POMPEY 2, EXETER 0

Report by Mike Neasom.

Pompey gave Fratton's largest crowd of the season the result they wanted... but precious little else last night. Scoreline apart, this 90 minutes of frenzied energy expenditure in the driving rain will be forgotten in a hurry. Quite simply it was a sub-standard affair with effort in plenty but with skill at a minimum and error the dominant feature. And, apparently, it left manager Frank Burrows a long way short of satisfaction, al though the win was the third in a row without a goal conceded. Pompey's boss could hardly have waited to see his satura ted men back to their dressing room before beating everyone to the briefest Press conference of the season. "I've nothing to say at all that must speak volumes,"
"I've nothing to say at all that must speak volumes," was the greeting and farewell to journalists and with that he was gone.

SPARED

Presumably he had departed to mull over the events of a night when Pompey accepted Exeter's defensive blunders- and were spared for their own shortcomings at the back. Had Exeter's finishing been as sharp as Billy Rafferty and Jeff Hemmerman's in accepting their first-half chances, then there would have been no. three points for Pompey to celebrate. For in the second half Exeter were by far the more dangerous side but their finishing was awful and when they got that right they ran up against Alan Knight's alert reflexes, So for the third time in seven days Pompey got away with a clean sheet. It left Brian Godfrey, Exeter's manager, in a mood of philosophical depression. "Last season we were the better side here for most of the match and were beaten by five; this time we were much the better side in the second half and got nothing. "We gave them two goals and at the moment we just don't seem able to defend at all; we haven't had a clean sheet all season. "We had the chances to have drawn if not won, but our finishing wasn't that hot either we've a lot of work to do."

FATAL

And so, too, have Pompey on this performance. There was generally a lack of conviction about them. Defensively, in particular, they were never at case-and a repeat of this on the Loftus Road high-speed carpet next Tuesday could be fatal to their League Cup hopes. Midfield only rarely dominated and a tendency to be caught offside blunted all too many promising movements. After a minute's silence before the kick off in memory of Bill Shankly, Pompey survived their first scare in the second minute. Tony Kellow's back header across the face of their goal caught the defence unprepared and Mike Lester's header hit a post and was scrambled away. Quickly though, there was an escape at the other end as Joe Cooke's faulty back pass let Steve Berry in to drag his shot across the face of goal.

POUNCED

As Pompey began to exert their greatest command of the night, Lester was booked in the 12th minute for a bad tempered swing at John McLaughlin after he had lost the ball. But although Pompey ran and chased there was little real menace about their work until in the 24th minute a double dose of defensive weakness was punished by Rafferty's sharpness. Cooke made the first error with a poor clearing header which Bobby Doyle intercepted and flighted to the edge of the area where winger Peter Rogers failed to control it. Rafferty pounced on the error, worked his way to the right and angled home his fourth goal of the season. Exeter might have equalized twice in the next seven minutes but Dave Pullar's shot de- flected over the bar off defender and then Rogers headed wide. The night's second booking came in the 36th minute when Pompey old boy Steve Davey crudely crashed Chris Kamara down. Twice more Exeter threatened but each time Peter Ellis rescued Pompey and then in the 41st minute a slick second goal tightened their grip. Doyle's clinically struck long pass down the right at last sprung Exeter's offside trap, Kamara loped after it and when the cross came, Hemmerman at the near post whisked it home. Pompey's work became even less coherent after the break and it was Exeter's turn to make most of the running only to betray themselves with their finishing

BOOBED

Pullar was the first to boob, completely miskicking in front of goal, but then Knight saved sharply from Lester as his defence was caught flatfooted, and from Pullar. Pompey brought on Alan Rogers in place of Doyle in the 72nd minute but it was a move which worked no great change to the game's pattern as Exeter continued to pose a largely hollow threat. Yet in the last ten minutes Pompey might have doubled their score. First a dreadful pass by Frank Prince sent Rafferty surging away but his shot squirmed through Len Bond's hands and into the side netting. Then a minute from the enc Hemmerman gained possession inside his own half, pushed a pass to Rafferty, ran and took the return, rounded Bond and eased his angled shot off target, but Exeter deserved that reprieve at least.

Pompey 
Knight, McLaughlin, Viney, Kamara, Aizlewood, Ellis, Hemmerman, Doyle (Rogers 72), Rafferty, Berry, Tait. 

Exeter 
Bond, Davey, Sparrow, Lester, Cooke, Lee Roberts, Peter Rogers, Prince, Kellie, Delve, Pullar, Sub. Phil Roberts. 

Referee:- Mr D Clark (Birmingham)

Attendance:-  10,101*

*The attendance  was given as 10101 in Exeter City match programmes but 10989 in contemporary match report.