Bungling Boro almost throw it all away

Scarborough 2-1 Exeter City 
Report by Robert Mills 

THE workers' holiday turned into an afternoon of hard labour for Boro -and the beads of sweat could so easily have been tears. As the promotion dog-fight reaches a nervy climax, only the result really matters but Boro will be hoping that they have not used up their full quota of good fortune. They lived on the precipice as Exeter created a string of chances but lacked the ruthlessness to push Boro over the edge. Brook crossed into the path of Tommy Graham, who banged it between the keeper and the near post. But by then, Boro could easily have been three goals down, Exeter's most glaring miss coming when Richard Young raced clear but missed the target with only Ian Ironside to beat. Boro's big first-half problem was in midfield, where only Paul Olsoon made any impression, and the front men were starved of service. son made some strong runs down the left. The unhappy Norris blasted over from five yards and then missed another chance, and Boro kept their fans in a state of high anxiety. Thompson cleared off the line from Scott Hiley and Exeter substitute Keith Smith should have scored 10 minutes from time, but Boro hung on to enhance their top-three prospects.

Scarborough:
Ironside, Chris Short, Thompson, Olsson, Richards, Craig Short. Dobson (Cook 62 mins). Graham, Norris (Morris, 84 mins), Brook, Russell.

Exeter City 
Walter, Banks, Dryden, Vinnicombe. Taylor, McDermott, Rowbotham, Benjamin, Young, Neville. (Smith 58 mins), Hiley (Harris, 68 mins).

Referee: Ian Hendrick (Preston).

Attendance: 2,513.