Grecians pay the penalty as £s make points for ambitious Bees.

by ED HOGG at St James's Park

Exeter City 0 Brentford 1.

Saturday 12 December 1998.

Referee: ME Pierce

Att: 2793

RON Noades makes no secret of his willingness to buy managerial success. The former Wimbledon and Crystal Palace supremo has never been terribly modest about his knowledge of the game. He hired and fired a string of bosses during more than a decade as chairman at Plough Lane and Selhurst Park. And when Noades arrived at Brentford last summer-having purchased the shareholding of former Bees chief Dave Webb- he dispensed with the conventional staff. He appointed himself as team manager, leaving coaching duties in the hands of experienced triumverate Ray Lewington, Brian Sparrow and Terry Bullivant but taking sole responsibility for team selection and transfer market dealings. Noades has backed his judgement with cash...lots of cash. He admitted before the campaign began that he was prepared to swallow a seven-figure loss in his first 12 months in the job. And the Griffin Park outfit have duly spent in excess of £1 million, including the staggering divisional-record £750,000 fee required to persuade Palace to part with Icelandic international defender Hermann Hreidarsson. It was emerging striker Lloyd Owusu- a £25,000 relative bargain from non- league Slough - who fired Brentford to victory at Exeter City. That elevated the visitors back into the top three. But, considering the ridiculous fiscal gulf between Noades' men and the rest of Division 3. anything less than the title should be regarded as failure. Exeter boss Peter Fox was in wise-cracking mood when quizzed on the financial disparity following his side's third 1- 0 home reverse of the season. "Brentford are a bit richer than us," he admitted with massive understatement. "They've got more coaches than I've got centre forwards!" The absence of in-form City targetman Steve Flack-serving a one- match ban after collecting five cautions - was a significant factor behind the Grecians' defeat. Fox's side, now without a league maximum since the dramatic fightback to beat Southend on November 7, matched their more- illustrious guests. But they fashioned scant genuine opportunities to cancel out Owusu's stunning first-half strike. The Exeter rearguard failed to deal with Dirk Hebel's innocuous pass and Owusu-whose pace and industry illuminated a generally stale contest - celebrated his 22nd birthday with a ferocious 20-yarder past the helpless Ashley Bayes. Bayes had been grateful to midfielder Jason Rees for the goal-line clearance that denied Hreidarsson a sixth minute opener. But, despite forcing a stack of corners, Brentford's clearcut chances were at a premium. And Rees and Darran Rowbotham went close to providing Exeter with a breakthrough before Dazza hooked narrowly over from Barry McConnell's 28th minute cross. Owusu's 12th goal since his arrival in the Football League gave the Bees the interval initiative.

Fox reacted by dispensing with a five-man rearguard and thrusting veteran defender Noel Blake into a makeshift frontline. The mere physical presence of the assistant-manager gave City greater menace.  And McConnell and Rowbotham almost profited from Blake spadework before Billy Clark twice failed to direct headers. Hebel lashed fractionally wide as Brentford broke swiftly and Bayes thwarted Owusu in similar circumstances before the hosts came within a whisker of an equaliser. Rowbotham believed his search for his 100th Exeter goal was over when he latched onto Blake's 79th minute knockdown and poked the ball past the outrushing Kevin Dearden. But Martin Rowlands dashed back to hack clear of the gaping net. Noades may not have to wait too long for his second Manager-of-the-Month award.

EXETER:
Bayes, Clark (Breslan 77), Power (Gale 46), Blake, Richardson, Gittens, Rowbotham, Rees, McConnell (Fry 64), Curran, Gardner.

BRENTFORD
Dearden, Boxall, Hreidarsson, Hebel (Oatway 74), Quinn, Bates, Freeman (Bryan 68), Mahon, Owusu, Rowlands, Folan. Sub (not used): Fortune-West.