The ‘good’ news was that Exeter never laid a glove on either the Blues goal or keeper, but on the other hand Blues also struggled to make clear chances themselves.

Jay Stansfield had one of his quietest games but whether it was rustiness after being out with an injury or out of respect for one of his former loan destinations, one can only hazard a guess. Alongside him Alfie May as usual ran around like a man possessed but despite this rarely threatened. The appearance of Lyndon Dykes changed little and a better bet would have been the old warhorse Juke. Ayumu Yokoyama came on and ruffled a few feathers but his final ball was usually disappointing which seems to be a bit of a pattern although he is capable of sudden moments of brilliance

One of the better displays was in midfield courtesy of Taylor Gardner-Hickman, who very effectively asserted a measure of control in the middle but it has to be said that the presence and skills of Paik Seung-ho and Tomoki Iwata were sorely missed

The defence snuffed out the possibility of any danger to the Blues goal and the return of the dominant Christoph Klarer was welcome, alongside the ever-reliable Ben Davies. However, the star man for Blues was Ethan Laird (again!), who always moved forward with real purpose and fully deserved his goal. Undoubtedly others. can learn from his directness.