Darlington 2 Exeter City 0

Attendance 1,692

Report by Gordon Hines

I'l' is not difficult to see why Exeter cannot pick up points away from home. Their finishing at Darlington yesterday was so poor they would not have scored even if they had still been playing now. There was no question that they were much the better team and their approach work had Darlington at sea. But when they saw the goalpost it appeared they had their boots on the wrong feet.

Chances came and went with amazing regularity. Virtually every Exeter forward had a chance to find the net, but in the end they were given a lesson by Darlington's 37 year old veteran Bill Atkins. He had two chances and put them both in the back of the net. He showed the coolness and accuracy that Exeter were lacking.

The match started with John Templeman testing the Darlington keeper with a 25-yard shot which was held at the second attempt. Darlington retaliated with Colin Sinclair going just wide as he shot on the run. Tony Morrin managed to block two shots from Steve Holbrook and Eric Young as the home side pushed Exeter back. But most of the first half saw Exeter on the attack. Goalkeeper Martin Burleigh and defender Clive Nattress got in a tangle and the result was almost an own goal.

From the clearance Alan Beer set up a chance for Morrin whose shot was deflected and pushed on to the crossbar by the goalkeeper. Then centre half Jim Giles fired just wide when he went up for a Templeman free kick which was headed on by Robertson. In Lammie a brief counterattack Atkins found Stan Webb with a good cross and Len Bond just managed to finger tip his header away. Exeter were soon on the attack again, only to see Robertson have a goal dis- allowed after 32 minutes when Peter Hatch was pulled up for his challenge on the Darlington goalkeeper.

Keith Bowker missed a great chance just before half time when he headed straight at the goalkeeper from six yards, and he missed two more clear-cut chances after the interval. Giles, who was booked late in the game for a tackle on Colin Sinclair, headed against the bar from a corner as the string of chances mounted. Within a minute of this Darlington took the lead. The unfortunate Giles was out-witted by Atkins going for an Eric Young free kick and the Darlington man hit a first time shot past Bond. Exeter could easily have cancelled out the goals but again Bowker, then Beer, failed to find the net with only the goalkeeper to beat. The misses proved costly for in the 79th minute Atkins was left on his own and as Bond hesitated lobbed the ball into the top corner.