F. A. CUP: CITY v BARKING Amateurs Outplayed at St James's Park Ten Men in Second Half Fail to Hold Exeter City

Saturday, November 24th 1928.

EXETER CITY (Purcell Doncaster Clarke Cameron Vango* Death) 6
BARKING TOWN 0 
*through own goal.

Barking, Exeter City's amateur F.A.Cup opponents, made a big effort in the last quarter of an hour before the interval, and but for one really great save by Holland in that period would have scored. But already two goals behind, and having to play with one man short during the whole of the second half, McBirney having been taken ill, the Londoners seemed prepared to accept defeat, and in the end were overwhelmed. The City, with Doncaster, Death and Ditchburn in brilliant form, played some splendid football, but the opposition was only moderate, and there is little doubt at all that the second round will be much harder. The teams were:

Exeter City: Holland; Lowton and Miller; Ditchburn, Pool, and Clarke; Purcell, Mc De vitt, Cameron, Doncaster, and Death.

Barking Town: S.E.Hines;E.J.McBirney and R.E.Gibbs; J.S.Kemp, A.J. Vango, and L.C.Anderson; A.A.Evans, D.J.Clark, I.S.Fox, G.Mason, and W.S.Lucas.

Referee:- Mr S.Trenchard, of Crewkerne.
Linesmen:- Messrs A.E.Warren and V.W.Curtis.

During the week Exeter City secured the transfer from Reading of Dennington, left-half, formerly of West Bromwich Albion. The new player was not put straight into the team but travelled with the Reserves to Torquay. With Billy Death available again after a month on the injury list following his collision with the Fulham goalkeeper in the match at Craven Cottage, the Grecians were at full strength for today's important match.

St James's Park in a Wet and Muddy State.

The Barking Town party, contrary to early advices, decided not to depart on their journey from London till this morning. Travelling from Paddington at 10.30 o'clock by the Commish Riveira express, they were due to reach Exeter St David's at 1.25 p.m., and as the kick off was fixed for 2.15 the players would have no time for sight-seeing in the city. St James's Park, in spite of the improved drainage system, was in a soaked and sodden state today in the wake of more heavy rain, and the frequent heavy showers replenished several large puddles which lay in the bare patches down the middle and in front of either goal. The roofed-in space on the popular bank was packed out by early comers, and the other spectators in the open had to face a gale of wind and frequent heavy showers. When Exeter City appeared McDevitt was presented with the usual lucky charm, a horseshoe tied with red and white ribbon, by a young admirer. The talisman was passed on to Holland, who tied it to the rigging at the St James's Road end, where the players lined up for a minute or two of shooting practice. Barking, led by A.J.Vango, then made an appearance, and looked very smart in blue and white quartered jerseys. There were only four thousand present when the captains tossed up, and Vango, winning, chose to defend the St James's Road end. Holland in crossing over to the goal at the far end, forgot the mascot, and had to go back to retrieve it.

The Game.
In the first minute Kemp fouled Death, and Clarke placed the free kick into the goalmouth, Hine clearing. Mason and Anderson tried to set the Barking machinery in motion, but Exeter's defence was steady. The ball was quickly transferred to the other end, and a shot by Purcell travelled wide of the goal. Inside the Exeter penalty the ball hit Pool's hand, but the referee judged the incident to be accidental, despite Barking's mild claim for a penalty. A good attempt was made by Doncaster to dribble through, but he was crowded off the ball by sheer weight of numbers. The strength of the wind was seen when a corner kick by Death was carried away down the field, over the heads of the City forwards. Ditchburn tried a long shot, which Hines cleared, and Holland saved from Kemp.

Steady Pressure and a Goal.

McDevitt's shrewd passing now led to steady pressure by the Grecians and kept the Barking team penned in their own half. Following a corner well sent in by Purcell, Clarke pushed the ball into the goal area and Cameron fired over from a sharp angle. Another corner to Exeter was nicely middled by Death, and when this came over McDevitt headed on to Purcell, who flashed the ball into the net from close in. This was in the thirteenth minute. From one of McDevitt's shrewd passes Death shot forcefully for goal, and the goalkeeper just managed to divert the ball over the bar. Hines then made two more good saves, from Death and Purcell. Exeter were doing much as they liked, yet could not completely get past the defence, in which Vango and Hines were the outstanding figures. Cameron in the penalty area was pushed in the back, but the referee chose to ignore it. In a race with McBirney for possession Death was the winner, and kicked ahead, but the ball stuck in the mud in the goalmouth, and all Hines had to do was to extract the mud-laden sphere and clear his lines. In the fifteen minutes prior to the interval Barking improved, and made great efforts to equalise, and when Clark shot with power from twelve yards he was cheered to the echo by the sporting Exeter crowd. Holland from that shot made the "save of the match," and he was cheered ever more loudly for it. Holland in the next minute fielded a hard shot, borne in on the wind, from Fox, and another from McBirney. Then, to rouse the crowd, now numbering 6,000 to a still greater pitch of enthusiasm Doncaster collected a pass from McDevitt, and showing a little extra speed as well as his customary neat control of the ball, left the Barking defence standing, and went on to beat the goalkeeper with a brilliant shot into the bottom corner of the rigging. Four minutes remained for half-time, which came with Exeter leading by two goals, scored by Purcell and Doncaster, to nil.

Second Half.
It transpired that McBirney was taken ill soon after the start of the match and that he would not be able to reappear for the second half. Play went to the Barking end right away, and in the first couple of minutes Hines was in busy action keeping out shots from Cameron and Purcell. With the wind now helping them the City were taking things comfortably, and Di tchburn, Mc De vitt, Doncaster, and Clarke proceeded to give their amateur opponents a football lesson in the art of combination play. Meanwhile, the rain was streaming down, and almost the whole Barking team were inside their own penalty area, kicking out and blocking a multitude of shots from Exeter's forwards. Exeter appealed for a penalty when a centre by Death was punched over the line by Kemp, but it made little difference when the referee signalled a corner, for Clarke was on hand to convert Death's flag kick with a hefty drive which entered the net off the underside of the crossbar. With 25 minutes left Cameron almost on the goal-line headed a swift centre by Death past the mud-spattered Barking goalkeeper, and in another minute Vango turned a dangerous ball from Death into his own net for goal number five. Now, owing to the slackness of Exeter's marking the visitors made ground but all they could manage was one long shot from Anderson, which Holland booted away without even bothering to pick the ball up. Death, seven minutes from the end, came storming through again, and dribbled past the entire Barking defence including the goalkeeper to coolly place the ball in the net for Exeter's sixth and final goal. Barking tried hard in the last few minutes for a consolation goal, and following a comer on the left Vango headed over the bar.


Friendly
TORQUAY UNITED RESERVES v
EXETER CITY RESERVES.

On account of their F.A.Cup-tie with Plymouth Argyle this afternoon, Yeovil had to cancel their scheduled Western League match against the City Reserves. A friendly at Plainmoor between Exeter Reserves and Torquay Reserves was then arranged, and this took place at Plainmoor, the Torquay "chiefs" being also occupied with a cup-tie, at Gillingham.

Torquay Reserves: - Millsom; J.W.Price, Mellon; Chamberlain, Penn, Townsend; Kelly, Thomas, E. Price, Budd, and Knapman.

City Reserves: - Campbell; P.Noble, M.Purcell; Sheffield, Phoenix, Dennington; J.Bluck, Streets, Wade, C. Bastin, and K.Wallis.

The only score in the first half was by Torquay, J.Price converting a penalty. After the interval Wade and Bastin (2) scored for Exeter, and Torquay got a late goal. The result was:
Torquay United Reserves 2
Exeter Reserves 3.