Exeter City 0 AFC Bournemouth 2
Exeter City: (5-3-2): Pym; Wheeler (Dawson 74), Bennett, Tillson, Baldwin, Woodman (Riley-Lowe 60); Davies (Oakley h-t), Butterfield, Grimes; Keohane, Nichols. Substitutes (not used): Hamon (gk), Jay, Pope, Watkins.
Booking: Bennett
Bournemouth: (4-4-2): Flahavan; Smith, Ward, Cargill, Harte; Fraser (Arter 77), MacDonald, Gosling, Stanislas (Ritchie 90); Pitman, Rantie (Wilson 77). Substitutes (not used): Buchel (gk), Francis, Arter, Wilson, Kermorgant, Ritchie, McArthy.
Goals: Bennett (og) 54, Gosling 74
Referee: A Davies.
Attendance: 2,648.
Exeter City took an early exit from the Capital One Cup last night after a 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth.
City weathered a first half storm, but were makings of their own undoing when Scot Bennett's own goal gave the Cherries the lead. And Devon-born Dan Gosling capped his full debut with the second, capitalising on Christy Pym's error to seal the win.
The Grecians made three changes to the side that drew with Portsmouth on Saturday. David Wheeler started at right wing-back, Danny Butterfield stepped into the midfield and so did Arron Davies. Aaron Dawson, Matt Oakley and Liam Sercombe were the ones to make way.
Bournemouth named a completely different XI to the side that thrashed Huddersfield 4-0 on the opening day of the season. Former Plymouth midfielder Dan Gosling started in midfield alongside ex-Yeovil Town loanee Shaun MacDonald. Baily Cargill, who played at the Park for Torquay last season, lined up at centre half.
Both teams showed an intent to play football from the first whistle, but it wasn't until the tenth minute that we had the first effort at goal. A corner kick was played to Brett Pitman on the edge of the box, but after chesting the ball down, he volleyed high over the bar.
Pitman then forced Christy Pym into a smart save low to his left after a neat passing move on the edge of the penalty box, while MacDonald was high with a shot from distance.
Exeter were struggling to do anything of note. They hadn't created a chance and struggled to keep possession with a quarter of the game gone. All too often the Grecians wanted time to play and Bournemouth did not afford it to them.
Tokelo Rantie, Bournemouth's £2.5 million South African international striker, came within a whisker of opening the scoring when he latched onto a delightful flick by Pitman, but his placed finish came back off the base of the post from 18 yards.
Pym then came to Exeter's rescue once again when he denied Pitman, who then saw a shot charged down by Pat Baldwin.
When Exeter did have the ball, they gave it away so cheaply. They were camped inside their own half and Junior Stanislas fired another warning shot narrowly wide of the City goal.
Elliott Ward saw a header cleared off the line by Davies and Baldwin made another great block to deny Ryan Fraser.
The one time Exeter ventured into the Bournemouth penalty box was when Nichols chipped against the crossbar, but by then, the flag had long gone up for offside. Pitman brought an utterly one-sided half to a close with a shot that curled narrowly over from 20 yards.
Oakley came on for Davies at the start of the second half and Exeter created a great chance on 49 minutes. Nichols lobbed the ball into the path of Grimes, who was in on goal, but 20 yards out, he shot first time and screwed the ball horribly wide of goal.
Craig Woodman then picked out Wheeler with a raking diagonal ball, but the former Staines man dragged his half volley across goal and wide.
However, the Grecians' resistance was broken on 54 minutes and in unfortunate circumstances.
Stanislas crossed from the right, Jordan Tillson and Baldwin allowed the ball to go across goal with no imminent danger, but Bennett couldn't get out the way and looked on in horror as it diverted off him and ended up in the bottom corner.
Connor Riley-Lowe came on for Woodman to make his Exeter debut and the Grecians came close again when Nichols knocked down to Keohane, who lashed a shot just wide from 20 yards.
The Grecians were certainly not giving up without a fight. Grimes forced Daryl Flahavan into his first meaningful save on 71 minutes, while Pym made a good stop to deny Rantie at the other end.
However, it was game over when Gosling marked his return to Devon on 74 minutes. Again, Stanislas did the damage with a low cross that was spilled by Pym and Gosling was in the right place four yards out to tap into an empty net.
Keohane missed another great chance four minutes from time, again the Grecians failed to hit the target from the edge of the penalty box, while Nichols summed up their night in front of goal by shooting into the side-netting from an excellent Riley-Lowe cross at the death.
