GRECIANS WERE SUPERIOR AT VICARAGE ROAD

Early Goal By Varco Earns City Two Points

Saturday, November 8th 1930.

WATFORD 0
EXETER CITY 1  (Varco)
Half-time 0-1.

Watford: Hewett; Clements and Davison; Reynolds, McBain, and Woodward; Chapman, Barnett, James, Wooliscroft, and Lindsay.
Exeter City:- Davies; Baugh and Miller; Clarke, Dennington, and Barber;
Armfield, Purcell, Varco, Houghton, and Doncaster.
Referee:- Mr W.E.Russell, of Swindon.

To say that Exeter City sprang a surprise on Watford is to put it mildly. Not only did they win by one goal, but their superiority was such that they should have had a much more pronounced victory. From the start they were on top, and except for one brief spell, early in the second half, they kept there. To Varco fell the credit of the winning goal five minutes from the opening. It came about when Clarke cleared a Watford attack, and passed to Barber, who just missed the crossbar with a fine drive. From the goal kick Barber captured the ball and passed to Houghton, who made a brilliant run during which he eluded four men in succession. His shot for goal was parried by Hewett, but Varco, coming up at full steam forced the ball home to put the Grecians one up.

Barber's Powerful Shooting.

Hewett was frequently in action, and he distinguished himself with saves from Doncaster and Varco, but the  marksman who gave him the most trouble was Barber, who shot powerfully and straight when least expected. The Watford forwards were a ragged line. The inside men did not keep properly in position, and the wingmen appeared to know little about the art of centreing. James was closely watched, and in most of his duels with Dennington he came out second best. Furthermore, many Watford passes went to Exeter players, and the home side rarely got near enough the Exeter goal to trouble Davies. McBain was the only Watford half-back who was equal to his task, and even he was often left standing by the speedy and thrustful Varco. Exeter played a much more open game than their opponents, and Rey and Woodward were no match for the guile and craft of Houghton and Purcell, while Clements was always outpaced by Doncaster. Watford's best spell was at the start of the second half, and a clever combined raid was cleared by Baugh. Then Davies punched out a good centre from Chapman, and after further pressure Miller cleared to touch. A free kick by McBain was kept out by Davies, and then play was transferred to the Watford end, Doncaster getting away smartly and passing to Barber, whose shot was only inches wide. Watford continued to attack and Barnett headed wide from a corner. Reynolds was penalised for fouling Houghton, then Armfield received the same fate when he fouled Reynolds. The pressure from Watford gradually faded away, and Exeter took control, shots being sent in by Varco, Doncaster, Barber, and Dennington, all of which missed narrowly and deserved a better fate.

Western League
CITY RESERVES 3
PLYMOUTH ARGYLE RESERVES 0.

At St James's Park today Exeter City Reserves were at home to Plymouth Argyle Reserves in a Western League match. There was a crowd of 2,500 spectators. The Argyle included at inside-right W.Bird, their new forward from Bray Unknowns, the Irish club.

City Reserves:- Jones; Gray and Shanks; Inglis, Angus, and Ditchburn; J.Gumm, McCosh, Allison, Halliday, and Lister.
Argyle Reserves:- Stanbury; Thompson and Voden; Woosey, Deacon, and Gorman; Fellowes, Bird, D.M.Mackay, Prentice, and Leitch.
Referee:- Mr A.F.Davis, of Bristol.

The game opened brightly, Allison testing Stanbury with a fast shot along the carpet, the goalkeeper having to act very quickly to keep the ball out. Mackay made two attempts to break through the Exeter defence, but failed each time, and in five minutes the City took the lead through McCosh, who from a centre by Gumm placed a grand shot into the bottom corner on Stanbury's left. Inglis and Ditchburn were prominent with a series of nice passes to keep their forwards on the move, and McCosh scored again after 23 minutes with two Argyle and two City players prone on the ground in consequence of the sharp scramble in front of the goal.Exeter were attacking hotly when the interval arrived with the score two goals to nil in their favour.

Halliday at the start of the second half had hard luck with a header which hit the crossbar with Stanbury beaten. Gumm was applauded for his persistent play which frequently had the Plymouth defence in sore straits. At length the Argyle came nearer to scoring than at any time previously, and in one attack Prentice received the ball right in front of the posts, and Jones made a dramatic save. Jones also saved from Mackay, from Fellowes's centre. Towards the end Exeter pressed eagerly again. Allison missed by inches, and a rising drive from McCosh hit the post. Five minutes before the finish McCosh wound up a capital attack with another goal to make his "hat-trick." Exeter's best players were Ditchburn, Allison, Gumm, and McCosh. The Argyle were well served by Mackay, Bird, and Stanbury.