Exeter City v  Torquay

TORQUAY CAPTURE A POINT FROM DISAPPOINTING CITY SIDE

Alderson Keeps the Score Sheet Blank

Wednesday, September 18th 1929.


Exeter City:- Alderson; Howson and Shanks; Sheffield, Mason, and McMullan; Purcell, Houghton, Henderson, Hemingway, and Doncaster.

Torquay United:- Gough; Corbett and Fowler; High, Cann, and Smith; Mercer, Hill, Pointon, Robinson, and Waller.

Referee:- Mr C.E.Lines, of Birmingham.

Exeter City gave yet another disappointing display on Wednesday evening, when 7,000 spectators saw Torquay United give a superior exhibition in the Football League match at St James's Park. It was the Grecians' fourth game consecutively without a goal to their credit; a matter of six hours of play without the encouragement of getting the ball into the net of their rivals.

AN EXCITING INCIDENT.

There was tremendous excitement in the last minute of this latest game, and for a moment the majority of the spectators thought the City had scored a goal and won the match. The light was fading fast. Sheffield, by means of persistence and cleverness, surprised the visiting defence with a straight ahead pass to Purcell, who gave to Henderson, who in turn gave to Hemingway. The inside left unfortunately did nothing better than weakly tap the ball into the arms of Gough, then, in an effort to rectify his mistake, followed up and charged the goalkeeper at full speed, and a scramble in the mouth of the goal ensued. "Its in the net," yelled spectators at the far end of the field, although the onlookers who were better placed maintained a discreet silence. The referee soon dispelled the dreams of the optimists by awarding Torquay a free kick, on the grounds that a foul had been committed. That was the nearest Exeter got to scoring, although Houghton went very near with a splendid left-foot drive, and Henderson made two neat efforts which Gough collected just as neatly, whilst Hemingway blazed away at the net with grim determination but without direction. The hero of the game from Exeter's standpoint was Alderson. He had some very difficult work to do, especially in the first half, but never seemed to be the slightest bit flurried, and continually baulked the Torquay forwards. It was not the usual case, in this match, of Exeter's forwards missing all their scoring chances, for this time the chances were not there. McDevitt and Death, who usually provide them, were missing from the forwards and Houghton was played out of position. The general impression was that the City forwards were a poor line, and the matter for most regret was that Purcell, who alone of the vanguard, had some fruitful ideas, was not given more of the ball. At half-back Mason did not play such a strong game as usual, and McMullan, who studies every move, was easily the best of the City trio. The most impressive of the Torquay players were Fowler, the captain, Cann, young centre-half, and Hill.