Exeter City Reserves won the totesport.com combination league last night with a 4-3 win over Forest Green Rovers and overall has been a hugely successful season for Andy Tillson and his side.

While many clubs play their reserve games at 2pm on Tuesdays or Wednesdays City have played all of their home games at 7pm, allowing more fans to see the shadow squad in action.

And there has been an average crowd of 274 at home this season including a fantastic 407 against Reading and 350 against Plymouth Argyle.

The visit of the local rivals was the first match of the season and Ben Watson scored twice in a 2-2 draw. Many fans went away talking of the impact of Argyle winger Craig Noone who would soon be pulling on the red and white shirt.

Adam Stansfield missed the opening games of the League One season and he marked his comeback from injury with two goals in a win against Reading Reserves at The Park before Tillson's side hit the road and beat Forest Green Rovers 6-1 at The New Lawn.

Liam Sercombe was one player who used the Reserves as a platform to cement a first team place and it was games like the 1-0 win against Swansea that helped him do this. His stunning strike was the only goal for a strong City side.

In defence youngster Scot Bennett was a regular and also captain of the Reserves and he started in a 2-1 away win at Bournemouth along with Trialist keeper Scott Fox.

Home Park was the next destination for the Reserves and Watson scored from close range in a 1-1 draw and fans saw a glimpse of Norwood's pace as he tormented the Argyle backline after coming off the bench.

And he would open his account on November 10th in City's final totesport game of the calendar year, a 1-1 draw with Salisbury in front of 271 fans.

With games in short supply due to the weather City travelled to Portsmouth for a friendly and came out 1-0 winners thanks to a smartly taken finish from Reserve regular Neil Saunders. Paul Jones also played his first 90 minutes since September as he recovered from a knee operation.

With the St James' Park pitch being saved during a wet January the Reserves hosted Bournemouth at The Cat & Fiddle training ground and won comfortably thanks to a double from Barry Corr and one from Stuart Fleetwood.

The unbeaten run finally came to an end on 27th January as Swansea ran out 3-1 winners, Joe Burnell scoring Exeter's only goal.

The Reserves were then beaten again at The Park, 9-1 by a Bristol City team full of internationals. This was Troy Archibald-Henville's only match since signing for the Grecians from Spurs, he would pull up injured when warming up against Southampton and miss the rest of the season.

Joe Heath came to the club on trial and he started in a 3-2 win at Southampton where Craig McAllister, Fleetwood and Dunne got on the scoresheet.

Eamonn Dolan's Reading were hosts for the next match where a young City side drew 1-1 thanks to a goal from Norwood.

The Reserves drew with Argyle twice this season

He would also open the scoring at The County Ground in a thrilling game that saw Barry Corr score a hat-trick against his former club. The match also saw a first start for Under 18's keeper Paul Gibbins.

Trialist Ryan James was with the Grecians from the Nike Academy and he scored in a 1-1 draw against Southampton. The game, switched to their Staplewood Training Ground, also saw a first and Reserve appearance for Ryan Taylor.

Lewis Tasker, Heath and Norwood all scored ten days later in a 3-0 win at Salisbury before Kyle Bassett's last gasp equaliser earned City a crucial point against second placed Swindon at The Park infront of 182 fans.

Last week City shared nine goals with Bristol City at Ashton Gate before clinching the title last night thanks to Scot Bennett's header.

On the goalscoring front Ben Watson's seven goals in his opening three Reserve games of the season gives him the golden boot but injuries restricted him to fleeting appearances after Christmas.

Ashton Gate saw nine goals last week

The partnership for much of the run in has been James Norwood and Stuart Fleetwood and the pair have both scored five times this season.

In fact two of the Welshman's goals in the last two games have come from the penalty spot after Norwood has been fouled.

Barry Corr's hat-trick against his former side Swindon helped his total to five while Adam Stansfield and Richard Logan both scored twice this campaign.