Match 48
7th May 1951
Bristol Rovers (h)

Western League
Ton Pentre (a)

ECFC 1-0 Bristol Rovers.
Scorer: Makin
Attendance: 4,000

Last of the Season.
Grecians Put up a Good Game for the Final.
Bristol Rovers, playing brilliant football fore and aft, gave the Grecians and object lesson on how the game should be played at the Stapleton Road ground on Monday evening, and won by five goals to nil. Four of the goals were registered by Leigh, the hefty centre-forward who was transferred to Rovers from Derby County last season. He is one inch short of six feet in height, and weighs close on thirteen stone.
Ellis Crompton, the former Grecian, obtained the fifth goal with a Lond drive, a few minutes from the finish.
Today, Exeter City hoped to make a much better showing on their own ground in the return fixture, especially as it was the final match for the season.
The Rovers were not without support, for a char-a-banc laden with regular followers of the club left Bristol early this morning and journeyed through to Exeter in excellent time for the match. A collection made on the ground on behalf of Earl Haig's appeal for ex-Service men of all ranks was generously supported.
Both clubs made team changes. Exeter had Brayshaw for Shields at inside left, and Appleton, despite being injured at Torquay on Wdnesday, on the right wing.

Exeter City, 
Pym. Pollard. Feebery. Rigby. Carrick. Green. Appleton. Makin. Vowles. Brayshaw. Dockray.

Referee: Mr A.E. Caseley, of Wolverhampton.

Bristol Rovers, 
Whatley. Hall. Panes. Boxley. Sims. Steele. Chance. Walter. Morgan. Crompton. Palmer.

The weather was fine and warm after a wet morning. The rain had improved the turf, and the ground was in excellent condition.
Bristol Rovers, in their white shirts and blue knickers looked very smart and fit as they ran onto the field at 3:20 p.m., and a special cheer of welcome was given to Ellis Crompton.
The attendance was about 3500, but there was a steady stream of late-comers arriving.
Pym won the toss in competition with Crompton, and elected to defend the St James's Road end goal.

An Excellent Start.
Vowles gave Dockray a glorious long pass, and the winger raced through from midfield with Hall chasing him. Dockray cut inwards, but in the end collided with Whatley and the ball rolled clear. 
A minute later Exeter made headway again, and a fast centre by Appleton was headed over the bar by Howes. Dockray took the corner and placed the ball nicely in to the near post. Whatley fumbled in attempting to gather the shot, and pushed the leather on to Makin, from whose head it rebounded into the net. This was an excellent start, the goal being scored within four minutes of the kick-off.
Exeter were keener than their opponents, who, save for a few occasional flashes of opportunism, played a typical end of season game.
The Grecians had so much more of the play than the Rovers, and won so many chances in front of goal that it is a matter of some suprise that they failed to score further points. 
Whatley's early error in muffing the corner-kick gave the City just the encouragement they required, and they played with spirit and enthusiasm throughout the game.
Vowles had a great deal of shooting practice, and it was rather unfortunate that so many otherwise brilliant shots by him turned outside the woodwork. The centre-forward was admirably supported right and left. Dockray was at his scintillating best, and on the other side Appleton played his best game for many weeks.

Bristol's little band of supporters had very little to enthuse over. Crompton's cleverness in the first half was a feature, but little was seen of him after the interval. Taken all through he game, Morgan was Bristol's best player.

Full Tme:- City 0-1 Bristol Rovers.

Western League.
Ton Pentre 1-0 City Reserves.

The Reserves, who remained in Cardiff overnight, wound up their Western League programme with a match at Tonypandy, where they were defeated by Ton Pentre by a goal to nil.
From the beginning to the end the Rhonda X1 played with vigour and enterprise, and after the half time change over it was seen that Exeter City were completely outplayed despite the lack of goals against them.
Congdon was the only Exeter player who seriously threatened the Welsh citadel. Twice he rounded the defence and cut sharply in but each time shot wide.
After the interval Charles's charge was showered with shots of every description, notably from J. Jones, Hathway, Woods, and Ives, and luckily for the City custodian they were mostly mis-directed.
Ives, of course, is none other than Benjamin of the ilk, a well remembered outside-left who played for City in the 1912-13 and was transferred to Queens Park Rangers before the season was out.
Ton Pentre's goal was scored by J. Jones.

Full Time.
Ton Pentre 1-0 City Reserves

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