Pre-season Friendly

Taunton Town 0, Exeter City 3

DEFENSIVE lapses cost Taunton Town as they went down to a 3-0 home defeat against Exeter City in front of 1,073 spectators at the Viridor Stadium.

Tyler Harvey gave the Grecians the lead in the first half before strikes from Liam McAlinden and Ryan Brunt sealed the game for the League Two side after the break.

Both sides, perhaps each feeling the effects of their second match in the space of three days, started slowly in the evening sunshine and it took 15 minutes for the first real chance to arrive, which came when Exeter's Archie Collins struck the inside of the post with a low drive across goal.

The visitors did then break the deadlock three minutes later, as Harvey - currently a trialist with the Grecians - controlled a high ball at the back post and struck a volley through a crowd of players into the back of the net.

Taunton responded well and could have levelled before the half-time whistle, but both Matt Wright and Pierce Mitchell spurned headed opportunities from set-pieces when well placed.

The Peacocks made three changes at the interval and it nearly had the desired effect, as Les Afful - one of those introduced from the bench - thought he had levelled the scores against his former club before seeing his goal disallowed due to Matt Wright impeding the goalkeeper in the build-up.

Afful, forming a 'little and large' partnership with Wright, continued to look lively but was starved of service as the half wore on amid further substutions on both sides.

Two of the new men introduced for the visitors ended up finding the scoresheet, with McAlinden the first to benefit from some lax Peacocks defending in the closing stages.

A loose backpass landed straight at the feet of the former Wolves striker clean through on goal, and he made no mistake with his finish to double City's lead.

Ryan Brunt added a third late on as he sprinted past a static Peacocks back line, who were appealing in vain for an offside flag, before finding the net at the second attempt after Lloyd Irish had done well to block the original effort.

Though the Grecians deserved the victory on the balance of play, Taunton can be pleased with the competitive run out and look to have made some shrewd additions to their squad over the summer, while trialist Joe Charles looked lively down the right hand side in the second half.

Next up for Leigh Robinson's men is the visit of Weymouth to the Viridor Stadium on Tuesday (7.45pm).

Taunton Town: Irish, Mitchell, Brett, Adelsbury, Villis, Palmer, White, Trowbridge, Wright (c), Powell, Staley. Subs (all used): Afful, Charles, Chamberlain, Gould, Stone, Burrows.