BRILLIANT GOALKEEPING DISPLAY BY COPE OF SWINDON TOWN

Harsh Penalty Decision Upsets Exeter City

Saturday, November 22nd 1930.

SWINDON TOWN 2 (Kirby Morris) EXETER CITY 1 (Armfield)
Half-time 2-0.

Swindon Town: Cope; Stansfield and Girvan; Low, Archer, and Braithwaite; Munnings, Eddleston, Morris, Richardson, and Kirby.
Exeter City: Davies; Baugh and Miller;
Clarke, Dennington, Barber; Armfield, Purcell, Varco, Houghton, Lister.
Referee:- Mr A.J.Attwood, of Newport.

Swindon had to re-arrange their half-back line through Cockburn, the captain and centre-half, having a bad cold and being unable to play. Archer was moved to centre-half with Low coming in on the right. With Doncaster still injured, Lister, who played finely against Bournemouth last week, was kept at outside left. The playing field was saturated and muddy, and the spectators gathered in heavy rain. A strong wind was also blowing from goal to goal, and the conditions were anything but pleasant. Exeter, to avoid a colour clash, wore blue jerseys with wide red collars. The players were wet to the skin before the game commenced, the rain, driven by the wind, being very heavy just as the teams came out. Swindon won the toss, and Little to Choose Between the Sides. Exeter had to face the weather in the opening half. A thrilling game in deplorable conditions, in which there was little to choose between the two sides, was witnessed by a crowd of 5,000 at the Wiltshire County Ground this afternoon. Swindon had the advantage of the elements in the first half, and Davies in the Exeter goal was strongly tested, and not found wanting. The goalkeeping on both sides was a feature of the game, and Cope's work in the last line of Swindon's defence contributed largely to the Railwaymen's success. Swindon were handicapped through Munnings getting injured, but the player was able to remain on the field till the end. Doing most of the attacking in the first half, Swindon failed on occasions to drive home many promising attacks. Baugh's tackling was too keen for Morris, the burly Town centre-forward being repeatedly checked by the little Grecian right-back. The City were working at such a speed and the half-backs were so quick in recovery that the Grecians, despite the wind and rain, were holding their own in a hard and exciting match in which neither side gave or asked for any quarter. Armfield, from Varco's pass, placed a shot coolly just inside the post, and a wonderful save by Cope somehow kept the ball out of the net. Exeter's neat and purposeful football in attack was a delight to watch, and but for the splendid form of Cope they would probably have taken the lead. Just before half-time Morris was dribbling through when he was over-hauled and robbed by Baugh. The Swindon centre-forward fell, and the referee awarded the home side a penalty, which seemed a very harsh decision. Kirby took the kick and gave Davies no chance with a low drive to the corner of the net. Right on half-time, after a strong City attack had been repulsed, Davies stopped a shot from Munnings at point-blank range, but mere seconds later Morris scored the second goal for Swindon after Davies had run out and missed the ball. The score at the interval did not at all reflect the run of the game in the opening half. Exeter deserved to be in a better position, and would have been but for Cope, who was given a special ovation as the teams left the field. Eddleston missed an open goal for Swindon in the second half, and with twelve minutes left for play Armfield ran in when Cope failed to clear from Lister, and scored with a lovely header into the roof of the net.

Western League
EXETER CITY RESERVES 3
BRISTOL CITY RESERVES 2.

"Glorious Devon" did not live up to her reputation at Exeter this afternoon, and there was a very small crowd to welcome the reserve teams of the Grecians and Bristol City in a Western League match. There was disappointment in the fact that Alec Sheffield, the former City half-back, was not with the Bristol team.

City Reserves: Jones; Gray, Shanks; Inglis, Angus, E.Keefe; J. Gumm, McCosh, Parsons, Halliday, and Allison.
Bristol Reserves: Whitelaw; Hughes, Hayes; Jennings, Morgan, Garland; Wilson, Williams, Vials, Craig, and Johnson.

The Bristolians did most of the pressing in the first half, and took the lead shortly before the interval through Johnson, from Vials's pass. Midway through the second half Gumm netted with a fast rising shot from a well placed centre by Allison, and a few minutes later Allison provided Parsons with a shooting chance, and the centre-forward made no mistake. Towards the end, with the players wet through and covered in mud, two further goals were scored, Allison netting for Exeter and Vials for Bristol City.

• BILLY MCDEVITT AND THE GRECIANS' CUP CHANCES.
  The Exeter City players' manager, Mr W.McDevitt, is optimistic regarding the Grecians' chances against Northfleet, although, as he pointed out, it will not do to underate the opposition. "Financially the draw might have been better, but I do not think Northfleet are able to prevent the City making further progress," he said. A class exponent of the game himself, Mr McDevitt is out to build a side which plays real football, and his efforts have been bearing fruit in recent matches. He believes that a team which combines accurately and possesses the necessary craft will invariably succeed against haphazard "kick-it-anywhere" opponents. It is because Mr McDevitt thinks the present Exeter City team has those good qualities that he is of the opinion that the Grecians will do well in the great knock-out competition, provided, of course, a share of the luck is with them.

EXETER'S BEST SINCE 1927-28.

Whilst Exeter City are by no means at the top of the League, the position of leaders being held by Notts County, as yet unbeaten home or away, it will be very surprising if they finish done in the last two campaigns. the season among the "also rans," as they have The team has settled down into a nicely blended combination, with a strong and capable defence, a skilful and workmanlike half-back line, and a forward line of men who apart from being useful footballers are all regular goalscorers. Thirty-one goals have been obtained in the first seventeen matches, and only on two occasions has an Exeter City forward failed to find the net, namely in the games against Bristol Rovers (home) and Northampton (away) in September. That the goals are being shared out by the regular forwards is illustrated by the fact that all but three of these goals have been got by its members, the list being: Varco (11), Houghton (7), Armfield (5), Doncaster (3), and Purcell (2), the others having been scored by Baugh with two penalties, and Halliday, with a goal against Torquay United at St James's Park on September 13th.

The League and Cup exploits of the Grecians in season 1927-8 brought football fame and fortune to the Ever-Faithful city that year, but for reasons which are inexplicable in view of the fact that most of that season's team remained with the club, the successes of 1927-8 were of a fleeting nature. In 1928-9 the City touched rock-bottom.

It is now apparent that the present Exeter team is the best which has done duty for the club since the memorable season of 1927-8, and with youth on its side there is ample reason to hope and believe that it will improve still further.

ANALYSIS OF MATCHES AND POINTS.

In August Exeter City beat Norwich City; 1 match played for 2 points. In September Exeter City beat Brentford, drew with Luton, Bristol Rov., Torquay United, lost to Brighton, Bristol Rov., Northampton, Luton; 8 matches played for 5 points. In October Exeter City beat Thames, Clapton Orient, drew with Southend United, lost to Crystal Palace; 4 matches played for 5 points. In November Exeter City beat Watford, Bournemouth, drew with Notts County, lost to Swindon; 4 matches played for 5 points. The following players have appeared in these matches: Davies, Jones, Gray, Baugh, Miller, Shanks; Clarke, Inglis, Dennington, Ditchburn, Barber, Purcell, Lister, Houghton, Varco, Halliday, Parsons, Doncaster, and Armfield.