EXETER CITY 0
BURNLEY 2
Alan Taylor, Derek Parker

Match Report by Trina Lake

EXETER CITY manager Colin Appleton read the riot act to his forlorn players for over an hour after Saturday's grim home defeat by Burnley.

The dressing room inquest went on nearly as long as the match and the players eventually emerged with heads hung low, their ears ringing from an Appleton roasting. The City boss will be away scouting all this week, catching up with the team for their last two away of the season at Scunthorpe tomorrow night and Preston on Saturday. "I had to get a few things sorted out before I went. There were a few players out there who let everybody down today," he said. But the only way he can effectively make his point to the guilty parties is by drop- ping them and with such a small squad there is very little chance of that. Burnley, strong and dangerous on the break, won with goals from Alan Taylor (20 minutes) and Derek Parker (48 minutes). It was a typically scrappy end-of-season affair with Burnley's greater determi- nation carrying them to a Fourth Division double over City. They survived a first half barrage, scored against the run of play, and took firm grip after the break to deny City the chance of overtaking them in the table. City made a positive start with Steve Harrower looking particularly menacing with his tricky runs down the left flank. Unfortunately though most of their best early chances fell to the man who seems to have most trouble hitting a sitting target Danny Keough. The young midfielder works so hard to create chances and get into scoring positions but his shooting hasn't really improved all season. He and Martin Ling, struggling for consistency these days both went close to to an early breakthrough for City but it was the "cucumber cool" Taylor provided an who immaculate demonstration of how to take chances. Burnley, adeptly soaking up pressure, suddenly burst out of their own penalty area and with one precision pass were on their way to an opening goal. Ray Deakin sent a pinpoint 50-yard ball diagonally into Taylor's path, the sharp striker beat covering defender Aidan McCaffery with embarrassing ease and stroked his shot past the advancing John Shaw for goal No 20 this season. Taylor's intelligent running caused City problems all afternoon and what Appleton wouldn't give to be able to link up with the free-scoring forward who served him so well at Hull City. The shock of conceding a goal against the run of play did not appear to dent City's confidence too much for the rest of the half. Gary Jackson had a 30th minute deflected for a cor- ner and another of his stinging drives hit out-of-touch Alan Crawford. Keough also had a better long rang effort well saved by Joe Neenan. There shades of were shades Everton all over again in the 37th minute when Crawford almost crashed in on a Vince Overson mistake. As he did at Goodison Park and Neville Southall stood between him and glory, so Crawford hesitated again on Saturday with a bouncing ball that invited an early lob and Neenan was able to save. All those missed first half opportunities took on new significance three minutes into the second half when Parker struck to make it 2-0. Nick Marker's dreadful back pass gave Burnley the opening and it was the ever-alert Taylor, who two Wembley goals won the FA Cup for West Ham in 1975. reading the error to best advantage. He challenged the exposed Shaw and the ball ran loose to Parker who sidefooted it into an empty net. City heads quite definitely dropped after that an lively winger Neil Grewcock wasted three good chances to bury them completely. He was off target with two shots and had another well-saved by Shaw who also made a fine stop to deny Ashley Hoskin. Phil King came on for Crawford in the last 15 minutes when City might have snatched some consolation from this depressing game. Jackson had a fine drive which went just wide after neat footwork from Ling, King should have done bet- ter with a simple far post header from Jim McNichol's cross, and Tony Kellow had a left foot shot well saved by Neenan in the last minute. On Saturday's showing, Appleton has some serious thinking to do before decid- ing who is retained for next season and a week away from St James's Park may just help him to take a more objective view.

Exeter City: Shaw, Harrower, Viney, McNichol, McCaffery, Marker, Ling, Jackson, Kellow, Keough, Crawford. Sub: King (on for Crawford 75 minutes).

Burnley: Neenan, Heggarty, Hampton, Malley, Haddock, Overson, Crewcock, Deakin, Taylor, Parker, Hoskin. Sub: Lawrence.

Attendance: 2,019.