Halifax v Exeter City

SATURDAY 11th FEBRUARY 1967.

HALIFAX TOWN 0
White; Russell, Bodell, Smith, Holt, Lee; Taylor, Hutchinson, Parks, Atkins McCarthy.

EXETER CITY 0
Smout; Embery, Ley; Wilkinson, Harford, Thompson; Stuckey, 'Blain(Smyth), Ryan, Elliott, Smith,

Attendance 6,775,

The soccer provided by Exeter City was as threadbare as the Shay pitch at Halifax, City had obviously gone for a point and for much of the game had eight or nine men in defenceThe two best scoring efforts came from full back George Ley, which shows just how disinterested City were going onto the attack, City played the defensive game perfectly and full marks must go to John Smout who dealt adequately with everything that the Halifax forwards could throw at him, City rarely troubled the Halifax defence and Bruce Stuckey, Roger Smith, and Jim Ryan were hardly in the game. Cecil Smyth replaced the injured Jimmy Blain and also dropped back into the City defence. Goals were now pretty remote, certainly as far as City were concerned, Halifax should have scored twice in the last 15 minutes Hutchinson incredably lofted the ball over the City bar from three yards, and with only seconds to go, Smout saved a low drive from Taylor, City drew their eight game away of the season, but one has to feel sorry for the Shay spectators who witnessed a dull game partly due to Exeter's ultra defensive tactics.

Match Summary 

Exeter City became only the sixth side this season to leave the "Shay" with a point when they held out for a draw in this game, which was a tough 90 minutes of football. Halifax 0 Exeter 0. Apart from the first fifteen minutes it was mainly a hard defensive battle for Exeter. But they survived, and Halifax failed to score a goal at home for the first time in 13 Fourth Division matches.

WESTERN LEAGUE.

EXETER CITY 0
Jones; Goad, Nash; Mustard, Balson, Buckingham; Godfrey, Kennedy, Wingate, Baglow, Richardson,

BIDEFORD 2,
Berry; Burnett, Allen; May, Whitfield, Gauntlett; Stevenson, Peapell, Bennett, Bond, Chappell,

The visit of Bideford to Exeter meant a homecoming for the visitors forward trio of Dennis Peapell, Graham Bond and Peter Bennett, all former City players. It  was Peapell who put the visitors into a 10th minute lead. A defensive error allowed Bennett to make it 2-0 after 38 minutes, very little was seen of Exeter as an attacking force, It was all too easy for Bideford,