AT LAST! CITY WIN THE DEVON DERBY.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 25TH.
SOUTHERN LEAGUE:
CITY v ARGYLE.

Exeter City 1-0 Plymouth Argyle
Goalscorer:- Cooper. 
Referee:- Mr I.Baker, of Nantwich.
Attendance: 12,000.
Half-time score:- City 1 Argyle 0.

CITY

Pym; Fort, Hurst; Rigby, Lagan, Lockett; Whittaker, Cooper, Rutter, Brooksbank, Ives.

ARGYLE

Horne; Forbes, Atterbury; McCormick, Wilcox, Baker; Bell, Raymond, Prout, Bowler, Dixon.

At last, Exeter City have won the Devon Derby. The Argyle have held the upper hand in these matches, as far as the League is concerned, for too long, and have in fact, until today, won every one of the matches both home and away, with the exception of the 1908-09 match, at Exeter, which was won by the City, and the one at Plymouth the season before last, which was drawn. So the City's timely success today was against the form book, and all the more praiseworthy for that.

The Referee.
Mr Baker, the referee, travelled all the way from Nantwich, a little town between Chester and Wrexham, to show us how "Devon Derbies" might and ought to be conducted. It is said that now Mr Mason, of Burslem, Stoke, has retired from the game, the man from Nantwich is the best referee in the country. Exonians never saw the former at St. James's Park, but they are wondering now what he would have been like to be superior to Mr Baker.

The two officials are not in any respect alike, either in the matter of appearance or style. They got to the same goal, as it were, by different routes, and each, in his way, is perfect. Mr Mason was the soul of composure and correctness. Mr Baker, his broad, stocky figure dominating the game, has more gestures, and is more demonstrative. No refereeing has been seen at Exeter like his today. It was the last word in what refereeing should be. He never gave anything like an incorrect decision, never displayed the least suspicion of partisanship, saw everything, and spotted every offence.
He could have had no better tribute than the spontaneous out burst of cheering from the occupants of the grandstand, as they rose to him when he left the field.

A Clean Match.
And this, too, is the type of official whom players respect. They would no more think of taking liberties with him than the players, in times that have gone, would have thought of taking liberties with Mr John Lewis, of Blackburn. It was, in fact, because Mr Baker had charge of the game that it was a clean match compared with what Devon Derbies have been. Everybody knows that the rivalry that exists between Exeter City and the Argyle has led in the past to much over-eagerness (to give it a very polite name) on the part of players, and to consequent unpleasant scenes. Indeed, these matches were getting to be notorious for it, but today it was seen how differently the players behave under a good referee. There were accidents, it is true, and the one which caused the retirement of Fort and Bowler was very unpleasant indeed, but they were accidents, pure and simple. The score of one - nil is just about as perfect a reflex of the game as scores ever are. It has to be admitted that in the second
half the Argyle three times came perilously near to scoring, and that, in a sense, Exeter were lucky to escape scot-free in each case. But it should also be borne in mind that in two of these cases it was the Argyle's own faulty finishing which made them miss the goals, and a side that can go so near to scoring and then fail should not blame bad luck. However, they were unlucky when Bowler breasted the leather out of Pym's grasp and fell into the back of the net, only to find that the ball had passed the wrong side of the post. It is also a fact that Pym had no difficult shot to stop all through the match, and that what actual shooting was done came from the City's forwards, who more than once missed by the narrowest fraction. Therefore, so far as escapes are considered, the matter is well balanced up, and the only fact that does count is that Cooper's goal decided the game. It was, moreover, a good enough goal to decide any game, for Cooper ran forward to meet the ball as Lockett pushed it through, and he unleashed a "pile-driver" which Horne scarcely saw as it sailed into the net. In the closing stages both sides were reduced to ten men, for Bowler and Fort jumped for the ball together, and their heads met in a painful collision. Whittaker dropped back to Fort's place, and the Argyle, concentrating everything on attack in the last few minutes, left Atterbury as their only back. In an exciting finish Hurst, then Rigby, then Lagan, in turn cleared from desperate Argyle attacks. Right at the end Exeter broke away, and after Rutter had had a shot charged down Ives got the ball and fired in a cross-shot which Horne tipped over, and in doing so dislodged the crossbar. The ground staff were still replacing the bar as the teams left the field.

The Junior" Devon Derby.
Plymouth Argyle v City Reserves 

Plymouth and District League, at Home Park. The match between the Reserve teams of the Argyle and Exeter City ended 3-nil in Plymouth's favour. The Exeter front line threw away chances in front of goal, and Frayn was not a success at centre-forward.