HALIFAX TOWN 2 
Collins (own goal), Heathcote.
EXETER CITY 0

Half-time 1-0

Played at the Shay Halifax.

Friday December 18th 1987.

Halifax Town:- Roche; Brown, Barr; M.Matthews, Robinson, Shaw; Heathcote, Thornber, N.Matthews, Black, Holden.

Exeter City:
Shaw, Harrower, Viney, Carter, Taylor, Massey (Olsson 34 min), Batty, (Rowbotham 70 min), Cooper, Edwards, O'Connell, Collins.

Attendance: 1,302,

CITY CHANCES GO BEGGING

EXETER CITY dominated last night's league match at Halifax from start to finish, but failed to find the killer touch as a host of scoring opporutnities were missed. "I think we played better last night than we did on Saturday against Scunthorpe. We won all the important tackles but let ourselves down by not finishing," said caretaker manager John Delve.

"It wasn't just the strikers who were at fault and we will certainly be working hard in training next week to put matters right. "I think if we had scored early on we would have won fairly easily from there." City also missed chances against Scunthorpe, but Delve has ruled out experiments in attack, believing that all his strikers need is a goal to lift their confidence. He did say, though, that he would be watching games after the Christmas period with a view to strengthening the side. City had a chance to take the lead as early as the fifth minute, but Dean Edwards shot tamely at goalkeeper Paddy Roche. 3 minutes later they fell behind when Eamonn Collins put the ball through his own goal when trying to clear a hard cross from Neil Matthews. "It was disappointing," said Delve, "but I certainly would not blame Eamonn. Halifax fans thought skipper Phil Brown, who was hom- ing in the cross, would have scored anyway, but the City players reckoned the ball had already beaten him. Edwards missed another good chance midway through the half, and John Shaw, in the Exeter goal, made some brilliant saves, to keep his side in the match. Just before half-time, cen- tral defender Richard Massey limped off after a fierce, but fair tackle, and was replaced by Paul Olsson. City were finished off in the 84th minute when even Shaw could not stop a header from Halifax's Mick Heathcote, who is on loan from Sunderland. One minute from the end it looked as if City might pull one back when Roche failed to hold a shot from Edwards. Darren Rowbotham, on for Paul Batty, had an easy chance of an open goal, but fired wide.

Exeter City: Shaw, Harrower, Viney, Carter, Taylor, Massey (Olsson 34 min), Batty, (Rowbotham 70 min), Cooper, Edwards, O'Connell, Collins. Attendance: 1,302,