A general view of St James Park before kick off during the Sky Bet League Two match at St James Park, Exeter.
Exeter City have recruited a short-term custodian. Shaun MacDonald, who has signed until January 2024, was on the Grecians’ bench yesterday.
The signing allows Harry Lee to stay on loan at Weston-super-Mare while covering for Vil Sinisalo and Gary Woods. Vil was away on international duty for Finland yesterday, therefore Gary Woods started against Leyton Orient.
The 26-year-old began his career in the National League with Gateshead in 2015 before moving on to Blyth Spartans, where he did not feature. His professional career began with a transfer to Torquay United, where he made 70 appearances. He’d left Torquay and was set to join Exeter in the summer of 2021. He’d pondered retiring from football, but a phone call from Torquay manager Gary Johnson convinced him to return to the club, where he went on to be named player of the season.
Shaun MacDonald then joined Cheltenham Town on a free transfer in the summer of 2022, but was limited to four EFL Trophy appearances with the Robins.
Shaun will be dressed in the number 30 shirt.
READ MORE: Exeter City 1 Leyton Orient 2 – Match Report
At St James Park, Ruel Sotiriou’s injury-time goal helped O’s stun League One leaders Exeter.
The hosts took the lead early in the second half, but Joe Pigott quickly equalised for the O’s.
And Sotiriou came up with the game-winning goal, ensuring a pleasant return from Devon.
Omar Beckles headed against the crossbar from the subsequent set-piece after Theo Archibald’s early cross was pushed away at the far post for a corner.
In a promising start, George Moncur earned another corner for the visitors, but Archibald’s effort was stopped by the home defence.
On 18 minutes, Sotiriou fired just wide of the far post, while Sol Brynn saved Demetri Mitchell’s shot for the Grecians at the price of a corner.
On 28 minutes, Tom James saw a free-kick diverted behind for a corner, with Idris El Mizouni subsequently seeing a shot deflected behind and George Moncur hitting just over from the outside of the box.
Brandon Cooper made a crucial defensive play to take the ball away from Cox, then saw a header at the other end bounce against the crossbar on 37 minutes before Moncur had an effort blocked and diverted behind.
Mitchell fired a free-kick over Brynn’s crossbar before being booked in stoppage time.
Mitchell, though, broke the deadlock three minutes after the restart with a stunning volley past Brynn.
Beckles’ opportunity of equalising was thwarted as an Exeter player got a crucial toe on the ball.
On 55 minutes, though, Pigott scored his first goal for the club, bringing the ball down nicely and shooting home.
On the hour, Darren Pratley was cautioned for a late tackle, and Pigott sent a downward header over the bar before Cooper had a shot punched away for a corner.
Midway through the half, Moncur was replaced by Jordan Brown, and James scored a free kick on 75 minutes.
For the hosts, Mitchell headed inches wide before Sweeney got a hand on Pigott’s cross to prevent the ball from reaching Archibald at the far post.
Five minutes from time, Ethan Galbraith and Rob Hunt came in for Jordan Graham and Cooper, with Galbraith having an attempt blocked and Hunt being the victim of a terrible tackle that resulted in a booking for Borges.
In the opening minute of injury time, Sotiriou shot into the goal.
