BUSY SUMMER FOR EXETER CITY

Tightening Up An Erratic Team

Exeter City have before them the busiest summer in the history of the club. Team building is a peculiarily important matter with them this year. The past season has been exceedingly disappointing. Retaining the services of practically all the men who won seventh place in the Southern Section in season 1925-25, the club hoped to strengthen their playing resources by the addition of players like McDevitt and Myers, to mention two experienced footballers of proved ability. Unhappily, several of last season's Grecians have quite failed to come up to expectations, taking the season all through, and this is also true of some of the new players. Exeter City is not a wealthy club, and cannot afford to estimate a player's worth except by his season's record. Footballers who can be depended upon to play at their absolute best from the season's beginning to the season's end, and who are not too susceptible to joint injuries and vexatious troubles of that sort must always receive first consideration, for no amount of spasmodic brilliance can compensate for the lack of those stable qualities which mean a settled, workmanlike, and devoted eleven.

WEAK POSITIONS.

During the season now closed Exeter City have been handicapped badly by the lack of a first-class pivot and a first-class centre forward. It was hoped that McDevitt would supply the first, and Blackmore or Casson the second. McDevitt's match appearances early in the season were however very irregular owing to foot troubles, and, clever as his work as a pivot proved, it did not fit in with the City's style of play. At inside right, from the Christmastide onwards, McDevitt gave some wonderfully fine displays at St James's Park, and during a period of a few weeks the City registered a series of the biggest successes, in League matches, in the club's history. McDevitt unquestionably was the inspiration behind those brilliant performances by Exeter. He and Matthews made a marvellous right wing, Blackmore jumped into form as a leader, while Lievesley and Compton were an ideal pair on the left wing. In these games Potter filled the centre half berth very creditably, and for a time it looked as though the Grecians were bound for one of the high places in the Third Division. Then came disillusionment. The forwards fell right away, the results of the matches were all wrong, and the club dropped back again until it seemed certain that at the end of the campaign Exeter City would have to apply to the League for re-election as happened in 1922. In the midst of the disappointments Alf Matthews was transferred to Plymouth Argyle. Then Kirk was drafted into the City team in McDevitt's stead, and Pollard moved to centre half, so that Lowton could come into the arena as partner to Charlton. A visit to Brighton broke the run of defeats, and the spirits of the Grecians' following rose again, but a poor return from the holiday games at Easter, including a double defeat by Swindon Town, made the position critical. Then came the memorable home successes over Northampton and Millwall, giving Exeter renewed hope, and finally the whirlwind finish against Watford on May 1st, when the six goals scored by Exeter could quite easily have been increased to ten or eleven.

A SOLID DEFENCE.
While defence has been Exeter City's strong point this season, any discussion on the merits of the attackers cannot be wound up with the failure to warmly compliment Wilfred Lievesley on his splendid play since Christmas, especially when he has been at inside left. His feat of scoring eighteen goals since Christmas morning speaks for itself. Stanley Charlton, the City captain and brilliant left-back, who has been the mainstay of the team, has not had a holiday for two years. Last summer he was participating in the Australian tour. Thus the thirteen weeks of leisure, which are immediately in prospect, will be particularly welcome in his case. Pollard has been giving whole-hearted service to the club again at right back, and centre half, and everybody sympathises with him in the unavoidable postponement of his Benefit Match, which will now be played next September.

LOWTON'S BIG STRIDES.
One of the happy features of the season is the ability demonstrated by Wilfred Lowton in matches with the City Chiefs towards the last part of the campaign. Partnering Charlton, the ex-Heavitree United defender has made rapid strides, and bids fair to win recognition in the near future as one of the strongest backs in the Southern Section. Latterly, too, Bob Pullan has been distinguishing himself greatly at right half-back, while Bailey has been at his best for quite a long while, and Frank Newman has "come back" famously at outside right. The positions which are giving the City club most concern at the moment are probably those at centre and left half, centre forward, and inside right. Blackmore needs to be quicker in anticipation and to practice his sprinting. Whilst it cannot be denied that Harold's footwork at times is positively dazzling, and his shooting, when he gets on the target, is of a strength and power rarely seen even in first-class football, many opportunities have been lost during the season through an absence of quickness at centre-forward.

THE BIG NEW GRAND STAND.

It was stated, above, that the summer would be an extraordinarily busy one for Exeter City. They will be engaged on the erection of a spacious new grandstand to take the place of the one which was destroyed by fire in November. The new structure, it is understood, is to cost about £6,000, and is to accommodate approximately two thousand spectators.

A FATEFUL KICK.
All the League problems of promotion and relegation are settled now, but one of the most dramatic moments in the campaign surely, must be that which occurred in the match at Griffin Park last Monday, with Brentford and Plymouth Argyle in opposition. At half-time the score was level at two all, and in later play the Pilgrims were awarded a penalty. Black was entrusted with the kick, and 1,400 excursionists from Plymouth glued their eyes to the ball. A successful shot would have taken the Argyle into the 2nd League, on the threshold of which they were standing for the fifth season. Black, however, overdid the "placing" of the shot, and the ball was put past the goalpost on the wrong side. So it followed that the most exciting contest for Promotion in the history of the Southern Section was sustained right to the very last moment, and in the end Reading gained the prize by means of their crushing victory over the same Brentford while the Argyle missed all their chances at Gillingham.

THE CUP WINNERS.
Bolton Wanderers' triumph in the F. A. Cup Final was very pleasing to West-country people, who have not been slow to grasp the fact that Dick Pym, the Topsham native and former Exeter City captain and goalkeeper, was the real hero of the occasion. "He was like a stone wall," wrote one critic in commenting on Pym's goalkeeping, and from all quarters it appears that "our Dick" was in his usual brilliant mood, showing uncanny anticipation and splendid agility. It is curious that along with Pym, another player with West-country associations should have been instrumental in taking the F.A.Cup to Bolton. David Jack, who scored the goal, is the eldest son of the Plymouth Argyle secretary/manager, and assisted the Pilgrims for a time before removing to his father's old club.

DEVON COUNTY.

The Devon County F. A. teams have met with much success in the field this season, and something even better will be expected in regard to amateur football in 1926-27. But probably the most memorable event of 1925-26 in this respect is the winning of the Senior Cup by Friernhay. It is the very first time that this trophy has come East, and it is very appropriate that the "Friars" should be the winners, after the game fight they put up in the previous season, when they got through to the Final but were defeated by Oreston Rovers. Exeter City, too, are proud of their triumph in the Professional Championship of Devon. Their victory over Plymouth Argyle at Home Park on March 10th, coupled with the fact that they took three out of four points from the Pilgrims in League football, gave a visible silver lining to the cloud which has enshrouded the local club.