Fleetwood Town fell to a 2-1 loss to Exeter City after an injury-time goal at St James Park in their latest Sky Bet League One clash on Saturday afternoon.
Carlos Mendes Gomes opened the scoring in the 28th minute, thanks to his deflected effort that flew past the Exeter goalkeeper, but the home side replied straight away with Jay Stansfield turning in a low cross two minutes later.
The tie was settled in injury time as Sam Nombe found the back of the net with a strike four minutes from time, which meant the Cods would head home without a point.
It was a fast start to the game as Carl Johnston had the first effort just 60 seconds in, firing over Jamal Blackman’s crossbar before Cheick Diabate had a free header inside the Town box a few minutes later, but he couldn’t find the target from close range.
The end-to-end action continued in the opening stages as not only did Danny Andrew see his free-kick from 20-yards go the wrong side of the near post, but Archie Collins found Alex Hartridge at the back post, whose header went into the ground and was collected by Jay Lynch.
Efforts seemed to be few and far between from this point on as both sides tried to keep possession on the field until Callum Morton played the ball to Dan Batty, who played a lofted cross into the Exeter box, where Mendes-Gomes was, but the forward was unable to get his head on it.
Around the half-hour mark, Mendes Gomes put Town into the lead after firing an effort from the edge of the box, which found the back of the net after a deflection. Just a minute later, it was brought back to level terms as a counter-attack led to Stansfield scoring from close range.
That was it for the first half – the first effort after the break did fall to the hosts as Jack Sparkes whipped a deep cross into the Town box, towards the head of Stansfield, who tried to beat the ‘keeper with his header, but Lynch was more than a match, pulling off a brilliant save.
The Cods then pressed to put themselves back in the lead, creating chance after change around the hour mark as Joe Garner saw his attempted volley go wide of the mark, Mendes Gomes’ tricky run end in a sliding block from Hartridge, and Drew Baker’s shot deflect wide of the far post.
Town press didn’t let up as Josh Earl’s ball over the top picked out J.Garner, who passed it off to Cian Hayes. He then found Andrew on the near side who decided to try his luck from range, which forced Blackman into a save, which he made look easy, keeping the game at 1-1.
The scoreline stayed like that until the home side found the back of the net three minutes into added time. Josh Key held up the ball before bursting into the area and crossing it to Nombe, who turned it into the net from two yards out.
Exeter XI: Blackman (GK), Caprice, Sparkes, Hartridge, Collins (C), Stansfield (Jay 77’), Nombe, Key, Kite (Dieng 69’), Brown, Diabate (Harper 81’).
Unused subs: Lee (GK), Chauke, Cox, James.
Town XI: Lynch (GK), Andrew, Wiredu, Mendes Gomes (Glenfield 80’), Vela (C), Morton (Hayes 76’), Lane (Omochere 80’), Batty (J.Garner 56’), Johnston, Earl, Baker.
Unused subs: Stolarczyk (GK), Holgate, Teale.