Caldwell unhappy as City's fringe players fail to stake a claim

EXETER City crashed out of the first round of the EFL Cup to lower league opposition for the second successive season as a much-changed side were easily beaten by Cheltenham Town.

- DANIEL CLARK [e-mail]

James Wilson put Cheltenham ahead in the 28th minute when the defender reacted quickest to lash home after a corner wasn't dealt with by the Exeter defence. Ryan Broom doubled the lead early in the second half when he capitalised on a terrible attempt to play out from the back.

Cheltenham had plenty of chances to increase the margin of victory which they squandered. And it took until stoppage-time for City to have their first shot on target as a team in which 10 changes had been made never got going at all - with manager Gary Caldwell saying that those given a chance failed to make an impression.

"I thought it was a poor performance," Caldwell said. "We just didn't get going in the game. We made a lot of changes and it was a chance to give people an opportunity to show what they are all about and too many players didn't get up to the speed of the game, didn't get going and we didn't deserve to win the game.