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.


SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1ST.
FRIENDLY MATCH AT ST. JAMES'S PARK.
BRISTOL CITY THE VISITORS.
Exeter City (Brooksbank, Whittaker) 2
Bristol City (Harris) 1
Half-time score: Bristol 1 Exeter 0. Attendance: 2,180.

Exeter Pym; Nevin, Hurst; Rigby, Lagan, Lockett; Whittaker, Rutter, Brooksbank, Ives. Cooper,
Bristol: Ware; Kearns, Jones; Marr, Wedlock, Nicholson; Broad, Brough, Owers, Bowyer, Harris.

The "friendly" against Bristol City was as good a match of its description as could be wished for, but without the competitive element it left something to be desired. If it had been a fine  afternoon there would have been a big crowd present to welcome Bristol City, and moreover, Wedlock would have appeared, for it was solely the weather and ground conditions which led to the Bristol management keeping him out of the match. They cannot be blamed for this, for Wedlock means so much to the club that to risk him breaking down in a friendly would be policy which the followers of the Reds would be quick to resent. The 48 taken at the gate represented a crowd of just over two thousand, which is not bad considering the rain which fell all the morning and most of the afternoon.
The Bristol Players.
Bristol City did not like being mastered by Exeter. That was plain in the last quarter of an hour, when both Nicholson and Marr Came in for a little admonishment from the referee. Marr is an experienced player, and he should have known that it would have been better for him to have kept a cool head, even if Ives was beating him more often than was pleasant. One player in the Bristol team who did come through the match with distinction was Kearns, the right-back, for he also had to face Ives, yet he took everything that came his way in a good spirit, was scrupulously fair in his methods, and put up a very fine defence. Eddie Jones, the old City back, suffered somewhat if compared with his partner, and the crowd objected to his robust methods. But there was little to complain about in his play, and it can be remembered that the popular side used to cheer themselves hoarse over just the same sort of tackling from Jones, when he was wearing the Grecians' jersey.
The Grecians.
Whittaker was right at the top of his form, and the more he was hustled by Jones the better he played. Whittaker was possibly the best of the line today, but all the forwards did well, and the manner in which Rutter opened up the game was a delight to see. Rigby is another young player who has come on by leaps and bounds since gaining a regular place in the team. He is not a showy or demonstrative type of player, but he has developed an astute positional sense, and is as brainy a middle line man as any that Exeter have ever had. By getting himself into the right positions he is able to cope with attacking thrusts with the minimum expense of effort. Lockett, who is the City captain in Crompton's absence, and Lagan, another capable young player and an untiring worker, completed an excellent half-back line. As regards the defence there was not a weakness anywhere, and very few mistakes were made. The Bristol City forwards, in fact, were effectively held throughout, and the speed of Harris and Broad availed them nothing. Owers, who was a reserve for the International team two years ago, was never allowed much scope, and on today's form Rutter looked a far better centre-forward than the Bristol man.

PLYMOUTH AND DISTRICT LEAGUE.
Royal Scots Regiment v City Reserves.

The City Reserves beat the Royal Scots at Crownhill by four goals to three, and this puts them once more at the top of the table. They played throughout with only ten men, for Frayn notified the club yesterday that he would be unable to appear. Arrangements were made to get another player, but at the last minute he failed to turn up, and the City were left with four forwards. Under the circumstances they must be given credit for having scored a very fine victory, though in the second half they owed something to "luck" and the fine 'keeping of Chapman.
Exeter City:- Chapman; Hunt and Morris; Clarke, Bassett, and Mullineux; Arscott, Lewis, Golightly, and Garside.

Wednesday, February 5th.
Friendly:
City Reserves 5 Exmouth United 1.

Exeter City put out nearly their best side at St. James's Park against Exmouth, including Ellis Crompton, who was making his first appearance since being injured at Stoke in December. They were all over Exmouth in the first half, Golightly getting two goals, and three others being scored by Whittaker, Brooksbank, and Garside. Willats replied for Exmouth. forwards, who were joined in their raids by Bassett, but England The second half was a prolonged "target practice" for the City played a splendid game in the Exmouth goal, the score remaining unaltered.