Skipper loses a fiver as teenager scores first goal

LING'S A GOOD BET FOR CITY

Report by By Trina Lake (echo sport) 

Exeter City 1 (Ling)
Halifax 0

Injured Exeter City skipper Jim McNichol has never been more pleased to lose a fiver than he was on Saturday when Martin Ling scored his first ever goal in senior football to earn City another three valuable Fourth Division points.

McNichol, who missed the game against Halifax with a calf strain, had a £5 bet with the 18-year- old Londoner on Friday afternoon that the youngster would not score his first league goal.

"I suppose I can't com- plain. It's taken him nearly 60 games to get it," said the big Scot.

It was in fact Ling's first goal in 53 games in the Third and Fourth Divisions, coming in the 20th minute of an often scrappy game that City dominated for long periods.

"The ball just came to me on the edge of the box and I swung my left foot at it which is pretty unusual. I usually only use that one for standing on," he said. "But when I realised I had scored I didn't know what to do," he laughed.

Ling paid tribute to the unselfish work of striker Trevor Morgan, who brings the young winger into the game constantly with his intelligent passing out to the right. "Trev has been a big help. He's always looking for me out on the wing. I have to do a lot more work on my final ball into the penalty area to give him some better service in return," said Ling. He intends to spend time tomorrow working on his crosses, a factor of City's game that let them down badly on Saturday when they had Halifax on the rack.

Manager Jim Iley was pleased on the whole, however, with the win, espe- cially considering he fielded a team with five teenagers in it.

"It was a good, grinding, hard performance. It was the sort of game that earlier in the season we would prob- ably have lost or at least let them come back for a draw.

"At times we played some decent football. There were little things there today that have probably been brought out in us by playing teams like Aston Villa and Luton," he said.

Iley reserved special praise for former skipper Keith Viney whom he described as: "The best player on the field."

Viney switched from left back to the centre of City's defence in place of McNichol and did a superb job of mar- shalling the the youngsters around him.

He was flanked by three teenagers in Nick Marker, Graeme Kirkup, and Teague debut boy Phil King and was always on hand if any of them got into trouble.

"Keith set a fine example today. He's a tremendous professional," said Iley.

Viney's job was made easier by the encouraging composure of his young colleagues and Halifax's lack of pace and ideas up front.

The Yorkshire side enjoyed a good opening spell and Adrian Shaw flashed a shot just past the post in the 16th minute to warn City against further slackness.

But they were silenced by Ling's goal. A free kick on the right was only partially cleared and Ling, waiting on the edge of the penalty area, whipped in a shot through a crowd of players that squeezed just inside Paddy Roche's left hand post.

The former Manchester United goalkeeper came to Halifax's rescue six minutes later when a good inter- change between Morgan and Ling sent Morgan through on the left side of the penalty area but Roche rushed out to block with his legs for a corner. Symon Burgher, who made up City's teenage quintet, volleyed way over the cross bar from the corner.

A spectacular overhead kick from Morgan went too high in the 27th minute and Ray Pratt volleyed wide in the 30th minute as City tried to play true to Iley's pledge of all-out attack.

Jeff Cook had Halifax's only shot on target in the entire game. It came in the 37th minute when the ex Plymouth Argyle man worked himself into a good position but couldn't find a shot to match and Jeff Wood saved comfortably.

Twelve seconds into the second half City were appealing for a penalty when Paul Kendall brought down Morgan but Coventry referee Keren Barrett ruled the foul was outside the box and Pratt put Viney's free kick straight at Roche.

Viney was denied the chance to cap a superb performance with a goal in the 51st minute by a linesman's flag after he had put the ball in the net from Morgan's nod down.

City should really have increased their lead in the 53rd minute when Kirkup's fine through ball sent Morgan scampering clear but instead of going on into the penalty area and trying a shot, he attempted to curl a pass into Pratt's path which Roche read easily and intercepted.

Pratt was almost celebrat- ing his 18th goal of the season in the 59th minute when he hooked a mammoth Viney free kick towards the top left hand corner of the net but Roche pulled off a stunning one-handed save to keep the ball out.

Pratt stole a march on the Halifax defence again in the 63rd minute but was perhaps a little ambitious in shooting from a difficult angle and ended up wedging the ball into the stop netting high above and behind the goal.

Halifax, who had Ces Podd booked for tripping Morgan, had very little to offer in reply. Their most threatening move in the second half came after 69 minutes when Simon Lowe beat King and drilled in a cross that flew over Barry Gallagher's head.

Leigh Barnard, who often had trouble coping with a bumpy and dead pitch that was particularly bad on the "Cowshed" side of the ground, squandered a great chance to end the game on a high note.

He bounded down the wing after a Morgan clearance, did everything right in beat- ing Kendall, but with only Roche left between him and his third goal for the club he somehow managed to put the ball wide of the target from seven yards.

The teams

Exeter City: Wood, Kirkup, Viney, Marker, King, Ling, Bur- gher, Morgan, Pratt, Barnard.

Halifax Town: Roche, Podd, Watson, Kendall, Shaw, Knill, Cook, Little, Lowe, Gallagher, Ward. Sub: Sanderson (on for Cook, 80).

Attendance: 2,549.