Exeter turned on the style as they thrashed Accrington 5-0 at St James Park to heap more misery on their relegation-threatened visitors.

The deadlock was broken in fine fashion after 36 minutes when Demetri Mitchell cut in from the left and curled a wonderful shot beyond goalkeeper Lukas Jensen and into the far corner with his right foot from 20 yards.

It took Exeter four minutes after the restart to double their lead as Josh Key superbly took down Will Aimson’s long pass, beat his man and smashed his shot past Jensen.

Two quickly became three as Alex Hartridge’s effort was tipped on to the bar by Jensen, but Sam Nombe was on hand to tap in on the line with 55 minutes on the clock.

Substitute James Scott made it 4-0 after 76 minutes with his first goal for the club.

He played a nice one-two with the outstanding Jay Stansfield before placing the ball beautifully into the corner from 20 yards.

However, the biggest cheer of the afternoon came when Stansfield cut in from the left and drilled the ball past Jensen for Exeter’s fifth goal in the 82nd minute – the striker’s first in front of the Big Bank stand.

Well-beaten Accrington failed to register a shot on target all afternoon as they were outclassed by the impressive Grecians.