The Grecian Archive

Squad Photograph from the 1972/73 season, Exeter finished this season in 8th place in Division Four, however in both the League and FA Cups they exited at the First Round stage.

League Stats: Position: 8th Played: 46, Won: 18, Drew: 14, Lost: 14 Goals For: 57, Goals Against: 51, Points: 50
FA Cup

First Round: Walton & Hersham (A), 1-2

League Cup

First Round: Brighton & Hove Albion (A), 1-2

First Team
Results

				Exeter Score 1st
12/08/1972	Southport	A	L	0-1	2600	:
19/08/1972	Bradford City	H	W	5-1	3849	Binney 2	Howell (og)	Parker	Wingate
26/08/1972	Mansfield Town	A	L	0-3	4177	:
28/08/1972	Hartlepool United	H	D	1-1	4304	Gibson
02/09/1972	Cambridge United	H	W	3-1	3249	Wingate	Binney	Morrin
09/09/1972	Workington	A	L	1-3	1345	Plumb
16/09/1972	Stockport County	H	W	3-0	3384	Parker	Binney	Plumb
20/09/1972	Aldershot	H	W	1-0	4013	Binney
23/09/1972	Torquay United	A	W	2-0	8026	Wingate	Binney
25/09/1972	Darlington	A	D	0-0	1374	:
30/09/1972	Colchester United	H	W	1-0	5005	Plumb
07/10/1972	Crewe Alexandra	A	L	0-1	1911	:
11/10/1972	Reading	A	L	0-2	4138	:
14/10/1972	Hereford United	H	W	1-0	4516	Banks
21/10/1972	Bury	A	L	1-2	2870	Binney
28/10/1972	Newport County	H	D	0-0	4588	:
04/11/1972	Darlington	H	D	1-1	3991	Binney
06/11/1972	Lincoln City	H	W	2-0	4319	Wingate	Binney
11/11/1972	Aldershot	A	D	0-0	3737	:
25/11/1972	Northampton Town	A	W	2-1	2263	Balson	Binney
02/12/1972	Barnsley	H	W	2-1	3882	Balson 2
16/12/1972	Gillingham	H	W	3-2	3866	Parker	Binney 2
23/12/1972	Chester	A	W	1-0	2560	Binney
26/12/1972	Torquay United	H	W	3-1	11296	Binney 2 (p)	Plumb
30/12/1972	Bradford City	A	L	0-4	5498	:
06/01/1973	Mansfield Town	H	W	4-2	6744	Plumb 3 (1p)	Morrin
13/01/1973	Lincoln City	A	D	2-2	3729	Plumb	Binney
20/01/1973	Cambridge United	A	W	3-1	3979	Balson	Gibson	Binney
27/01/1973	Workington	H	W	4-2	6892	Plumb 2	Binney 2 (1p)
09/02/1973	Stockport County	A	L	0-1	3164	:
12/02/1973	Peterborough U	H	D	1-1	5403	Binney
17/02/1973	Southport	H	L	0-1	10122
24/02/1973	Gillingham	A	L	0-1	4695	:
03/03/1973	Crewe Alexandra	H	D	0-0	5731	:
10/03/1973	Hereford United	A	L	0-1	11302	:
17/03/1973	Bury	H	D	1-1	4560	Binney
20/03/1973	Doncaster Rovers	A	L	1-5	1823	Binney
24/03/1973	Newport County	A	L	0-2	4817	:
31/03/1973	Northampton Town	H	W	4-1	3137	Binney 3 (p)	Plumb
03/04/1973	Reading	H	D	0-0	3898	:
06/04/1973	Barnsley	A	D	1-1	1428	Binney
14/04/1973	Doncaster Rovers	H	L	0-1	3609	:
16/04/1973	Colchester United	A	W	2-1	3489	Binney 2
21/04/1973	Peterborough U	A	D	1-1	4593	Giles
23/04/1973	Chester	H	D	0-0	3863	:
28/04/1973	Hartlepool United	A	D	0-0	1868	:

Final Table

	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Southport	46	26	10	10	71	48	62
Hereford United	46	23	12	11	56	38	58
Cambridge United	46	20	17	9	67	57	57
Aldershot	46	22	12	12	60	38	56
Newport County	46	22	12	12	64	44	56
Mansfield Town	46	20	14	12	78	51	54
Reading	46	17	18	11	51	38	52
Exeter City	46	18	14	14	57	51	50
Gillingham	46	19	11	16	63	58	49
Lincoln City	46	16	16	14	64	57	48
Stockport County	46	18	12	16	53	53	48
Bury	46	14	18	14	58	51	46
Workington	46	17	12	17	59	61	46
Barnsley	46	14	16	16	58	60	44
Chester	46	14	15	17	61	52	43
Bradford City	46	16	11	19	61	65	43
Doncaster Rovers	46	15	12	19	49	58	42
Torquay United	46	12	17	17	44	47	41
Peterborough	46	14	13	19	71	76	41
Hartlepool	46	12	17	17	34	49	41
Crewe Alexandra	46	9	18	19	38	61	36
Colchester United	46	10	11	25	48	76	31
Northampton Town	46	10	11	25	40	73	31
Darlington	46	7	15	24	42	85	29

Exeter reformed their reserve side who were to play in the Western League, It had been disbanded at the end of the 1966/67 season for finacial reasons.

SPOTLIGHT ON THE RESERVES

The re-introduction of the City Reserves was a decision welcomed by every City supporter. The decision was a reverse of the usual trend of recent seasons which saw club after club deciding to operate with only one team.

The aim of the reserve side is to help local youngsters to develop and stop the promising youths from seeking soccer fame elsewhere. While one aim was to bring on local talent it is also intended that the reserve side will provide those professionals not in the first team with a game. This prevents players from becoming stale. A player for example could train as hard as he could, but without playing regularly he soon becomes stale.

Despite attempts to run the reserve side in the Exeter & District League certain problems were encountered. It was because of these problems that an application was made to join the Western League.

The man in charge of the reserve side is Keith Parsons.

Keith seems well aware of the problems of running the reserve side. In fact, he disclosed to me that he would be happy if the reserve side "finished up half way in their first season". Keith, who works for the Exmouth Journal during the week, sees the main aim of the reserve side as a breeding ground for local players. "Naturally John (Newman) wants to give any good youngsters the chance to come through."

One youngster who has come through from the reserve side is Keith Clapham. Keith, of course, joined City from Bournemouth. He was recommended to City by Bournemouth's assistant manager. It is doubtful whether City would have signed Keith had we not had a reserve side because he had absolutely no League experience behind him. He made his debut for City at Torquay.

As Keith Parsons told me, "Keith Clapham had been play ing well in the reserves. John Newman must have taken notice of the reports and decided to take the chance with Keith. I don't think John realised that he had signed such a competitive player."

The captain of the reserve side is Graham Mustard. He, in fact, was a member of City's last Western League side. I suspect he was made captain because of his Western League experience.

Keith Parsons seemed a little reluctant to single out any players.

But I did gather that Dave Bassett and Rob Webber had impressed him most. He told me that "Dave Bassett is a very brave 'keeper. Rob Webber is a strong lad and we shall miss him while he is injured for the next three weeks."

Keith seemed relatively happy with the Western League performance. "At Bristol City we got a good point. Their combination side hadn't a game that day so we played them. At Mangotsfield we got another first-class point. Against St. Luke's we had to come from behind twice and to beat St. Luke's is a good thing."

Over all Keith felt that "some results had gone against us. In others we have been giving away early goals and possibly demoralising ourselves. Also we have had a lot of injuries". I'll vouch for that. Last week they drew at Frome with a player in goal who normally plays in defence.

Other Matches

FA Cup

1972/73			Exeter Score 1st
18/11/1972	Walton & Hersham	Away	1-2	2000	Stacey	R1

League Cup

1972/73			Exeter Score 1st
16/08/1972	Brighton & Hove Albion	Away	1-2	10155	Binney	LC 1

Devon Bowl

Devon Bowl

			Exeter Score 1st
09/04/1973	Torquay Unted	Home	2-0	1399	Wingate 2	SF
04/05/1973	Plymouth Argyle	Away	1-2		Binney	F

Friendlies

			Exeter score 1st
29/07/1972	Yeovil Town	Away	1-2	1000	Scott
01/08/1972	Watford	Home	1-3	1700	Neale
05/08/1972	Cardiff City	Home	1-0	1834	Parker
07/08/1972	Bideford	Away
09/08/1972	Barnstaple	Away	7-0
24/10/1972	Aston Villa	Home	2-2	4921	Gibson (D), Neale	Brian Sharples Testimonial
09/12/1972	Brentford	Home	1-0	1151	Plumb
03/02/1973	Shrewsbury Town	Home	0-1	1548	:
03/03/1973	Yeovil Town	Away	P-P			Not Played

The Rothmans Challenge Trophy

And Festival of Sport

27/03/1973	Sidmouth v Victoria FC	At SJP	1-0	270	The Rothmans Challenge Trophy
05/04/1973	Dawlish Town v Silverton FC	At SJP	13-0	250	The Rothmans Challenge Trophy
09/04/1973	Friernhay v Wesses Depot FC	At SJP	6-0		The Rothmans Challenge Trophy
18/04/1973	Stoneman & Bowker v Spillers French	At SJP	10-1		The Rothmans Challenge Trophy
25/04/1973	Friernhay v Dawlish	At SJP	1-2		The Rothmans Challenge Trophy Semi Final
02/05/1973	Sidmouth v Soneman & Bowker	At SJP	0-3		The Rothmans Challenge Trophy Semi Final
12/05/1973	Dawlish v Stoneman & Bowker	At SJP	5-0		Rothmans Challenge Final
18/05/1973	Rennes	Home			Festival of Sport

FA Youth Cup

Exeter did not compete.

Reserves
Western League
Results

				City’s Score 1st
12/08/1972	Cup	Barnstaple	Home	2-7	Clapham	Neale
19/08/1972	Cup	Torquay	Away	0-6	:
23/08/1972	Cup	Barnstaple	Away	4-1	Banks 2	Neale	Webber
26/08/1972	Cup	Torquay	Home	1-3	Banks
31/08/1972	League	Bridport	Away	1-0
02/09/1972	League	Mangotsfield	Away	1-1
09/09/1972	League	Devizes	Home	0-2	:
16/09/1972	League	Bristol City Colts	Away	2-2
23/09/1972	League	Frome	Home	1-1	Neale
30/09/1972	League	Bridgwater	Away	0-4	:
07/10/1972	Cup	St Lukes College	Away	1-1
11/10/1972	Cup	St Lukes College	Home	4-3	Weir	Neale	Densham	Rowan
14/10/1972	League	Weston Super Mare	Away	0-1	:
18/10/1972	League	Taunton Town	Home	0-2	:
21/10/1972	League	Weston Super Mare	Home	2-1	Rowan 2
28/10/1972	League	Frome	Away	3-3	Anthony 2	Weir
04/11/1972	League	Welton Rovers	Away	2-2	Plumb	Weir
11/11/1972	League	Ashtonians United	Home	1-0	Anthony
18/11/1972	League	Avon (Bradford)	Away	2-2	Anthony	Hodge
25/11/1972	League	Bristol City Colts	Home	4-0	Neale 2	Densham	Banks
02/12/1972	WL Cup	Frome	Away	0-2	:
09/12/1972	League	St Lukes College	Away	2-1	Malcolm (og)	Master (og)
16/12/1972	League	Torquay United	Away	1-1	Densham
26/12/1972	League	Barnstaple	Away	0-0	:
06/01/1973	League	Glastonbury	Away	1-3	Rowan
13/01/1973	League	Torquay United	Home	3-1	Neale	Steele	Mustard
20/01/1973	League	Welton Rovers	Home	0-1	:
27/01/1973	League	Devizes	Away	3-5
03/02/1973	League	Ashtonians United	Away	1-1
10/02/1973	League	Bridport	Home	2-2	Banks 2
24/02/1973	League	Avon (Bradford)	Home	1-1	Jones (Les)
03/03/1973	League	Taunton Town	Away	0-2	:
10/03/1973	League	Mangotsfield	Home	0-1	:
20/03/1973	League	Barnstaple	Home	0-2	:
22/03/1973	League	St Lukes College	Home	3-1	Neale 2	Ashton
24/03/1973	League	Bridgwater	Home	2-0	Gibson	Neale
13/04/1973	League	Glastonbury	Home	0-1	:

Final Table
Western League

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Devizes T	30	21	5	4	68	27	47
Taunton T	30	19	7	4	69	26	45
Mangotsfield T	30	21	3	6	69	35	45
Bridgwater T	30	17	7	6	65	24	41
Weston S-M	30	13	9	8	42	36	35
Glastonbury	30	14	6	10	45	44	34
Barnstaple Town	30	13	7	10	57	52	33
Bridport	30	10	10	10	40	30	30
Torquay U Res.	30	11	6	13	53	47	28
Frome Town	30	9	9	12	30	44	27
Welton Rovers	30	9	8	13	35	41	26
Exeter City Res.	30	7	11	12	39	47	25
St Lukes College	30	9	3	18	33	73	21
Avon Bradford	30	6	3	21	27	68	15
Bristol City Colts	30	5	4	21	35	76	14

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Exeter City First team, Reserves, Youth and Colts.

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