Complete Rout Of The Grecians: Defence Hopeless

Beaten Repeatedly by Welsh Forwards: Exeter's Bad Day

The Cup:
Saturday November 30th

Cardiff City 5 Exeter City 1.

Today was an important one in the annals of the Exeter City Club, for they entered this afternoon upon another struggle to qualify for the English Cup Competition Proper. They did well enough in their first season (1908-09) to be excused the early preliminaries, but never since then have they got past the First Round Proper, and have therefore always been brought in before the beginning of the principal competition.
This season, as customary, Exeter had to take their chance for the first time, in the last but one preliminary, and the competing clubs were still grouped in "Districts" for that round, so that any small teams left in the competition should be saved the cost of heavy travelling expenses. The City's possible opposition was therefore limited. In fact, they could only be drawn against one of three clubs, namely Cardiff, Boscombe, or the Ist Battalion of the King's Royal Rifles. As luck, or ill-luck, turned out, they were balloted to play the strongest, namely, Cardiff City, and moreover, were drawn to play at Cardiff.

Forecasts.
Opinions differed very much at Exeter as to the City's chances. today, though the majority of supporters possibly favoured a draw. Cardiff City, on the other hand, were extremely sanguine, and did not hesitate to say that they would win. Their optimism was, no doubt, mainly prompted by their extraordinary Cup success on the Merthyr Town ground, where they were victorious by 5 - 1 in the first of the preliminaries. In the second round they defeated Pontypridd by 2 - 1 at Ninian Park, while in the third they went to Llanelly and won by 4-1. As Wrexham were also out of the competition today, Cardiff were left with the distinction of being the surviving hope of the Principality.

Team Changes.
Exeter City's directors, after much discussion, decided to make three changes from the side which had been kept together for the past few weeks, and had done particularly well. Cooper, who lacks inches and weight, and who was inclined to be erratic at Millwall, was left out of the side, but taken as reserve, while Crompton, the captain, was picked to partner Whittaker on the right, with Lockett in his old position of inside-left. Bassett was therefore enabled to come back again at right-half, and his reinstatement was decided on because he has the weight and bustle which should eminently fit him for a Cup-tie. Practically no special training was done, but all the players were reported fit and well when they left Exeter yesterday after noon.

Cardiff had no match last week, and therefore had ample time to thoroughly prepare for today's encounter. They expected to be at full strength, but had not definitely decided yesterday whether they would play their old centre-forward, Featherstone, who has rejoined them from St. Mirren, or rely upon the new young centre who has been scoring freely for them this season, namely Devlin, late of Wallsend. The only local in the side was Evans, who once played in a "friendly" at St. James's Park. Of the others, three came from Colne, one from Barnsley, two from St Mirren, one from Bradford City, one from Stockport County, one from Middlesbrough, one from Nelson, and one (Devlin) from Wallsend.

CARDIFF CITY Douglas Doncaster Leah Harvey Cassidy Hardy Tracey G.Burton Devlin J.Burton Evans

Referee: Mr Bennett, of Bristol.

Ives Lockett Rutter Crompton Whittaker
Bassett Pratt Rigby
Hurst Fort
Pym
EXETER CITY

Bitterly cold weather prevailed at Cardiff this morning, and the City party, who had spent the time quietly, found the wind very nippy as they went out to Ninian Park. Everyone, however, was in the best of spirits. Upon arrival at the ground Cardiff City reported that they had had to make an important last-minute alteration. Kneeshaw, the goalkeeper, sprained his wrist early this season, and a fortnight ago, against Llanelly, broke his finger. The directors, therefore, were afraid to trust him today, and they declined to call on Lewis, the reserve. Instead, they played Douglas, an old centre-forward, late of Cwm Albion, who had made only one previous appearance in goal, against Brighton, in the Southern Alliance, when he played a good game. At centre forward Devlin was preferred, after all, to Featherstone.

At Ninian Park.
The pitch was hard, with a slight covering of frost on the surface, and pieces of glass and brickbats were rather too much in evidence to those who viewed the playing pitch before the start. The excursionists from Exeter, seven hundred and fifty in number, arrived on the ground at 2 o'clock, and soon made their presence felt. They were flying red and white rosetts in great profusion, and the Exeter City Band, conducted as usual by Mr George Newman, was out on the field early to augment that of Cardiff. The Cardiff public were very optimistic about the result, and would not believe for a moment that the absence of Knee shaw in any way lessened their chances. They believed Cardiff would win by at least two goals.

The Game.
Cardiff were first out, looking very smart, and they appeared to be a fairly hefty side. Crompton won the toss before 12,000 spectators, with the crowd still pouring in. Exeter were first away, and Ives's centre was missed by Rutter. Rigby, however, got the ball and gave Douglas a rare "handful". Hands was subsequently given against Leah, and Exeter attacked strongly, Doncaster being glad to kick hurriedly into touch. Cardiff were kept on the defensive, and the new ball was very lively on the frozen ground. A foul was given against Ives for jumping at an opponent, but Devlin handled close to the City's goal. Cardiff were penalised for this, but returned and forced a corner, the ball eventually going behind. Whittaker got going after Ives had beaten Harvey, and sent in a first-timer which Douglas saved in perfect goalkeeping fashion, and although Exeter looked the cleverer side Cardiff were very persistent in strong attacks and counter-attacks. Tracey, from eighteen yards, skied right over the bar, and at this stage Pym had had nothing to do. Rutter headed over the bar from Whittaker's pass, and at last Pym was called into action, making a fine save from G.Burton.

Two Quick Goals.

In the exchanges which followed Crompton was stunned in a collision with Cassidy, but resumed without a stoppage. Whittaker narrowly failed with a cross-drive, calling on Rutter the while to leave the ball to him. Exeter were showing their best form in front of goal, and two or three times Doncaster and Leah had to boot the ball away anywhere for safety. After Crompton had missed the ball right in front of the posts Cardiff came away in a fast attack, and J.Burton scored, forcing the ball into the net from close quarters. This goal, against the run of the play, came in the 22nd minute. Cardiff came again and forced a corner, and at this stage the City defence was having some anxious moments. The Welsh forwards were very nippy, and the speed of their moves was causing the Exeter backs to miskick, or kick wildly, and mistakes became frequent. Cassidy came through in the centre and fired just over the bar, and since their goal Cardiff had increased their speed and changed the existing pattern of the game. Within five minutes of their first goal Cardiff scored again, G.Burton this time putting the ball through from short range in an "all-out" attack. It was a good goal, too, and Cardiff City deserved all the cheers which the large crowd gave them.

Defence Caught Napping.

With a valuable lead of two goals Cardiff began to shape like a really clever team, and the Exeter defence was caught napping more often than they have ever been previously this season. Play centred round midfield for some few minutes, and Cardiff conveyed the impression that they were content with their lead. Lockett was fouled, and from the free-kick Crompton broke away but shot a foot wide of the upright. Then Ives ran clean through and gave to Whittaker, whose shot cleared the bar. From a free kick Ives put a shot against the post, then half-time was called with the score:
CARDIFF CITY 2-0  EXETER CITY 
The crowd was estimated at eighteen thousand at the restart. Apart from the first fifteen minutes or so Exeter had been very disappointing in the first half, their defence being at times extremely poor. Harvey fouled Ives in midfield, but the free-kick was got away and led to nothing. Exeter changed their forward formation, with Rutter outside-right, Whittaker inside, and Crompton at centre. After about eight minutes' play Cardiff attacked and forced a
corner, from which Harvey fastened on to the ball and scored a beautiful goal, giving Pym no chance with a fast rising shot. Another fierce drive, this time from Tracey, was kept out by Pym, and the City mounted a few spasmodic attacks but stood only a very slim chance of regaining lost ground to the extent of the three goals which were needed. Bassett made a good tackle on one of the Burtons after Tracey had been allowed to go through when he was offside, and Hurst charged down a shot by Devlin.

City Defence Feeble.
Whittaker was fouled as he was making ground on the right, and from the free-kick Douglas nearly put the ball through his own goal, but recovered it just in time. The deputy goalkeeper then made a good save from a point-blank drive sent in by Rigby, but apart from one or two isolated attacks very little was being seen of Exeter, and Cardiff were in complete control. The City defence was being run off its legs by the speed and bewildering close passing of the Cardiff forwards, the ball being sent through towards Exeter's goal time after time, with only feeble resistance being offered.

A Lucky Goal.
Exeter were getting worse and worse, and had it not been for Pym the score would have mounted absolutely beyond reach. As it was, there remained only faint hope of saving the same, although a long pass forward by Whittaker brought Douglas out of his goal, with Crompton being held off by Leah. Then Bassett kicked a very lucky goal, a long shot from him hitting Doncaster's foot and skidding into the net out of Douglas's reach. There was now a quarter of an hour to go, and Ives was laid out by a hefty charge after he had gone through on his own and shot just over the bar. There was a long stoppage, and when play was resumed Rutter went back to centre-forward again, though he too was groggy and limping. In fact, despite Bassett's goal, the City were looking exactly what they were, a soundly beaten team. Cardiff came through in another great rush, and a melee near the goal-line ended with the ball going behind. From the goal kick Ives went through, but failed to steady himself, and shot tamely wide of the near post. With five minutes to go J.Burton scored Cardiff's fourth goal, the City backs being hopelessly beaten by the move which preceded it. Harvey was injured, and assisted off the field, and Crompton forced his way through at the Cardiff end but was crowded off the ball. The crowd were leaving the ground when Devlin raced through in the centre, and with Exeter's backs again failing, easily drove the ball in for the fifth goal.

Notes on the Game.

If anything was needed to point out the rapid advance of the Association Code in the Rugby stronghold of South Wales, the cup tie at Ninian Park supplied it. A crowd of 18,000 spectators, with a total "gate" of £400, saw Exeter City, among the leading clubs in the First Division of the Southern League, overwhelmed and beaten convincingly to the tune of five goals to one. It was the masterly play of the Cardiff half-backs, and the speed and cleverness of their forwards which overpowered Exeter; and Cardiff are to be complimented on their daring experiment of playing Douglas, a centre-forward, in goal. It turned out well, however, for Douglas did not let his side down, and in fact, he was only beaten by a shot which hit Doncaster and rebounded into the net in exactly the opposite direction of the original shot. As regards Exeter, it was indeed a black afternoon, for they were demoralised and beaten by a fine team, and except for the first quarter of an hour were hardly ever in the game.

PLYMOUTH AND DISTRICT LEAGUE. City Reserves v Millbrook Rangers.

At St. James's Park, in fine weather. The City Reserves beat Millbrook by two goals to nil, Frayn scoring in the first half, and Lewis in the second.

Reserves:- Chapman; Hunt, Nevin; Lewis, Lagan, Clarke; Arscott, Willats, Brooksbank, Frayn, and Garside.

Rangers: - Moore; Downs, Bath; Woodley, Butland, Cooper; Gosling, Hannaford, Symons, Williams, and Magill.