4th September 1982

Exeter City v Gillingham 

Report by Gordon Hines 

DAVE Pullar performed his dramatic one man rescue act again yesterday. It was the tall and lean Exeter City midfielder who snatched a late equaliser at Huddersfield last weekend. And yesterday it was Pullar power once more after Gillingham led 2-1 with just two minutes to go. Strangely, the two goals were almost identical, with Pullar finding the corner of the net from the edge of the penalty area. To say Exeter were relieved, would put it mildly. For they squandered a first half lead provided by Tony Kellow, and Gillingham. could have had more e than two goals in the second half as City's new fashioned defence struggled to contain the threat from bustling centre forward Tony Cascarnino and the constant menance of costriker Kenny Price. It was Price, in fact, who set Gillingham on the road to recovery with a shot under keeper Len Bond's body after an almighty mix up in City's defence. That was two minutes into the second ond half and it cancelled out Kellow's goal in the 21st minute which stemmed from seven man Exeter move. Play was switched from left to right, although the goal was really pioneered by apprentice Graham Kirkup. He worked a one two with Pullar and then nearly turned the ball back to the edge of the six-yard box for Ray Pratt.

Pratt's shot was parried by keeper Ron Hillyard, but the ball couldn't have fallen to a more lethal person than Kellow. It was lying in the back of the net within a matter of a half second. Skipper John Delve struck a post and Kirkup had a snap shot pushed away with some difficulty by Hillyard after Price had equalised for Gillingham. But then came another moment of madness in the City defence when the out of sorts Martyn Rogers set Gillingham up on a counter attack with a wild clearance. It found winger Colin Powell who, after a series of attempts to weave inside left-back Keith Viney, opted for a cross from the right. Bond did exceptionally well to block the intitial header by beafy midfielder Steve Bruce but Cascarino was handily placed to force the ball home when it can- noned back into play off the Exeter keeper. Plenty more goal scoring avenues opened up for Gillingham as Exeter pushed forward in search of the equaliser. The Medway club could have had three or four, yet paid dearly for not cashing in when Pullar suddenly let go with a blockbuster in the 88th minute. 'Certain players were far too nervous in fornt of their own supporters was Manager Brian Godfrey's after the match verdict. "They were too tentative and we didn't play anything like our normal game. 'It's something we shall have to talk about on Mon- day because we are making life difficuot for ourselves. Once again we gave away two goals.' Certainly it was reminis- cent of last season when Exeter's rearguard leaked so many avoidable goals. It's perhaps unfair to sing- le out Martyn Rogers, but the only thing that went in his favour was a first half booking by Bristol Referee Roger Milford for deliberate handball during the first half. Even Manager Godfrey thought Rogers would be sent off for a 'professional foul'. But, then, some of Mr Milford's decisions were about as inconsistent as Exeter's defence, with the excep- tion of Bond between the sticks.

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