Exeter City 1-2 Oxford United 

4th November 1981.

Crisis talks for City.

Match Report by Martin Dean. 

EXETER CITY were staging a no holds barred inquest at the club's training headquarters today in an effort to prevent their already crumbling season from collapsing altogether. Manager, Brian Godfrey ordered his players to forfeit their normal day off after seeing his side hit rock bottom in last night's 2-1 home defeat against Oxford United.

And he has made it plain that he wants some straight talking from them today as they attempt to search out the reasons for their mediocre form this season. "They are going to have to start being critical of their team mates," said Godfrey. "Because they are letting each other down at the moment." 

Last night's defeat does not constitute a crisis in itself. Indeed, until Oxford upset the apple cart, City had been steadily picking up points from their league programme. But they have done so without solving the fundamental problems in their game. Just where those problems lie is perhaps best illustrated by the chilling statistic which reveals that they have not kept a single clean sheet in their 18 matches so far. But, as Godfrey has discovered, it is one thing to know what is going wrong and quite another to put it right. Just how worried the city manager is about the way things are going can be gauged from the fact that it was fully 50 minutes before he emerged from the dressing rooms after last night's game. Godfrey has never been one to dodge the after-match inquest with the Press, but last night he came closer to it than ever before. His initial reaction was to announce that he has no comment to make because he was afraid that he might say things he would regret. He later relented, but he was still reluctant to reveal the targets of his anger.

"One or two players could certainly have helped out more than they did tonight," he said. "We made Oxford look the better side. "I am having the players in for a frank discussion. We shall have our say and they will be allowed to have theirs." But if today's talking fails to bring results, Godfrey has a chilling warning for the players who do not pull their weight. "We have to start taking stock of the situation," he said. "If the players here cannot do it, then maybe we shall have to get some who can." Godfrey's frustration is understandable. His side produced a few tantalising flashes of what they are capable of last night, but generally gave the impression of being prepared to settle for second best. The changes which has been made in the City line-up, partly through choice and partly through necessity, had a rather negative effect. New signing Peter Shaw looked like what he was-a player who had met his new team mates for the first time only 36 hours before. Goalkeeper Ian Main, desperate to prove that he has been unfairly treated, did his cause little good, although to be fair there must be a slight question about whether he was fit enough to play in the first place. He has been carrying a foot injury, which prevented him taking any place kicks last night but with Len Bond in an even worse state, Godfrey had little choice but to put him in. Although Main felt that the injury would not impair his goalkeeping, it obviously did little for his confidence, and he had to rely on a couple of excellent clear- ances from Martyn Rogers and Lee Roberts to prevent him from conceeding two goals in the opening 25 minutes. As it was City survived an uncertain opening to take the lead eight minutes before half time, but even then they had to virtually repeat each part of the movement before getting it right. A twice taken free kick eventually produced a shot for the overworked John Delve which was deflected straight to Roberts. 

Roberts then had two attempts at his shot, the second of them planting the ball firmly into the bottom corner. Oxford always looked the better of the two sides and it was really no surprise when they turned the tables in the second half. It was their 18-year-old midfield player Andy Thomas who sparked off the revival. He had been well shadowed by Steve Davey in the first half, but when Martyn Rogers went off with a head wound and Davey was switched to right back, Thomas was able to take full advantage of his new found freedom. He snatched the equaliser in the 65th minute after threading his way past a couple of static defenders before firing in a shot from the edge of the box. 12 minutes later he made the most of a chapter of errors in the City defence to grab Oxford's second. Roberts presented him with the opportunity by giving him the ball and poor Main compounded the mistake by allowing the shot to pass through his hands.