City's Late Equaliser

DRAMA AT ST. JAMES'S PARK

Saturday November 29th 1969.

EXETER CITY 1
PETERBOROUGH UNITED 1.

With the first snows of winter clutching the country in its icy grip the football and sports programmes for today took a battering. Due to the varying weather conditions over most of Great Britain which were an assembled mixture of snow, sleet, ice, frost, and heavy rain, the English and Scottish Leagues between them lost twenty-five of their fixtures, and the south coast and the west country were the only unaffected areas. At St James's Park the game between Exeter City and Peterborough was played out on a heavy surface with showers of rain falling intermittently, nevertheless a crowd of 5,027 people braved the elements.

Exeter City:- Shearing; Crawford, Morris; Parker, Sharples, Balson; Corr, Banks, Gadston, Mitten, Walker.

Peterborough:- Drewery; Potts, Noble; Conmy, Wile, Wright; Moss, Price, Hall, Holliday, Robson.

Subs: Wingate (City) Kwalikowski (Peterborough).

Referee:- Mr P.E. Walters of Bridgwater.

And after the pitch at St James's Park had been declared fit for play to take place practically everything happened there this afternoon. The Bridgwater referee Mr Peter Walters was unable to continue after being taken ill at half-time; shortly after the resumption Holliday, the Peterborough inside-left, was carried off on a stretcher with a fractured leg, and then Exeter City snatched a dramatic equaliser in the last minute of the match to earn themselves a point. The "Posh" had gone ahead on the hour when Moss scored for them, but Wingate, who was brought on as substitute midway through the second half, got the City's equaliser. When Holliday was taken off some of the Peterborough players went to the crowd behind the Exeter goal apparently to make some allegations about the City team's methods, and their manager, Mr Jim Iley, sitting in the grandstand, exchanged heated words with some of the supporters there. Both teams were as announced, which meant that Peterborough fielded the side which beat Oldham Athletic 8-1 on Wednesday, a record score for the midland team in the League.

PARKER'S THROUGH BALL TOO STRONG.

A foul on Walker gave Exeter an early free-kick which however came to nothing. Then Morris was brought down and again no advantage accrued. Clever play by Parker put Exeter in an attacking position, but the through ball was too strong for Banks. Parker and Corr in turn wasted chances for Exeter, both firing wide in turn. Peterborough first real attack broke down when they were caught offside following a corner. Exeter had the balance of play in the early stages, and Parker drew frequent bursts of applause from the crowd for his part in setting up the attacks. But at half-time the score sheet remained a blank.

SECOND HALF: REFEREE MISSING.

It transpired that the referee, Mr. Walker, had been taken ill in his dressing room at half-time, with the 'flu. The senior linesman took over as referee for the remainder of the match, while Mr Webster of Torquay, a former Football League linesman, who was present, ran the line. Two free kicks were given to Exeter at the start of the second half, and from the second the City appealed for a penalty, unsuccessfully. Then Holliday went down in a tackle and a stretcher was brought onto the field immediately. Holliday, who had sustained a fracture of his left leg, was carried off and put into an ambulance bound for the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. The Peterborough substitute, Ricki Kwalikowski, born in Peterborough of Polish parents, and who is a full-back, came on, and the visitors had to shuffle their team to accommodate him. There was a commotion behind the Exeter goal, and it appeared that several of the Peterborough team were exchanging a few words with some of the Exeter supporters, also in the grandstand, where Mr Iley, the Peterborough manager, was at the centre of a slanging match. Back on the field the game went ahead, and in the 60th minute Moss, receiving the ball from Robson, scored with an easy header.

WINGATE COMES ON.

After Drewery had tipped a shot from Walker over the bar for a corner, which was unproductive, Exeter brought on their substitute, Wingate, in exchange for Corr. Twenty minutes of the game remained. A good advance by Crawford down the right wing ended with the full back centreing to Banks, whose shot was safely held by Drewery. Parker injured his arm in a skirmish with two Peterborough players, but continued to play on although in obvious pain.
Peterborough were a hard side indeed, and some of their methods were not appreciated by the Exeter supporters. Exeter continued to pile on the pressure, and at one stage all the players except Shearing were in the Peterborough half of the field. It was now nearly all Exeter, and in the last minute they obtained a well deserved equaliser when Wingate chased a ball that was pushed down the right wing and scored with a first-time shot that gave the goalkeeper no chance. It was a dramatic ending.