Joe Whitworth stars again as Exeter City loanees prove vital

The Crystal Palace goalkeeper was excellent in goal while Amani Richards scored the winner at Leyton Orient

Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell heaped praise on goalkeeper Joe Whitworth after his side celebrated a 1-0 win at Leyton Orient. The Crystal Palace loanee was excellent again in goal – while it was another loanee, Amani Richards, whose first goal for the Grecians five minutes before half-time made the difference.

The Leicester City loanee was the Fox in the box to poke home from close range after Josh Magennis’ knockdown – and ultimately that was the vital goal as City extended their unbeaten run and rose to tenth.

The Grecians prevailed despite being reduced to 10 men three minutes into stoppage time when substitute Caleb Watts was shown a straight red for a late tackle. But City did enough to claim the victory.

"That's another clean sheet on the road and a long road at that," Caldwell said. "I thought that Tristan Crama and Joe Whitworth were outstanding at defending the box and obviously when Joe was needed, he pulled off some brilliant saves."

"That's what you need, you need big characters to win football matches and we had that tonight. Joe has been brilliant since he came to the club, his personality, the way he approaches every game, his mentality to football is first-class."

"When you have that mentality and that positive body language, then things go for you. He can be delighted with his night's work and as a team, we can be really happy. But I still think individually, we can be better."

Whitworth made it five clean sheets in eight in League One as he made a string of impressive saves, the best of which saw him keep out a point-blank Brandon Cooper header, before tipping a Charlie Kelman effort that seemed to heading into the corner onto the post.

The decisive moment in front of goal at the other end fell to Richards. Ilmari Niskanen on the left-hand side checked inside and whipped in a cross to the far post. Magennis rose highest to head it back across goal when Richards was unmarked and able to poke home from two yards into an empty net. It was a first goal for the Grecians for the 19-year-old – and his second of the season – having scored for parent club Leicester City U21s in the EFL Trophy before the loan move to Devon.

“It was a hard fought one today,” the 19-year-old said. “It went to the end. They were decent but we did just enough to the W, and a good one.

"These are the moments that you dream about, massive for me and my family. There's not much to the goal, I'm just at the right place at the right time. Josh looked after me well and put it on a plate for me. I had a lot of family here so it was a beautiful moment.

“It was really tough, we grinded it out, did what we needed to do, could have gone the other way, but we did just enough to get the win.”

He added: “I am loving it here, really enjoying it, it has been a massive step up and appreciating it and enjoying the journey as it comes. It is two great results on the road and try and get more points.”