Head boy Stubbs at the double for Grecians

MATT Taylor was delighted with all but eight minutes as the Grecians boosted their chances of automatic promotion.

Two thundering headers from defender Sam Stubbs – his first goals for the club – did the damage in the first half, although Luke Norris made it 1-1 when he finished off Elliott List’s cross for struggling Stevenage.

Exeter are now five points clear of the play-off zone and have a game in hand on the teams immediately below them, leaving the St James Park faithful to think this could be the season they end their tenyear stay in League Two.

City manager Taylor said: “I am pleased with the performance, but we had a little wobble for about eight minutes just before half-time, where we made a couple of mistakes with set pieces against and didn’t get to the ball quick enough.

“We have won the game on two set pieces, and we probably deserved to score more than two set pieces today. Hopefully we are saving that for when it’s really needed.”

After a cagey opening to the game, Josh Key came close to opening the scoring, but his low drive from 25 yards was superbly saved by Christy Pym. But from the resulting corner in the 28th minute, Stubbs powered a brilliant header from Jevani Brown’s cross for his first Exeter goal.

Stevenage equalised in the 38th minute when List crossed to the back post and Norris was on hand to convert from close range as the Exeter backline slept.

But Stubbs put Exeter back in front with a second powerful header on the stroke of half-time, again from Brown’s superb delivery.

Boro rarely threatened until the 87th minute when substitute Bruno Andrade found himself in on goal, but Cameron Dawson made a brilliant one-handed stop to ensure victory for the Grecians.

Defeat leaves Stevenage three points above the drop zone and new manager Steve Evans said: “We can’t try anymore, they were trying for the two previous managers.

“If we had showed a little bit of quality, we would have certainly got something from the game.

“Matt has done a great job with good players. But there is nothing in the game at half-time bar they score two goals and one is clearly a foul.”