Stevenage's woeful record in Devon continued with a loss at Exeter City.

St James Park in particular has been an unhappy hunting ground with five draws in the 12 appearances since Boro became an EFL club.

And another one has been added to that tally after a 2-0 loss in an early kick-off.

It wasn't helped by the fact they failed to register a shot on target but defensively they were not at their best either, making it a long trip home for their fans.

There was just the one change to the side that had won so impressively against Barnsley one week earlier.

Jake Young missed out altogether, replaced by Elliott List in the starting line-up with Ken Aboh coming onto the bench.

That win over the Tykes had seen a superb second half and a repeat was needed after a frustrating and potentially harmful first half.

The ankle injury to Charlie Goode in the five minutes before half-time looked serious, taking him the best part of the five minutes to hobble round to the tunnel from the far side.

With Dan Sweeney already out, defensive replacements are becoming scarce for Boro.

All of that happened after they conceded a ninth-minute goal.

It came from a corner, the fourth the Grecians had won in a short space of time. The first one had seen a home player get loose and the goal also saw Josh Magennis win it far too easily at the back post, guiding it back into the middle for Francis to bundle in.

Exeter finding space inside the Boro box was a common theme in the first period. Far too often they got in behind and were either unmarked or having an overload of players, more than the defenders.

For all of that, Murphy Cooper only had to deal with one shot on target, a long range effort drilled low straight at him by Pierce Sweeney.

His opposite number, Joe Whitworth, didn't have any attempts to worry about as Stevenage found attacking forays failing to have any impact.

That's not to say there weren't chances, because there were loads of them.

Anytime Boro had a set-piece they could put into the box, they did and they won almost all of them in the air.

However, none of them produced a meaningful shot, something which just added to the frustration.

Goode's injury had meant a shift of personnel at the back, Dan Butler coming on and filling in at his familiar left-back position while Lewis Freestone went into his more-familiar centre-half role.

There was no other changes though, the side that finished the half given the chance to put things right.

And for a brief moment they looked to be having some positivity going forward.

But all that was destroyed five minutes into the half when they conceded another defensively poor goal.

There seemed little on when the ball was played in low from the right.

But Doyle was allowed to come across a stationary defender, take a touch at the near post and then slam it into the roof of the net.

It was a further 16 minutes before something changed, Boro using all four of their remaining subs.

A Tyreece Simpson shot followed almost immediately but that was blocked, and probably wouldn't have counted due to an offside against Dan Kemp.

That was as good as it got though and it was Exeter that were looking the only side capable of scoring again, without actually doing a lot.

One late free-kick into the box was met by Luther Wildin and if he had rolled it back into the middle, there was a tap-in for someone.

He couldn't connect properly though and any chance of a late fightback disappeared.

Match details

Exeter City (1) 2 Stevenage (0) 0

Stevenage: Cooper, Wildin, Piergianni, Freeman, Roberts (Kemp 66), Goode (Butler 43), Freestone, List (Simpson 66), White, Reid (Aboh 66), King (Phillips 66), Young.

Subs (not used): Bouzanis, L.Thompson.

Goals: 

Booked: Roberts 44, Piergianni 84

 

Exeter City: Whitworth, McMillan (Carayol 77), Crama, Woods, Francis, Aitchison (Purrington 90+3), Niskanen, Yfeko, Doyle (Alli 66), Sweeney, Magennis (Cox 77).

Subs (not used): MacDonald, Fitzwater, Richards.

Goals: Francis 9, Doyle 50

Booked: Crama 55

 

Added time: 4+5

Referee: Neil Hair  (Peterborough)

Attendance: 5,612 (including 123 from Stevenage)