The 7,800 Exeter City fans who made the journey to the Etihad didn’t have much to cheer for on a humbling day for the Grecians. But there was one moment of magic from George Birch that had a louder roar than any of the ten goals the Citizens scored.
Pep Guardiola’s Premier League outfit were ruthless in the way that they dispatched Exeter as they cruised into the FA Cup fourth round. It was a record equalling biggest ever win as nine different goalscorers saw them hit the incredibly rare feat of double figures.
But at 9-0 there was the moment that Exeter fans will remember. Birch, only playing his fifth game for the club, and days after being recalled from a loan in the National League South at Weston-super-Mare, picked up the ball 35 yards from goal.
The 19-year-old drove forward, and thundered a strike into the top corner of the net, for a first senior goal. It was that one moment of magic and the memory that the Red Army can take back to Devon on what was a difficult afternoon.
Never mind that Rico Lewis less than 60 seconds later had made it ten – and in the true gallows humour of football fans gave both sets of supporters what they wanted them they were chanting ‘we want ten’ – ironically for the Exeter end. It was a moment that showed the future for the Grecians can still be bright.
“I’ve never celebrated a goal at 9-0 now down the way I celebrated that,” manager Gary Caldwell said. “But when you bring an academy player back from Weston-super-Mare, when you put him on an environment like this, when he’s never started a league game for us, and he shows the courage to drive forward at a back line and hit it with his weak foot like that, then there could be a big future for that player.
“I must mention Liam Oakes as well, who’s another Academy player who I thought was outstanding in a game, playing in a position that’s not ideal for him, it’s not his best position, but the way he stood up to the challenge, 1 V1 defending, he kept going, he kept trying to get on the ball, and those are the behaviours that we need. And if we have young players like that, then the future is really bright.”
On Birch, he added: “I think there’s huge potential in him. He’s only recently came into the squad this summer. We’ve sent him out on loan after he had a brilliant preseason, then with all young players, they have highs and lows and little dips.
“He’s came out of that and went on loan to Weston and played more regularly but hasn’t started every game for them, but we still feel we can nurture that talent and to get him on today and to get him this experience, to give him motivation, to give him the desire to improve, and see what the very top level looks like,
“I think it was important for him to come on and score a goal like that was beyond anywhere in the wildest dreams and it’s great for him to experience that and to feel that, and now he needs to work hard.
“Now he needs to learn from City’s players like Cherki, Semenyo, Doku, the way they work not just in possession, but out of possession, the speed at what they do things, the physicality they have, it has a long way to go in terms of that development, but we believe he has a huge future.”
And on the moment which gave Exeter’s fans something to celebrate, Caldwell added: “Our supporters are amazing, what they travel, week and week out, and to get an academy player to score in front of them, as disappointing as the game is in terms of the result, for them to get that moment, that is what our club is all about.
“The DNA is developing our own, developing young players, and giving young players opportunity, and we did that today, and two of them really showed themselves off in a really positive light and we’ll have to continue to do that through the remaining 22 league games and in the years to come.”
Max Alleyne, Rodri, Nathan Ake, and a Jack Fitzwater own goal made it four at the break. Lewis, Antoine Semenyo, Tijani Reijnders, Nico O’Reilly and Ryan McAidoo made it nine as the gulf in class was showing.
But the 7,800 Grecians fans had their moment in the 89 minute when teenager George Birch, on off the bench, smashed home his first senior goal from 25 yards to the delight of the travelling hoards. That Lewis got his second – and Man City’s tenth – in stoppage-time equalled their biggest ever win, and was the first time Exeter had conceded ten in a game in their history, and surpassed the three 9-0 losses for a record loss.
