Broddle opens the floodgates

Pop! It's seven up

Record-breaker Cammack a right Stevie wonder

Match Report by BOB STEELS

SCUNTHORPE UTD 7

• Broddle 8 mins
• Whitehead 17 mins
• Cammack (pen) 38 mins
• Graham 44 mins
• Graham 47 mins
• Cammack 54 mins
• Brolly 64 mins
  

EXETER CITY .1

• Morgan ............41 mins
  

Attendance: 1,566.

SCUNTHORPE saw one new club record created and just missed equalling another as they blitzed lowly Exeter at the Old Show Ground last night. The visitors simply had no answer as United tore them apart in defence to score seven times in the opening 64 mins. It took them to within one goal of equalling their best ever League performance an 8-1 victory against Luton Town in the Third Division, back in 1965. But the record that did go was the individual scoring tally, with striker Steve Cammack snapping up a brace to beat the 95-goal target set by Barrie Thomas again back in the 1960's. It was a sparkling performance of attacking football by the Iron, who were hungry for even more, and were only denied by some good work by goalkeeper Jeff Wood. Wood was the one man who stood between Exeter and a double-figure defeat as Jim Iley's men suffered the effects of a 300 mile trip north for the match. They were caught cold at the start as Scunthorpe struck twice in the opening 17 minutes, sent reeling by two more goals just befroe half-time, and completely flattened by three more in a 19-minute spell immediately after the interval. United were simply in charge throughout every facet of the game, solid at the back, businesslike in the middle of the park, and finding a devastating finishing touch up front. They had too much pace, power and purpose for a Devon side who only last Saturday collected their first away victory of the season in a 3-1 scoreline at Chester. The Iron were anxious to make amends after their 1-0 defeat at Blackpool at the weekend their first defeat in nine games though even they could not have dreamed of achieving it in such startling fashion. The only pity was that there were only 1,566 fans there to witness the onslaught which must put Frank Barlow's men in line for the March award for the Fourth Division's
highest scorers.

No. 1 The floodgates opened after just eight minutes when goalkeepe Paul Gregory launched a long clearance deep into the Exeter half, and Julian Broddle outpaced the visitors' defence to hit a crisp left foot shot past the diving Wood. No. 2. After Wood has saved well from Mike Lester, United struck again in the 17th minute when cen- tral defender Alan Whitehead rose majestically at the far post to head in a left wing corner from Mike Brolly.
No. 3. A 38th minute shot from Cammack was handled just inside the box by central defender Jim McNichol, and Cammack himself stepped up to hammer the spot-kick con- fidently past Wood for his 96th goal for the club and establish a new scoring record.
No. 4. A 44th minute corner from Brolly was cleared only to the edge of the box where Dave Hill and Whitehead combined to provide an opening for Tommy Graham to score with a diving header from close range.
No. 5. Two minutes after the interval and there was still no respite for Exeter as Broddle crossed low into the box from the right and Graham raced in at the near post to tee the ball up for himself before hammering a shot into the roof of the net from six yards.
No. 6. Fifty-four minutes gone on the clock and Cammack took advantage of some hesitant defensive play to meet a long, high ball into the box and crack a right foot shot just inside goalkeeper Wood's left-hand post.
No. 7. United completed the scoring in the 64th minute with perhaps the best goal of the game when Brolly let fly with a 25-yard free-kick which whistled past the despairing dive of the un- fortunate Wood before bulging the back of the net.

That was the end of the goal spree, but not the end of the action, as the Iron continued to press forward in search of more. Cammack was denied a hat-trick by a linesman's flag for offside as he arrived at the far post to drill home a low cross from Brolly. Graham, too, was thwarted of is third goal when first a far post header went straight into the arms of Wood, and then when a close-range shot was splendidly saved by the Exeter 'keeper low to his left. Hill also forced a fine save from Wood with the visitors' defence in total disarray in a match they will want quickly to forget. City found themselves overwhelmed in defence, outplayed in the middle of the park, and able to offer little support to their two front-runners Trevor Morgan and Ray Pratt. Morgan did at least salvage a consolation goal for them in the 41st minute when he capitalised on a mistake by Pointon to force the ball past Gregory from close range. That made the scoreline 3-1 and the eventual result might have been different had midfield man Martin Ling done better just a few moments later when he broke through, only to see his goal-bound shot deflected away by the outstretched legs of Gregory. But Scunthorpe were in no mood to be denied, and even the loss of striker Ray Pratt at half-time through injury, made little difference for the visitors. They brought on substitute Forbes Phillipson- Masters as an extra line of defence, yet continued to be torn apart by Scunthorpe's attacking waves. One United man who did not manage to finish on the scoresheet was midfield man Lester, who spent a short spell at Exeter earlier in his career, but he and Graham did so much to keep the Iron pushing forward throughout the game. The only black spot for the home side was when they lost full-back Terry Lees through injury early in the second half, yet substitute Chris Cowling, normally a striker, proved a more than capable deputy.

Scunthorpe: Gregory. Les (Cowling 64 mins). Green, Whitehead, Pointon, Brolly, Graham, Lester, Hill, Cammack, Broddle.

Exeter Wood, Kirkup, McNichol, Marker, King, Ling, Smith, O'Shea, Viney, Pratt (Phillipson-Masters 45 mins), Morgan.

Caution: Kirkup (Exeter).

Referee: Malcolm Heath (Stoke).