SATURDAY 4th DECEMBER 1976

CITY WERE SIMPLY AWFUL


Exeter City 0 Doncaster Rovers 2

Exeter City team: Key, Templeman, Hooker, Hore, Clapham, Hatch, Weeks (Jordan), Kellow, Robertson, Beer, Jennings.

Doncaster Rovers team: Peacock, Brookes, Bailey, Robinson, Uzelac, Taylor, Miller, Murray, O'Callaghan, Kitchen,

Laidlaw Scorers: Doncaster: O'Callaghan (2).

Attendance: 2,891

It seems to have become an annual event with Exeter City. Just when it appears they are well placed and poised to make something happen, they flop. There can be no excuses, for Exeter were simply awful as they gave their worst display of the season.

The whole performance was devoid of ideas and their passing was simply atrocious. Doncaster probably couldn't have believed how bad a team they were facing. This was a truly shocking display by the Grecians, a team defending an unbeaten home record. It was Doncaster Rovers' first away victory for 16 games. They showed far more imagination than City.

The visitors scoring hero was Brendan O'Callaghan, with goals in the 30th and 62nd minutes. He was given room in the air to power in a header for his first goal, and then the City defence failed to stop him weave through two players for the second.


SATURDAY 18th DECEMBER 1976

THE LIGHTS WENT OUT AT ALDERSHOT

Fourth Division Aldershot 1 Exeter City 0 (Match abandoned - floodlight failure).

Aldershot team Johnson, Howitt, Wooler, Crosby, Mancini, Jopling, Walton, Morrisey, Howarth, McGregor, Brodie

Exeter City team: Key, Templeman, Hore, Morrin (Weeks), Saxton, Hatch, Hodge, Kellow, Robertson, Beer, Jennings. Scorers: Aldershot: Howarth.

It all began on a wet, miserable December afternoon. While thousands of shoppers were making sure that the last Christmas presents had been snapped up, inside the Recreation Ground the traditional Saturday afternoon crowd were warming up for what was a crucial match in the Fourth Division.

Exeter were not playing well. They were a goal down with only three minutes to go, when all of a sudden the ground was in total darkness. Only the glow of the Christmas illuminations in the packed streets more than 200 yards away could be picked out.

The floodlights had failed. The match referee gave electricians 30 minutes to "resume normal service" but they failed to beat the deadline, so the match was abandoned.

The only goal of the game came from Aldershot's Jack Howarth in the 60th minute. Exeter goalkeeper Richard Key had made a number of good saves in the first half to keep the Shots at bay. Unfortunately City lost Tony Morrin after just 18 minutes with a pulled thigh muscle and Peter Hatch was left to hobble through the game with damaged knee ligaments.