One Out of Six
EXETER CITY'S MODEST EASTER HARVEST

Easter Monday, April 9th 1928
EXETER CITY 2 MILLWALL 4.
The Merit of Millwall

Securing only one point of the half-a-dozen at stake in their Easter matches, Exeter City's holiday performances have been disappointing, but after seeing the contest with Millwall at St James's Park on Bank Holiday Monday, it is felt that the one result, and the only result, over which the followers of the Grecians have a grievance is that of Saturday, when the City scraped in with a draw made possible by a late equalising goal in the home game with a very moderate Gillingham eleven.
With the City's reverse at New Cross on Friday no-one can reasonably grumble. After all, no team all the season has yet succeeded in lowering the colours of the "Lions" in their "Den," and with Gillingham and Bristol Rovers the only clubs still to visit the possibility of a visiting victory is unlikely at the very least. There were twelve and a half thousand people at St James's Park on Monday, and the weather was a great success; neither too hot nor too cold, too dry, nor too wet. Millwall followed up their home victory over Exeter City on Friday by beating Merthyr Town at the Den on Saturday, and for Monday's match they kept the same players. Exeter had Clarke at left half for Mason, and in the absence of McDevitt, who is injured, the right wing consisted of Jenkins and Purcell.

Exeter City:- Wainwright; Pollard and Charlton; Phoenix, Pool, and Clarke;
Jenkins, Purcell, Dent, Vaughan, and Compton.

Millwall:- Harford; Hill and Pipe; Amos  W.I.Bryant, and Graham; Chance, Landells, Cock, Phillips, and Black.

For the first half an hour Exeter City, without being the better team, had the most of the play, because of their energy and determination, and the sterling defensive work of Charlton, who simply revelled in nipping in the bud as many of the Millwall forward moves as were within reach. Pollard, too, was in rattling good form, and the only time the home goal was really endangered was when after twelve minutes' play Black and Phillips drew Phoenix and Pollard out of position, the ball eventually going to Bryant, who supplied it to Cock. The old Argyle centre forward shot low, and Wainwright had to be exceedingly quick in throwing himself across the goal and stopping the ball. Exeter City were very good, within limits, in that first half hour. The trouble was that they seemed incapable of turning to account any of the little benefits that came their way. Full backs took free kicks in an aimless fashion, and forwards showed a lack of method in finishing off their frequent advances. Through it all, in a hard-working City half-back line, young Reg Clarke, the former Exeter Loco amateur, showed marked ability and stood out above all his team-mates as an undeniable success.

Complete and Dramatic Transformation.

In the thirty-sixth minute came the turning point in the game. With the goal absolutely at his mercy, the goalkeeper and one of the backs prostrate, and the ball at his feet one yard from the vacant goal-net Dent contrived in some inexplicable manner to fail to score. Harford recovered himself and pounced on the ball and the chance was gone. There was no score at this point. Five minutes later Exeter were three goals in arrears. Never before was there a more complete and dramatic transformation of a game, or a demonstration by five efficient forwards of how to score goals, on the Exeter City ground. The Millwall left wing began it. Phoenix miskicked in trying to check Black, and Black went ahead to find a loophole in the Exeter defence, through which he slipped the ball across to Cock. There was a sharp encounter between Cock and Wainwright and the ball went slowly along the goal-line under the cross bar. Landells ran in and slammed the leather joyfully into the empty net. Two minutes later Chance, by the half-way line and in front of the grandstand, slipped the ball straight ahead and Cock ran for it, obviously according to plan. Before he could be tackled Cock centred strongly right across the front of the goal for Black to beat Wainwright with a first-time half-volley. In another two minutes, following a throw-in under the shadow of the covered bank, the Millwall men again kicked the ball right across the field. Chance darted in to meet the leather and biffed it high into the net without pausing either to trap the ball or take aim.

Second Half

Pool's head was badly cut towards the close of the first half, and after the interval, heavily bandaged, he took the outside left position. Ten minutes after the change of ends Dent was brought down heavily inside the penalty area by Amos, and Purcell scored with a drive which must have knocked the Millwall goalkeeper out if he had got in its way. The City showed such fight after this that there was a distinct chance that they would get still nearer to equality, but in the welter of fast exchanges and general excitement Bryant kept a cool head and steadied his team. Apart from all that, he also scored a brilliant goal from Black's corner kick.

The Last Goal.

Exeter wound up the scoring eleven minutes before the finish with a sparkling move that started in the home penalty area and ended with the ball in the back of the Millwall net, Dent rounding off the attack in appropriate style. The City might again have improved their position with more steadiness. None of the players were lacking in point of keen-ness or ambition, but were wanting in judgment. Otherwise they would never have given Bryant those innumerable opportunities of showing his prowess in the air, and Jenkins would not have made such a hash of the few really good passes which now found their way out to him. Exeter were beaten by the strongest and best balanced side the Third Division has had to show for some years. Millwall undoubtedly are a champion team. The City's brief but bad defensive collapse cust them the chance of possibly snatching a victory. The injury to Pool, with the consequent rearrangement of the team, brought out the very best in most of the City players, and amongst them all Purcell was one of the brightest.
The man of the match, however, was Bryant, the Millwall captain. The City's rearranged team following Pool's injury was:
Wainwright; Charlton, Vaughan; Phoenix, Pollard, Clarke; Jenkins, Purcell, Dent, Compton, and Pool.

TAUNTON TOWN v EXETER CITY RESERVES.

Exeter City Reserves, winning 2-0 at Taunton on Monday, completed a splendid treble of Easter successes in the Southern and Western Leagues, and it is to the Reserves that the supporters now look for the principal end of season thrills now that they are striving for the junior honours. The goals at Taunton were scored by Kirk and McDade.