on the edge of the Hatters penalty box. Holmes was bright, attacking right-back Michael Harriman throughout and delivering a great cross in the 35th-minute for Cummins to head a chance straight at Luton keeper Elliot Justham. However, the player, on loan from Preston North End, was also involved in losing possession in the lead up to Luton’s second as the ball got played through the middle for Mark Cullen to get the better of Christian Ribeiro and fire past Hamon on the stroke of half-time. Cummins had a great chance to give City the lead on 17 minutes when Alex Nicholls did superbly to turn Jonathan Smith on halfway and deliver a pin-point cross to the back post. However, the recalled striker was not as clinical as his Luton counterparts as his first touch let him down and Justham was able to gather. Nicholls also volleyed wide and shot another effort over the top from just outside the box as the visitors dominated the first half chances. However, Luton sent a warning shot when a ball over the top saw Ribeiro making a last-ditch sliding tackle to stop Paul Benson scoring after the 35-year-old striker had taken advantage of a slip by Jordan Moore-Taylor. That chance came on 40 minutes and it was only five minutes later that a similar move saw Cullen score to leave the Grecians with a mountain to climb at the break. However, that mountain became somewhat smaller five minutes into the second half as some patient passing football led to Matt Oakley chipping a ball into the area for Ryan Harley to hit a first time volley past Justham. Luton responded though as Alex Lawless has a great chance to make it 3-1, but fired his effort a yard wide of the right hand post. A well-worked corner brought another chance for City though as Holmes chipped a ball to Davies, 35-yards from goal, and he drilled a volley on target that Justham struggled to hold. Holmes then teed up Sercombe with a shot from the edge of the box that Justham parried away as the pressure grew. Ribeiro was next to go close as he headed a Davies cross just over. However, Tisdale turned to the bench with 17 minutes to go as Morrison came on for Cummins. And Morrison was in the right place to set-up the equaliser as he played the ball off for Moore-Taylor to fire an equaliser into the bottom corner. The fact that the central defender was up on the edge of the opposition box to score highlighted City’s gung-ho approach in the closing stages of the match. They started to pen the home side back with Ribeiro bombing forward at every opportunity. Both sides went for the win and it was end-to-end stuff as the game approached injury-time and Wheeler was scythed down by Nathan Doyle as City looked to counter. City thought they had the winner when the ball got crossed to the back post, by Holmes, for Davies to head home. However, he was denied by the offside flag. Moments later though referee Rob Lewis was checking his watch as Holmes crossed again from the left for Ribeiro to head against the post and Wheeler to stab the ball home for the winner with virtually the last kick of the game. Luton Town: Justham; Harriman, Kinsella (Lacey, 76), McNulty; Wilkinson; Lawless, Doyle, Smith (McGeehan, 70), Guttridge; Cullen (Stockley, 75), Benson. King, Miller, Hall, Oduwa. Booked: Wilkinson, Doyle, McNulty Exeter City: Hamon; Davies, Ribeiro, Moore-Taylor, McAllister; Sercombe, Oakley, Harley; Nicholls (Wheeler, 63), Cummins (Morrison, 74), Holmes. Subs not used: Keadell, Butterfield, Woodman, Bennett, Keohane. Attendcane: 8,755. 429 (away). Read more: http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co....tory-26278397-detail/story.html#ixzz3WQfmW4JI Follow us: @expressandecho on Twitter | expressecho on Facebook
Matt Grimes makes debut for Swansea City in 3-1 win over Hull City By Exeter Express and Echo | Posted: April 04, 2015 By Simon Larkins SHARE PICTURE Copy link to paste in your message Former Exeter City midfielder Matt Grimes - Picture: Swansea City FC Comments (0) Former Exeter City midfielder Matt Grimes made his Premier League debut for Swansea City as Garry Monks' side beat Hull City 3-1 at the Liberty Stadium.The 19-year-old, who recently captained England under-20s to victory over the United States, was a second-half substitute coming on for Jonjo Shelvey as the game approached injury-time with the score at 2-1.Swansea quickly added a third goal after Grimes's introduction as Gylfi Sigurðsson played Bafétimbi Gomis in on goal for him to chip Hull City keeper Allan McGregor.Grimes played a through-ball to Gomis moments later, but the French striker was denied the chance to score his hat-trick by the offside flag.The reaction from Swansea City and Exeter City fans on Twitter was positive. Read more: http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co....tory-26281392-detail/story.html#ixzz3WQgyWT2M Follow us: @expressandecho on Twitter | expressecho on Facebook