Exeter recorded their first Sky Bet League One win since Boxing Day with a 1-0 success at Cambridge piling further pressure on the bottom club.

Striker Josh Magennis, who scored both goals in the Grecians’ FA Cup tie with Nottingham Forest on Tuesday, headed the decisive goal 17 minutes from time.

The visitors had created the earliest openings, with an Ed Francis drive going narrowly over in the second minute and Ilnari Niskanen cutting inside before lifting a left-footed shot over.

The biggest chance of the first half came 10 minutes before the break when Josh Stokes dinked a perfect cross to Ryan Loft but the Cambridge forward could only nod the ball wide.

Loft harried Exeter goalkeeper Joe Whitworth into a bad clearance in the 51st minute as he gifted the ball to Stokes, who could only shoot well over.

Instead it was the away side who grabbed the only goal in the 73rd minute when Caleb Watts was given time to cross from the left and Magennis nodded back across Nathan Bishop into the corner.