Four Goals at the Dell

Saints v City:
Saturday February 8th 

Southampton 2 (Prince, Blake)
Exeter City 2 (Rutter, Ives)

Referee: Mr C.C.Fallowfield, of London. Half-time score: Southampton 2 Exeter City 1. Attendance: 2,000.

SOUTHAMPTON Kitchen. Coates Ireland Denby Lee McAlpine Kimpton Richards Prince Andrews Blake

CITY Pym Fort Hurst Rigby Lagan Lockett Whittaker Cooper Rutter Crompton Ives

There were four goals scored at the Dell today. Three was scored in the first half and one in the second. Two were good goals, - one very good and two were of quite a different order. The first was one of the lucky ones, and was obtained by Rutter about five minutes after the start. At the halfway line Lagan. beat Prince and was left in possession. He was shouted at to wing the ball, but preferred, instead, to kick it straight down the field. Rutter went in hot pursuit, and his rush put Coates off. The old Exeter back miskicked, and in a twinkling the situation was dangerous. Kitchen hesitated a moment, looked up at Rutter as he was bearing down upon him, and then attempted a flying lunge at the ball. He kicked it against Rutter's legs, whence it rebounded into goal with Exeter's centre-forward following up to the back of the rigging just to make sure. The crowd received the goal in glum silence, and settled themselves down to the prospect of a beating. If the first goal ought never to have been scored, the same remark doubly applies to the second. It was registered by Prince, and there is no doubt whatever that when he advanced to receive the ball he was offside. Hurst went in a hopeless pursuit, and Pym advanced. The oncoming Prince allowed Pym to get about five yards away and then coolly shot wide of him into the net. Exeter protested, and Mr Fallowfield glanced towards his linesmen, but there was no signal from either of them, and the goal was given. That equalising goal had a pronounced effect on the Saints' play. It opened up hopes of victory, and from that stage they began to improve.

Southampton Take the Lead.
Nearing half-time the Saints set up a heavy bombardment, and once Richards slipped when he had the goal at his mercy. Then Pym punched away from Blake, and running through a crowd of players, got the ball away to the penalty line. It was volleyed. back, and Pym had to deal with it a second time. He threw the ball out Fort, who was immediately surrounded, and was only able to deflect the leather towards Blake. Fort ran forward, trying to regain possession, but Blake side-stepped, got the leather under control, closed in and shot with judgment. Lockett could probably have headed the ball away but left it to Pym, who partly unsighted and partly because he had not got back into his goal from his previous efforts, failed to reach the shot, which went over his shoulder into the net. That was the third goal, a good one in height, pace, and direction, but not the sort of shot which would usually beat Exeter's defence.
The Best of the Four.
The fourth, in the second half, was the best of the four. It was practically a replica of the goal by which the Grecians won at the Crystal Palace, and the same players, Whittaker and Ives, were concerned in the making and scoring of it. The move started thirty yards from Kitchen. Cooper, Rutter, and Crompton each participated in the move, the leather finally being sent out to Whittaker. Exeter's right-winger beat Ireland and advanced nearly to the corner-flag, from where he lofted the ball over the heads of everybody into the goalmouth. Kitchen, of course, realised the danger of such a centre, and ran backwards across his line towards the left. Just as he turned face the left-wing Ives came dashing up, and jumping, headed the ball into the narrow space between the goalkeeper and the angle of the crossbar and upright. It was a beautiful goal, and Whittaker and Ives were surrounded by their jubilant colleagues in a welter of congratulations.

Pecularities of the Dell.
The Dell is a compact enclosure with pecularities which most players take a long time to get used to. Today its pecularities were increased by the bright sunlight which Exeter had to face while it lasted. There is a tall grandstand on one side of the enclosure, and this casts its shadow all along that side, to a width of about fifteen yards in from the touch-line, so that the sharp contract of light and shade is puzzling to players until they become accustomed to it. It had its effect upon much of the City's work in the first half, and they never quite mastered it. The pitch too, although presenting a good appearance at the start, soon cut up rough, and long before the close was difficult to play on.

A Fair Result.
It was always a good game, full of interest from beginning to end, and although the referee gave some puzzling interpretations of the laws of the game, Exeter cannot grumble. They gave vent to their protests on the occasion of Southampton's first goal, which had a suspicion of offside about it, but later in the game they were lucky to escape a penalty against them when Fort palpably handled the ball in the area. On the whole, a draw was a fair reflex of the game, although Exeter were undeniably the cleverer team, especially in the last half hour. It was in this period that the Grecians were seen in their best form, the whole side blending to a nicety, and the forwards as quick as lightning on the ball, with Whittaker and Ives making fine use of their speed, and Rutter lashing the ball across to each wing in the manner born of a first-class centre forward.
Exeter City's Best Style.
It has been noticed many times this season that the City's most effective football is the open game, and they never play better than when they lift the ball about. In the first half at the Dell they seemed sometimes to forget this fact, and went in for the old close-passing game that they adopted in the days of McGuigan and company. The backs too, in the first half, were prone to "nurse" the ball against an attack whose full measure they thought they had, instead of hitting the leather first time out of harm's way. Against no attack, however, does the method of the first half pay, and, as a contrast, in the last half hour the ball was parted with promptly and accurately, which had the home side guessing all the time. It went from man to man in wide, sweeping movements, here, there, and back again, to the right, the centre, the left, the centre again, with no dallying and no attempt to beat the same man twice. Of the Southampton players Blake was far and away the best of the forwards, and Lee and Ireland of the defence. The City's old full-back, Coates, spoiled an otherwise sound display by making two miskicks, from the first of which Rutter got his goal.

Last season: Southampton 3 City 0.
In 1910-11: City 3 Southampton 1.

Plymouth & District League
CITY RESERVES V ROYAL SCOTS REGIMENT.

At St. James's Park in connection with the Plymouth & District League, Exeter City Reserves outclassed the Royal Scots, winning by six goals to nil. Garside showed much of his old form, and was easily the best player on the field.
Reserves:- Chapman; Morris, Nevin; Lewis, Bassett, Mullineux; Arscott, Addicott, Brooksbank, Golightly, and Garside.
Royal Scots:- Evans; Park, Watken; McLeod, Langford, Verdin; Gibson, Howie, Gillow, Wilson, and Groves.