Charlton Athletic 1-0 ECFC
Attendance: 950


CHARLTON ATHLETIC V EXETER CITY

Monday, April 7th, at Catford. Attendance 950.

Referee: Mr E.Tolfree, of Southampton.

Result:
Charlton (Ayres) 1
Exeter City nil.

TEAMS

Charlton: Wood; N.Smith, and Herod; Purdy, Goodman, and Rees; Cox, Steele, Thompson, Ayres, and S.C.Smith.

City:
Bailey; Pollard, and Charlton; Coleburne, Crompton, Gilchrist; Matthews, Gallogley, Lievesley, Davis, and Dockray.

DESCRIPTION

Robust charging, lusty kicking, and fearless tackling by the Exeter City players, aided by the framework of the goal, held the "Kittens" of Catford for eighty minutes. Then, for the first time in this particularly keen game, the City defenders made a grave mistake. They stopped to appeal for what perhaps looked to them a case of handling by S.Smith. The momentary hesitation on the part of Crompton and his colleagues was fatal, for Smith carried on and from his inside pass Ayres scored the goal which enabled Charlton Athletic to win. No effort was made to stop the ball.

The match, which was re-played because the original one had to be abandoned on January 19th during a thunderstorm, was anything but exciting, but to a great extent there is an excuse for the poor quality of the football. 

GROUND FULL OF POT-HOLES.

With a cast-iron surface on the ground which is so full of pot holes as a badly used road, and with numerous tufts of grass all over the sides and corners of this rough field, it would need more than the average cleverness of foot to control the ball, and there was hardly a player on either side who possessed this ability. The one exception was Ellis Crompton, that grand veteran of almost two decades as a football professional. He was neither in a hurry or a flurry with the conditions. Getting the ball to the ground, and to keep it close seems to come natural to him, and his methods should be an object lesson to many of the younger men on the field.

A MISTAKEN EXPERIMENT.

If Exeter City had not experimented with their inside forwards it is more than likely they would have won this game, because Kirk, and even Shelton, would not have made such a hash of the passes of Crompton as the three men who were playing did.

As it happened, the Grecians had quite as many chances as did Charlton, yet Wood was not given a quarter of the work to that Bailey had. The ball was up in the air for seven-eighths of do the time, and it is difficult to remember a match in which there was such an abundance of aimless kicking.

Much of it was purpose less, and the home team were every bit as bad as Exeter.

FORWARDS NOT AFRAID TO SHOOT.

The difference in the teams was that Charlton Athletic had two forwards in Smith and Ayres who were not afraid to shoot. Both hit the ball against an upright in the second half.

Up to a point the City defence was excellent. The tackling was sound, and things might have gone better if more discretion had been used in kicking.

INDIVIDUALISM IS LIEVESLEY'S ASSET.

Lievesley was by no means a failure at centre-forward. He was a genuine trier, and showed speed, dash, and a degree of skill, but he is one of those forwards who relies on support. Individualism is his strong point, and he should be given another opportunity at centre, with Kirk and Shelton as his inside partners.

EXETER CITY PLAYER'S TRAGIC LOSS. 

Donald Gilchrist has been called to Portsmouth by telephone, his younger brother, Duncan, having died under tragic circumstances. Duncan, a clever outside-left, was playing for Portsmouth second eleven on Monday 7th April, when he collapsed on the field and expired. Last season both the Gilchrists were together at Fratton Park, having come down from Argyllshire. Deep sympathy will be extended to the Exeter City player in his bereavement.

EXETER CITY RESERVES V. BRISTOL CITY RESERVES

Bright Football at St. James's Park

Wednesday, April 9th.

CITY RESERVES 2 BRISTOL CITY RESERVES 0.

In their Southern League match with Bristol City Reserves on Wednesday (kick off 5.15 p.m.), a slightly altered Exeter City Reserve XI gave a vastly different display from that of Saturday, when Bridgend came and carried off the honours. Faced with much stronger opposition, the City Reserves gave of their best, and thoroughly deserved their victory by two goals to nil.

Exeter: Pavey; Crawshaw, and Flynn
Hunter, McIntosh, and Potter; Shelton, Thornton, Blackmore, Murray, and Lowson.

Bristol: Goddard; Hughes, and Pullan;
Viggars, Vicary, and Price; Nesbit, Clack, Andrews, Drinnan, and Compton.

Everybody present was interested especially in Edward Thornton, the newcomer from Michigan, U.S.A., who had been recommended to Exeter City by "Daisy" Bell, the popular hero of other days. Thornton had a share in both the goals. The first was scored by Murray very smartly, from a pass by the new player. The second, a very neat shot into the top of the net, scored immediately after the teams had crossed over, was a praiseworthy effort by Thornton himself, the spade work having been done by Lowson and Murray.

BRISTOLIANS WELL HELD.

Thornton made a very favourable impression, his anticipation and ball control being good, and he used the ball to advantage always, giving Blackmore and others in the front line some good openings. Murray's clever football was one of the best features of the game, while other Exeter players to shine were McIntosh, Crawshaw, and Hunter.

The Bristolians were so well held that they rarely threatened, even though Compton and Nesbit sparkled in the early stages. Yet, as a matter of fact Bristol were the first to net the ball when Andrews did so from Clack's pass, but he was ruled offside.