Saturday October 20th.
3rd Division South:-
Swindon Town 3 Exeter City 5
at Swindon.

For the third game in succession Exeter City had an unchanged team out today, the team which had lost to Brighton and beaten Gillingham. Swindon's new manager, Bert Head, the old Torquay United centre half, made one change from the team which drew with Crystal Palace last week, bringing back Edwards at inside left after injury. The weather had clouded over, and there was a strong wind blowing the length of the pitch.
SWINDON TOWN
Chandler
Hunt Fox
Cross Whyte Pembury
Richards Gibson Owen Edwards Williams
Referee, Mr C.G.Porter, of Taunton.
Rees Currie Mitchell Thomas Buckle Porteous Harvey John
Ferrier Doyle
Hunter
EXETER CITY

Swindon kicked off against the wind and Harvey cleared a centre from Richards in the first minute. But the City made ground on the left, and after the first centre had been blocked Rees directed the ball into the middle again for Currie to shoot well wide.

TWO GOALS FOR THE CITY.
Exeter held sway for a while but in the eighth minute Swindon almost took the lead. Owen raced on to a long pass and eluded Harvey, Hunter having to come out of his goal and fall at Owen's feet. Richards came along to head in the rebound, but the ball hit the prostrate Exeter goalkeeper and rebounded again. Hunter was injured, but he recovered, and almost instantly Exeter went ahead. Ferrier started the move with a pass to Rees. Rees transferred the ball quickly to Currie, who went careering into the penalty area and passed Pembury before cracking a lot and powerful shot just to the left of Chandler and just inside the post. Hunter and Harvey then cleared two more Swindon moves, and in the ninth minute the City went further ahead. Currie took advantage of a miskick by Whyte and passed to Thomas. The inside right tricked his man neatly and had his shot deflected by a defender to Buckle, who shot first-time into the roof of the net. This was a great start for Exeter, but Swindon tried hard, and Doyle and Harvey both had to make hurried clearances.

GOAL FOR SWINDON.
But in the twelfth minute Swindon scored. Edwards headed the ball into the middle for Owen to find the net from close range. Spurred on by this success Swindon attacked again, Doyle and Porteous clearing at the last second when a goal seemed more than likely. A corner gained by Rees and Currie brought relief, and then the City scored another goal in the 18th minute. The flag kick from Rees was headed on by Mitchell, and Buckle smashed the ball into the Swindon net with a first-time drive. Then Rees hit another first-timer over the bar. Danger again loomed up for the City when Swindon had a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area, but John came to the rescue with a timely clearance. Swindon again nearly reduced their arrears when Hunter came out of his al to block a shot from Gibson on his knee. Edwards was unfortunate as he dashed in to head only inches the wrong side of the post. Swindon were now throwing everything into attack, but when Exeter got back to their opponents' half their accuracy and speed of passing and their quickness to the ball had the home team worried. Thomas, darting in, shot brilliantly, and the ball scraped the top of the crossbar.
CURRIE, THOMAS, AND EDWARDS.
This was Swindon's spell of supremacy, and they had the City battling hard in defence for quite a while. Hunter made one magnificent save from Richards. This really was becoming a match of cut-and-thrust football and after Swindon had been working so hard for a goal it was the City who scored again. Buckle hit a long ball through the middle, and Currie nipped into the space between two defenders, rounded Chandler as the goalkeeper came out and placed the ball into the empty net. This, the fourth Exeter goal after 25 minutes, was another success for the "Mitchell Plan." Swindon just could not get used to the idea of two inside-forwards up the field with the centre-forward laying back. And when Currie ran through again the advance, in the 37th minute, was responsible for Exeter's fifth goal. Currie was stopped, but not before he had passed to Rees, who switched it neatly to Buckle. Another ground pass, this time to Thomas, whose shot from eight yards was a winner all the way. John came up to test Chandler with a real "pile-driver," and the goalkeeper then had to get his hands to a dropping shot from Rees. Although they had let in five goals Swindon were by no means finished, and after some more hard football the seventh goal of this remarkable game was scored in the 39th minute. Edwards ran on to a through pass and hooked the ball into the net as
Hunter tried vainly to reach it. That goal had caught the City defence napping, and with practically the last kick of the first half came goal number eight. The scorer again was Edwards. John then booted off the line with Hunter beaten and the whistle blew for half-time with the score:

SWINDON TOWN 3 EXETER CITY 5.

It is likely that there was an "inquest" in the City's dressing room at half-time, because although the forwards had scored five goals the defence had let in three not particularly good ones. Gibson drove just wide after an Exeter move had been halted, but that was enough to get the crowd on their toes again. The spectators, especially the small band of Exeter supporters, were going wild with excitement. After Swindon had dominated the first few minutes it was the City who almost scored again. First Thomas just failed to connect in front of goal, then Chandler riskily touched out a lob from Porteous just wide of a couple of the City forwards.

THRILL A MINUTE
Chandler had to dive to hold a shot from Currie at the base of a post, and a faulty back-pass from Whyte was almost reached by Currie. A desperate tackle by Doyle stopped Williams, and there were thrills at each end at the rate of almost one a minute. Exeter, whose defenders in this half were playing more like themselves, were getting on top again, and after Buckle had had another shot put over the bar by Chandler, Rees had a close range drive blocked on the goal-line by Hunt. Then Currie ran through the defence, but from fifteen yards shot over the bar. A slip by Harvey almost let Edwards in, but John and Ferrier covered up. The second half was being fought out every bit as hard and every bit as fast as the first, but this time the goals were missing. But another one almost came when Hunter had to fist out a clever lob from Williams. The ball ran loose, and Porteous and Ferrier finally cleared from the scrimmage which developed in the goalmouth. Play was now becoming a little too robust, and the referee spoke to Harvey, Ferrier, Owen, and Richards as the exchanges became a little too heated. Hunter then held a thirty yards' rising drive from Owen, and play was held up while Mitchell received attention. Thomas nearly got through as the match sprang to life again near the end, and then at the other end Hunter had to fling himself at the feet of several Swindon forwards as they tried to barge through. Although Swindon tried desperately hard for another goal in the final minutes it was Thomas who came the nearest to scoring for Exeter.

TOO FANTASTIC TO BE TRUE.
This match was almost too fantastic to be true. Eight goals were scored and all of them in an amazing first half. For the City the "Mitchell Plan" paid off to a five goal tune though after leading 5-1 they were brought back to 5-3 by fighting Swindon. In the second half Exeter's defence played well and kept Swindon out, and the forwards, while still dangerous, had lost that goal touch.

THREE GOALS FOR EXETER CITY RESERVES.

After ten minutes of fairly even play in which both defences covered well Willis scored from well outside the penalty area. He took up a pass from the wing, slipped a defender, and crashed the ball into the net past Sewell. A minute later Hereford were level. Exeter players protested when a penalty was awarded against them for an infringement in a scrimmage on the edge of the area. Although Bell got a hand to the ball Lloyd's shot spun into the net. Again the City players protested but the goal was allowed. Exeter laid on plenty of pressure and Willis did the trick again after 25 minutes, scoring with a lob over the head of Sewell from 18 yards' range. Half-time:-
City Reserves 2 Hereford 1.

Houghton scored Exeter's third goal ten minutes after the resumption, following a corner kick.
City Reserves 3 Hereford 1.

City Reserves:- Bell; Foley, Marsh; Houghton, Packer, Major; Grinney, Divers, Beer, Willis, Phoenix.
Hereford: Sewell; Layton, Wade; Lloyd, Niblett, Chilvers; Bowen, Squires, Clayton, Williams, Lewis.

The City Reserves were fast and aggressive and their passes were well on the mark. Divers and Phoenix both showed greatly improved form and Bell handled the ball well whenever he was called upon.

POOLE v EXETER CITY.
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 24TH: FRIENDLY, FLOODLIGHTS USED.

Poole Town's unbeaten run of ten floodlit friendly games, mostly in opposition to Football League clubs, ended on Wednesday night, when Exeter City had a fairly easy 3-0 win. The Grecians' full Third Division team drew a crowd of over three and a half thousand, but they could not have been very impressed with the play in the first half. Although the defence gave little away the forwards looked haphazard, and showed none of the form that has netted them nine goals in the last two league matches.

Poole: Conway; Rickaby, Drinkwater; Kell, Allen, Cumner; McMurray, Pawley, Hobbs, Phillips, Oosthuizen.
Exeter City: Hunter; Doyle, Ferrier; John, Harvey, Porteous; Buckle, Thomas, Mitchell, Currie, Rees.

Straight after the interval, however, the City clicked into the goal scoring form of recent league matches. In the 49th minute Thomas scored the first goal with a shot deflected by a defender. Eight minutes later Buckle scored the second, and four minutes after that Thomas notched the third. Cumner, the former Arsenal player, was injured in the first half and replaced by Macdonald after the interval. Houghton and Foley made the journey as the City's spare men, but neither played.

• Honiton Town Council are sending a letter of congratulation to Maurice Setters, the West Bromwich Albion and former Exeter City footballer, who is making a big name for himself, and who scored the first goal for the England Youth International team v Hungary Youth Team earlier this week. Setters, who is a native of Honiton has, according to the Mayor, Mr W.J.R.Board, "brought honour to himself, the council, and the town."
  
  
  
• It is understood that Exeter City have received tentative offers from Southampton and Bournemouth Athletic regarding the possible transfer of Graham Rees, the City's 19-years old outside left. Mr Bates, the Southampton manager has said: "If ever Exeter want to part with Rees we would like to know."