Half-time: Exeter City 1 Bristol Rovers 1
Former Rovers striker Jamie Cureton has grabbed an equaliser on the stroke of half-time to cancel out David Clarkson's early opener at St James' Park this afternoon.
Cureton converted a loose ball inside the six-yard box in first-half stoppage-time after Matt Oakley's shot across the face of goal fell kindly to him on one of the rare occassions on which Exeter had got in behind.
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Clarkson had opened the scoring inside five minutes when capitalising on Exeter full-back Craig Woodman's failure to control a high ball on his knee.
The Scotsman raced into the penalty area, evaded a Danny Coles challenge, and clinically placed a left-foot finish past goalkeeper Artur Krysiak.
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It proved to one of very few meaningful opportunities for Rovers in an opening period where they have generally played well, whilst limiting Exeter to only a couple of other chances themselves.
Goalkeeper Neil Etheridge denied the best of those when producing a superb save to nip the ball off Cureton's toe when the pair went one-on-one in the 23rd minute.
Former Rovers central defender Danny Coles also went close to grabbing an equaliser in the 32nd minute – but glanced a near post header just wide after getting to an Arron Davies corner first.
McGhee had handed debuts to loan signings Derek Riordan and Tom Eaves. Riordan, a three-times capped Scotland international, has shown a few nice touches but is clearly lacking match sharpness after not playing for a number of months, whilst Eaves has showcased a good some intelligent link-up play – but should have done better with a chance on the stroke of half-time.
The two strikers were paired together up front, with Clarkson filling in on the right-hand side of midfield. Jim Paterson also returned at left-back following a two-game absence in place of Lee Brown, who dropped to the bench. Adam Virgo also returned to the starting-line up at right-back to replace Michael Smith, who is on compassionate leave following the death of his father earlier this week.
Rovers (4-4-2): Etheridge; Virgo, Kenneth, Parkes, Paterson; Clarkson, Norburn, Gill, Broghammer; Riordan, Eaves. Subs: Walker, Richards, L Brown, W Brown, Anyinsah, Clucas, Lund.
Exeter City (4-4-1-1): Krysiak; Amankwaah, Coles, Baldwin, Woodman; Oakley, Bennett, Doherty, Davies; Gow; Cureton. Subs: Evans, Tully, O'Flynn, Bauza, Keohane, Jagger-Cane, Moore-Taylor.
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