GRECIANS LACKING IN CRAFT

Plymouth Defence Never Fully Extended

Saturday, October 27th 1928.

EXETER CITY (Death)  1
PLYMOUTH ARGYLE (Black Matthews)2

Referee:- Mr C.F.Moon, of Bristol.

City: Holland; Lowton and Miller;
Pollard, Pool, and Clarke; Purcell, Streets, Wade, Doncaster, and Death.

Argyle: Craig; Russell and Titmuss; Mackay, McKenzie, and Hardie; Matthews, Forbes, Bowden, Leslie, and Black.

Twenty thousand people assembled at St James's Park at Christmastide 1926 to see the Devon Derby between Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle, some 500 of them scrambling into the ground by way of broken fences, and the accommodation was fuully taxed. Last Christmas a bitter east wind was accompanied by a heavy fall of snow which blocked many of the country roads, and the preparations for the "Derby" match at St James's Park included the clearing of a large section of the playing pitch at the St James's Road end, where the snow lay deepest. Among those who were prevented from attending, on account of the weather, was the referee, Mr G.Franklin, of Portsmouth. One of the linesmen deputised for him in the emergency. Because of the severity of the weather the attendance did not reach 10,000, and when the teams met at Plymouth the next day instead of a 25,000 "gate," there was one of only 14,000.
Heavy October Gales.

Today's match followed a week of heavy October gales and rainstorms, and it was feared that the weather would again spoil the "gate." The morning, though very The playing pitch was sodden of course, but the improved drainage had done its work well, and the ground was in quite a good condition for the big match. Exeter City relied on the re-arranged team which did so well at Gillingham a week ago, and in which the changes were the substitution of Doncaster and Streets for Houghton and McDevitt at inside forward, of Pollard for Streets at right half-back, and of Holland for Campbell in goal. Most notable of course was the omission of Billy Mc Devitt, the captain, who has been on the injured list.

Plymouth Argyle, unbeaten in the last five League games, and runners - up in the Southern Section (a familiar role now) announced that they would play the team which has represented the club in the last four matches, which meant that the side would be at full strength. Last season in the encounter with Exeter, the Pilgrims were without Fred Titmuss, the ex Southampton back, who is an English International, for whom Cosgrove then deputised, while Stanbury, the Devon County amateur, was in goal. Today the Argyle attack was led by Raymond Bowden, of Looe, who is eighteen years of age. Skilful rather than forceful, and a good shot, he has come to the fore rapidly this season, and in this match was the youngest player on the field, Clarke, the City's youngest being now 21 years of age.

Plymouth Now a City.

The proceedings were all very orderly while the spectators were waiting for the game to start, and although it had been anticipated that the thousand or so excursionists who came from Plymouth by road and rail would have something to say about there being two "Cities" in the field (Plymouth having received the dignity of this title by Royal Charter only a few weeks ago) the South Devon folk were taking their honour of the new civic title with appropriate dignity. Bugle calls from the popular bank commenced just after 3 o'clock and a few stalwarts sported the colours of their favourites, but on the "Derby" preliminaries were the quietest on record. the whole There were eleven thousand people present when Pollard led out the Grecians, and Russell followed at once with the Pilgrims. Miller and Matthews were, of course, in opposition to former colleagues.

The Game.

Pollard won the toss and Exeter had the help of a gusty wind in the first half, the Argyle defending the St James's Road end of the field. Play opened briskly and some unsteadiness was shown by both teams, the light new ball, and the wet ground combining to make the players jumpy. Both sets of half-backs put in a deal of hard work at interception, but the passing for the most part lacked direction and the ball was often in touch. Leslie slung out a beautiful pass to Matthews on the opposite wing, but Miller was first to the ball and cleared. When the Argyle next advanced Lowton with a huge kick cleared the roof of the flower-pot terrace. Then, from the throw-in, Leslie worked the ball across the field and shot from 25 yards, but wide. Exeter's best player in these stages whenever he got the ball was Death, who was cool and clever. From his centres first Wade then Streets headed just over the bar. From Leslie's pass Bowden sped down the middle of the field, but the ball was too fast for him and Holland came out and cleared with time to spare. Hardie endeavoured to catch the City defence napping with a splendid cross field pass to Matthews, but again Miller was there. Then the Pilgrims' forwards in a line took place to close quarters and the position was momentarily dangerous until Miller once more came to the rescue and kicked clear from Matthews when the former Grecian attempted to pass across the goalmouth. Holland in the next minute used his considerable height and reach to clear a dropping centre from Black, and play returned to midfield. The Argyle forward combination was now quicker and surer than that of Exeter, but Pollard, Pool and Clarke were going great guns in midfield, and a quarter of an hour had passed with the exchanges very evenly contested. Death and Doncaster forced corners for Exeter, but neither of the flag kicks was well placed. Clever headwork between Wade and Doncaster led to a further corner being conceded by Mackay, and this time Death middled the ball close to the near post. Doncaster got his head to the ball just as Craig lunged for it, and the leather flew just over the bar.

Clever Football by the Argyle Forwards.
The Argyle after this made their first advance for about ten minutes, and the
chance of a shot fell to Bowden, 20 yards out, but he got his foot too much underneath the ball, and cleared the crossbar by three or four yards. Plymouth kept up the pressure, but Black shot weakly and straight at Holland, and when the Argyle raided again Black was offside. The Pilgrims were however faster on the ball than Exeter, and their forwards were showing some very clever football, individually and collectively, and in the 28th minute Forbes's skilful footwork led to another movement which was taken up by the left wing, and Black cut in and beat Holland with a very fast shot on the "carpet," the greasy ball slipping through the goalkeeper's hands and into the back of the net. A great cheer from the Plymouth section of the crowd signified their appreciation of the goal.

Good Play by Holland.
Tackled by Pollard in another Argyle raid, Black slipped the ball to Leslie, who was hemmed in. Black himself nipped in between the players and shot, but Holland punched the ball away, then quick as a flash leaped across his goal to beat out an immediate second shot, from Bowden, who had captured the ball from Holland's first save. Sterling defensive play by Russell prevented Wade from making progress up the middle, and then a pretty piece of triangular play by Hardie, Leslie, and Black eamed the Argyle a comer. Streets partly cleared the centre from Black, but from Hardie the ball went to Black again, who cut in as far as the penalty line and swept it across the goal, Holland punching out again in masterly style to a prolonged round of applause from all around the ground. Exeter were finding the wind an embarrassment rather than a help. The ball at the Argyle end usually travelled at great speed, and generally beat both the attackers and defenders alike. A free kick by Lowton travelled eighty yards to the Plymouth goal, where Craig gathered and cleared. Exeter pressed once more, and from Pollard's long pass Wade headed to the left, and Doncaster tried his luck with a low shot to which Craig dropped on one knee to save. As Craig re gained his footing he was charged by Doncaster, but managed to clear. At the interval the score was:-
Exeter City 0 Plymouth Argyle 1.

Second Half.
The attendance had grown to nearly fourteen thousand, and directly the second half started the spectators were thrilled by a swift Argyle move, in which a pass from Leslie was captured by Black, who centred low, Miller diving and magnificently heading the ball clear of the waiting Forbes. Exeter took up the running, but Streets from Wade's through pass shot just too high. Playing now with great confidence, the Plymouth halves and forwards made a series of sharp attacks, some of their combination play and fast inter-passing being a treat to watch. Once more only a marvellous save by Holland from Bowden lay between the Argyle and a second goal.

Grand-stand Glass Shattered.
Pool shot wide to end a spell of attacking by Exeter, and in subsequent play Purcell, put through nicely by Doncaster, eluded Titmuss along the back line, close in, before lobbing it right across the front of the and took the ball goal. Nine times out of ten a move like this would have brought a goal, but in this instance none of the other City forwards could reach the ball, which was hurriedly cleared by Russell. The second half was twelve minutes old when Lowton miskicked badly to given Bowden and Black a clear route to goal. The ball was sent across to Matthews, and the old Grecian ran on to it and beat Holland just inside the post with a perfectly placed low cross-shot. Exeter replied through Death eight minutes later, the ex-Sunderland winger firing into the net from fifteen yards after receiving a long crossfield pass from Pollard. The City, inspired by Death's goal, returned to the attack with great spirit, and Titmuss in repelling a centre by Death kicked the ball high into the glass end of the grandstand. The pane of glass was shattered, and the fragments fell among the seated spectators, but fortunately no-one was hurt. The Grecians struggled gamely for the equaliser, but Death, the danger-man, watched too closely by Russell and Mackay to indulge in the sensational, and although Wade and Doncaster were not to be treated too lightly, the fact still was remained that in Death lay Exeter's chief hope. At the other end a centre from Black was headed straight up in the air by Lowton and went to Bowden, who was too slow to get the ball under control and the chance was lost.

Comments.
Plymouth Argyle were always the better team and deserved their victory by two goals to one. Their football was more accurate and more methodical. That the winning margin was not greater must be attributed to the ke enness of the play and the strength of the tackling of the City halves and backs, who were very successful in "breaking-up" tactics. No men in the Exeter side played a more valuable game than Pollard and Miller, whose work was very thorough all the way through. Pool also had a very good game, and Holland brought off several spectacular clearances that looked impossible. Lowton, like Miller, played a strong game in defence, although some of his kicking was very wild, but he was of course up against Sammy Black, recognised quite justifiably as the quickest and cleverest left winger in the Southern Section. When it came to engineering and carrying through attacks, however, the Argyle, with their scheming intermediates and their finely balanced and lively front line, took the honours. Exeter City, without McDevitt, were lacking in craft and the Plymouth defence was hardly ever fully extended.