Rekeem Harper: Exeter City midfielder impresses in first game since October

Rekeem Harper has played 14 times for Exeter City this season

Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell says he was pleased with Rekeem Harper's first appearance under his leadership.

The 22-year-old Ipswich Town loanee had fallen out of favour since Caldwell took charge of the club in October.

But the midfielder started the 2-0 win away at Milton Keynes Dons - a victory which saw City move up to 10th place in the League One table.

"It's never easy when you've not been in the team to come in and hit the ground running," he told BBC Devon.

"I always think training is one thing but the game, the speed of the game, can take your breath away in that early period.

"There were a few occasions where he wasn't getting as tight to his man as we would have liked, but second half his performance levels went up, he grew into the game and he and Archie Collins got a hold of the game in the second half."

The victory also saw recent signing Demetri Mitchell make his debut as a substitute.

The former Manchester United player moved to City from Hibernian on an 18-month deal in the lead up to the game and featured for the final 13 minutes.

"His quality and his decision-making were excellent, and he is someone who, similar to Rekeem, has not played a lot of football, so we have to be careful and build his minutes up gradually.

"But he showed in a short period of time the touches, the ability he has in possession, but also I thought he was excellent off the ball - his work ethic to press the full-back was excellent.

"All in all a good day, still building towards where we want to be, but there's a few days left of the window where we can try and improve the squad and look towards next week to build on this."