Stars Abroad: Heartbreaks for Harper, Maina

Kenyan winger Vincent Harper was introduced in the 34th minute as his side, Exeter City FC, bowed out of the League Cup in the fourth round after losing 3-2 to Championship side Middlesbrough on Tuesday evening.

For a second game running, Harper was left on the bench, but this time he was brought in before the interval for injured Demetri Mitchell.

City went ahead in the 13th minute through Ryan Trevitt, who scored the only first-half goal in a half that was largely balanced. The championship side, however, turned the game around in the second half, scoring in the 49th and 59th minutes through Morgan Rogers and Sam Silvera, respectively. Trevitt would hit back in the 66th minute with the leveller before Emmanuel Lathe Lath settled the game with an 82nd-minute goal from the penalty spot.

Exeter manager Gary Caldwell admitted that they lost to a better team, whom he predicted would get promoted to the Premier League next season.

"We had loads of endeavor. All credit to the players; they gave everything, but we got beaten by the better team. We got asked serious questions as a team tonight—they'll be a Premier League team next season. It wasn't for a want of trying”.

He was full of praise for the fans, whom he says inspired the team to start the match strongly.

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"It was a brilliant atmosphere right from kick-off. The players took that on, and we had a clear game plan and sat off a little in mid-block, and we did that well. It was a poor start to the second half, but credit to the lads; they came back in it and scored another brilliant goal; it was a proper cup tie."

In Germany, Harambee Stars prospect Linton Maina started and was withdrawn in the 69th minute as his club Cologne suffered a DFB Pokal round-of-16 exit after going down 3-2 to Kaiserslautern. Richmond Tachie, Kenny Prince Redondo, and Marlon Ritter put Slautern 3-0 up before Jan Thielmann and Denis Huseinbašić got what proved to be consolation strikes for the visitors.

Cologne finished the game a man down after Florian Kainz was shown red for a second booking. Substitute Eric Martel, who did not take to the pitch, was equally dismissed.