8th January 1983

Gillingham v Exeter City 

Neville stars in a thriller

EXETER and Gillingham finished with honours even after staging an eight goal thriller of a match which would not have disgraced the FA Cup for entertainment value.

Exeter showed tremendous courage and determination in fighting back after they were rocked by two early goals but then found Gilling- ham displaying the same qualities as they them- selves clawed their way back after being 4-2 down with 51 minutes gone. The man mainly responsible for Exeter turning the game upside down after those early reverses was Steve Neville who hit a hat trick, an achievement then matched by Gillingham's Dean White. Exeter had no time to settle down as Gillingham laun- ched early raids and their defence had problems which resulted in the concession of two goals after seven and nine minutes. Mark Weatherly shot the first, his tenth of the season, after a cross by Paddy Powell, and White got the second following a cross from Mickey Adams. Exeter instead of being deterred by these shocks hit back strongly and after 15 minutes reduced the arrears through Stan McEwan, who shot in from close range after a 20 yards drive by Keith Viney had rebounded from the cross bar. That goal gave Exeter just the confidence booster they needed and they began to play with more purpose and determination with Neville causing trouble up front. After 30 minutes Neville snatched the equaliser with a brilliant right footed shot into the corner of the net and two minutes before half time he gave Exeter the lead with another fine shot going in off a post. Weatherly had also been injured in getting Gillingham's first goal and their substitute Ken Price took over. After 51 minutes Exeter stormed two goals clear as Neville was played clean through the middle to hit the ball past the advancing Ron Hillyard. If anyone thought that Ex- eter were in the driving seat they were soon proved wrong because four minutes later Gillingham had hauled themselves up off the floor when White headed in after Tony Cascarino had flicked on a long throw from Steve Bruce. There was no let up now as both goalkeepers were called into action to make brave saves and after 65 minutes Aidan Gibson was booked for a foul. A minute later came a penalty to Gillingham when Len Bond was adjudged to have brought down Bruce but the spot kick was de- layed while both players received attention from the re- spective trainers. Fortunately for Gillingham White kept his nerve and eventually smashed the ball home from the spot to level it at 4-4.

Result 
Gillingham 4 (Weatherly, White 3)
Exeter City 4 (McEwan, Neville 3)

Exeter
Bond, Sparrow, Viney, Harle, Marker, McEwan, Neville, Rogers, P., Gibson, Rogers, M., Pullar

Attendance 2,970