A TASTE OF HONEY FROM CITY'S 'B'

NEWPORT 3 EXETER CITY 3

CITY report by TONY PHILLIPS

THREE superbly worked and taken goals gave Exeter City a 3-0 lead after 51 minutes of this afternoon's Division IV game at Newport. Alan Beer (2) and Keith Bowker were the scorers,
but the Welsh club struck twice in six minutes for the game to take a dramatic change.

There was good and bad news for Newport. The good was that Steve Aizlewood was fit again, but their joint leading scorer, Eddie Woods, was out of the side because of a knee injury. Exeter were unchanged, which meant that Lammie Robertson was fit to play, des- pite his damaged nose and a black eye.

Newport hit Exeter hard in the opening minutes with some good and skilful play. Twice Key had to punch crosses away, although on the second occasion he had been fouled.

Back came Exeter, and Wingate nodded the ball in fiercely from the right and Beer had a chance, but he miscued as he swivelled. A defensive slip by Exeter sent Jones free down the left. He pulled the ball back well to Godfrey, but the Newport player completely sliced the ball and was well off target.

Then Hatch did well to head clear when under pressure after White pulled the ball back from the touchline. Exeter had a let off in the ninth minute when following a Parsons header, Hatch cleared off the line with the ball striking the top of the bar. A minute later Exeter went ahead and it was only the second goal conceded at home by Newport in a League match this season. It stemmed from a free kick by Templeman. Wingate headed the ball on to Bowker, who had run well down the right, and the City striker struck a hard, low cross into the Newport area where BEER slid in fractionally ahead of Aizlewood to score with a well-taken chance.

Key had to drop low to his right to take out Godfrey's low shot following a free kick. Then, Exeter struck again with deadly accuracy to in- crease their lead in the 20th minute. Wingate had pressured Elliott into playing the ball over the line midway inside the Newport half. Wingate then took a quick throw in to Beer and he squared the ball from the right to BOWKER whose well-taken first-time attempt when under pressure went in the inside of the post.

Exeter could not have made a better start against a side who have not lost a League match at home this season. It certainly must have pleased manager John Newman, sat watching the match, but who was still feeling the effects of a stomach bug that kept him in bed yesterday. A Robertson free kick almost produced the third goal as Beer moved in with a flashing header that was just wide.

But Beer should have made the game safe in the 34th minute. Again his acceleration beat the Newport defence as he ran on to a through ball by Bowker, but the little striker's shot when unmarked struck the legs of Macey as the goalkeeper narrowed the angle.

A last-second clearance by Hatch gave Newport corner, but this was cleared as the home side put in a short burst of pressure before half-time. It was Beer racing in again with a header from Wingate's cross, and Macey was only just down in time to save on his line. Exeter only needed to keep their heads to become the first team to win a League game at Newport this season. Newport forced an early corner in the second half, but it was easily cleared.

There were ripples of slow handelapping from the home supporters, but nothing could be taken away from Exeter. They had done so well, and this was further emphasised in the 51st minute when the City increased their lead. Jennings made a superb break down the right. He went around the challenge of big Aizlewood and then looked up and rolled the ball back to BEER, who cracked a low shot into the corner.

Newport, however, struck back within a minute to make the score 3-1. Saxton, for once, was out-jumped and Key was left completely exposed and had not chance of stopping PARSONS from scoring. Suddenly the whole game had changed as Newport struck again in the 58th minute.

Jones should have been stopped in a telling run down the right. Instead, he brushed past the players and crossed for PARSONS to head Newport right back into the match. Indeed, Newport had the ball in the net again two minutes later, but this time it did not count as the linesman was flagging for offside. Jennings was booked in the 65th minute for hitting the ball over the bar after the referee had blown for offside. Newport equalised in the 83rd minute through JONES header.

Exeter C. Res. v. Dawlish Town 

Exeter City Res., 2, Dawlish 1.

Green and Jordan were unlucky not to have City two goals up in the first 10 minutes. Green had a great shot in the left corner of the upright after two minutes, and Jordan had a shot for what seemed to be a certain goal, scrambled off the line. After 13 minutes, City's pressure finally told and Jordan hammered a great shot through a ruck of players to the back of the net.

Jordan was the most dangerous forward for Exeter, working hard for everything that came within shooting dis- tance and put City two up after 38 minutes. Half-time score: Exeter City Res. 2, Dawlish 0. Dawlish made feverish at- tempts to retrieve something from the ashes after the inter- val, but the best they could do was a goal by Rasmusson after 75 minutes.