Success of Brighton, Crawley deal making a mockery of Exeter City decisions | OneFootball

Kamari Doyle showed promise at Exeter City but he's been on fire at Crawley Town and questions must be asked about how the Grecians used him.

It all started pretty well for Kamari Doyle at Exeter City.

The promising Brighton attacking midfielder arrived on loan over the summer and scored a stunning free-kick on his full debut for the club away at Bolton after a couple of encouraging displays off the bench.

A further goal came in the 2-0 win at home over Stevenage and a third away at Shrewsbury Town on October 17th.

And that, really, was that.

The 19-year-old playmaker was gradually phased out by Grecians boss Gary Caldwell, though he did get another goal in the FA Cup and made 24 appearances in total.

They were mostly from the bench and when he did start he usually didn't last that long with a particular lowlight being hauled off with City 4-1 down at half-time to Crawley Town.

They did rally to earn a thrilling 4-4 draw that day, but that was one of only two points the south-west club picked up in a poor run of six League One games without a win leading up to Christmas.

Kamari Doyle left Exeter in January

In the end, Doyle left St James Park in a chaotic January transfer window that saw Gary Caldwell's plans shot to pieces with key players sold, picking up long-term injuries, or recalled by their parent clubs.

When it was announced that Doyle was heading back to the Amex, the response from the City faithful was not good, and it came at a time when support for Caldwell was at a particularly low ebb.

Doyle was one of the few attacking midfielders in the squad who could carry the ball forward and look like he could actually make something happen.

What he lacked was a defensive nous and work rate that Caldwell demands from everyone in the side. His biggest bugbear seemed to be that the teenager rarely asserted himself on games.

The Grecians have struggled for goals all season and still don't look fluid in attack with too many players clogging up the final third and too much reliance on Josh Magennis to lead the line, though he did grab his sixth league goal of the season in the 2-1 win away at Barnsley on Tuesday night.

Kamari Doyle shining at Crawley

While losing Doyle felt like an error to many City fans it's been great news for Crawley Town, and he's arrived there like a man reborn, almost single-handedly leading their fight against relegation.

It could still be a forlorn one but the West Sussex side have picked up a couple of wins recently to leave them six points adrift of Bristol Rovers in 20th.

Without Doyle's impact they'd almost certainly be doomed already.

In just 15 games he's scored six and set up a further four, though Town's defensive problems have mostly negated the Brighton man's positive impact.

He's putting up the kind of numbers that it looked like he could and questions have to be asked about how Caldwell used him.

Caldwell couldn't get best out of Doyle

Given the Scot's infatuation with on-loan No.10s, you'd have thought he'd have got much, much more out of Doyle.

He's stubborn and the system is the system, though City have been a little more direct since the enforced January defensive reshuffle.

Ultimately, Doyle was tried and moved on so that one of Caldwell's favourites, Ryan Trevitt, could return on loan, while the move to sign Joel Colwill from Cardiff City until the end of the season looks a poor one, especially with Crawley's main man strutting his stuff almost every week.

When the dust settles on this season, it could be that the Grecians are around 12/15 points off a play-off place, though there's still plenty of water to go under the bridge.

Whatever happens, it looks likely that if Exeter had managed to get the best out Doyle the final few weeks of the season could have been a whole lot more exciting.