Christmas 1927 EXETER CITY v PLYMOUTH ARGYLE

Boxing Day,
Monday, December 26th 1927.

EXETER CITY (Dent, Purcell) 2 PLYMOUTH ARGYLE O.

Christmas-card weather reduced by one-half the attendance at St James's Park for the first of the season's eagerly awaited Devon Derbies between Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle. The "gate" was somewhere about 10,000, instead of the 20,000 which had been confidently anticipated.
From all parts of the county over a radius of about fifty miles, people were telephoning to the secretary's office during the morning to ask for definite information as to whether the match would or would not be played. Mr Thomas himself, however, was out on the playing pitch at the St James's Road end, wielding a broom with the best, and it is likely that he found this a more congenial occupation than continually answering the 'phone, especially as the question of whether or not the match would be played was a matter which only the referee could settle.

A Victim of the Snowstorm.

A party of workers was engaged in clearing the mass of snow which had mounted at the west end of the field, blown there by the strong wind. Elsewhere it was only necessary to clear the lines, so that the game could be accurately and properly controlled. The ground was soft beneath the snow, and Exeter City's view was that the match would certainly be played. This impression, in the end, proved correct.
But the appointed referee did not put in an appearance till the game had been in progress fully an hour. Mr Franklin, of Portsmouth, was the official, and he was a victim of the snowstorm, his train being amongst those which were
delayed considerably. It appears that Mr F.J.Matthews and Mr F.W.Yandle, the linesmen, tossed up to decide which should referee in the event of Mr Franklin being late. The toss was won by Mr Matthews, and his place on the line was taken by Mr Lambshead of Dawlish, who of course is fully qualified for the job.

The Brilliant Grecians
ARGYLE PLAY SECOND FIDDLE AT ST. JAMES'S PARK
Soccer On a Snowfield

Tremendous snowballing was in progress both on the far end and the enclosure before the teams turned out for the fray. An Argyle enthusiast, sporting a topper decorated with black and green ribbons, had a very strenuous time of it dodging as many as possible of the flying balls of white, while quite a pitched battle took place at the other end of the ground, on the big bank, over by the laurels, between the rival factions. The rest of the crowd were kept highly amused by the fun. Exeter City were happy at being able to field the eleven players which won at Merthyr so handsomely on Saturday, but the Argyle were unfortunately without Sammy Black and Fred Titmuss. Black has not been so consistently brilliant lately, as was the case with him throughout the early months of the campaign, but his absence, on account of a thigh strain, must have been a big handicap to the Pilgrims, even though Edmunds, playing in his stead, made a useful substitute. The Argyle were hit harder by the absence of Titmuss, also through injury. He was replaced by the crossing over to left-back of Moses Russell, and Cosgrove coming in to the team at right-back. And as things eventually turned out, the play of these two backs was the poorest thing of its kind ever seen in a team representing Plymouth Argyle at St James's Park for many seasons.

Stopping the Exeter Forwards.

From start to finish Russell, the Argyle captain, and Cosgrove made only the most perfunctory attempts to play constructive football. With exceedingly few exceptions they confined themselves to stopping the Exeter City forwards and banging the ball into touch. It is difficult to recall another game in which the Exeter wing half backs had so much practice in throwing in the ball. They did it very well, too. But the Argyle backs gave their colleagues in front only the minimum of help, and well as the halves stuck to their task, they must have recognised almost from the start that they were playing a losing game. Russell won the toss, and the Argyle had the advantage of the strong wind in the opening half. Yet the City had much the better of the play. After the first twenty minutes Exeter were definitely superior in every single department, goal, full back, half back, and forward, and as the game advanced this superiority became more and more apparent.

Every Ball Turned to Good Account.

Bland and Leslie, also Forbes, displayed some neat touches, and Matthews was as sprightly as of old on the right wing; he was the best man in the line in fact. But for sheer skill in initiating and developing their attacks, Exeter were always the better side, the more especially as Pollard and Miller, as well as Ditchburn, Mason, and Gee, spared no effort in trying to turn every ball to good account. Exeter contrived to play consistently clever soccer in the wintry conditions, both against and with the wind. In the second half, indeed, they were usually the complete masters of the situation. The Argyle forwards did occasionally wriggle clear of the obstacle provided by Pollard and Miller, which was no mean feat, and at such times Holland suspended his sentry work under the bar and demonstrated that he too was happy to be a member of this brilliant City combination. Exeter never better deserved a victory and indeed they won the match so well and convincingly that it seemed that nothing short of a chapter of accidents to the Grecians would serve to preserve Plymouth Argyle's unbeaten ground record in the match at Home Park on the following day. The supreme skill of McDevitt, the cunning of Dent, the accurate ball control and clever dribbling of Vaughan, and the speed and strength of Compton, with which was allied more than a little of shrewd judgment, these qualities along with the clear-cut methods and valuable play of Purcell proved too much for the Argyle defence, and Exeter won by two good goals to nil. The first real thrill came when in a fast attack Dent headed the ball to Compton, who shot with great force, Stanbury tipping the leather over the bar. Leslie initiated a counter-move which proved one of their most dangerous and only the desperate measures taken by the Exeter defenders in blocking out the shots of Leslie and Bland prevented a score. Then, in seventeen minutes, the Argyle might have taken the lead. Edmunds got clear on the visitors' left and fed Forbes, who rounded Miller and so gained a clear shooting chance, but as it turned out, and luckily for Exeter, the ball went wide.

Stanbury's Double Save.

Still the Argyle tried hard to snatch a goal, and Holland had to throw himself in the path of a shot by Alf Matthews. Matthews forced a corner just after his shot had been saved by Holland, and when Pollard had headed out the flag-kick McKenzie fired over the bar from the edge of the penalty area. Hardie missed a good scoring chance a minute later. Exeter now settle down in real earnest, and almost all the bright things were done at the Plymouth end of the ground from then on. A brilliant double save by Stanbury at the expense of Dent and Compton was one of the features of the game which will be remembered. Russell blocked a shot by Compton, and headed out a free-kick taken by Purcell. Vaughan secured possession unexpectedly and finding had a chance shot splendidly close to the foot of the post, with Stanbury diving to the ball to effect a clever save. Some promising City attacks were spoiled by offside, and Hardie saved his side. when Dent and Compton were threading their way through the snow with the ball between them. And then right on half-time, when the whistle was expected at any second, the City gained the lead. Hardie had kicked to touch, and from the throw-in Gee captured the ball as it was crossing the goal-line and middled it admirably. As Stanbury shaped to receive the centre, close to the goal-post, Dent nipped in first and drove the ball home.

Purcell Scored From Thirty Yards' Range.

The second half was contested almost entirely in the Argyle half of the field, and between the numerous kicks to touch by Cosgrove and Russell, plenty of opportunity was found by Stanbury to show that he is an exceptionally good and very plucky young goalkeeper. There was one thrilling raid at the other end in which Holland had to come out and dispossess Forbes, who had got away in the centre of the field. Exeter's second goal was obtained fourteen minutes before the finish. Hardie handled in front of the grandstand, and when the free-kick was returned the ball was promptly flicked across by McDevitt to Purcell, who shot from fully thirty yards' range and found the net off the far post.

Exeter City: Holland; Pollard, Miller; Ditchburn, Mason, Gee; Purcell, McDevitt, Dent, Vaughan, and Compton.

Plymouth Argyle:- Stanbury; Cosgrove, Russell; Preston, McKenzie, Hardie; Matthews, Bland, Forbes, Leslie, and Edmunds.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE 
PLYMOUTH ARGYLE RESERVES 
EXETER CITY RESERVES 

The City Reserves were beaten 4-3 in the Southern League match with Plymouth Argyle Reserves at Home Park. Scorers for Exeter were Kirk, Andrews, and a deflected shot by Pullen into his own goal.