Saturday, February 21st 1931.
THAMES v EXETER CITY.

The critical position in which Thames are placed in the League table made the return match with Exeter City at West Ham Stadium of great importance to the supporters of the "babes" of the League. The City were paying their first visit to this part of the metropolis, and as the Stadium ground is almost as vast as Wembley itself, it should be an opportunity for the Grecians to get their players accustomed to a large and spacious arena such as they will be called upon to perform on next week at Roker Park, Sunderland.

Thames: Dobbin; Donnelly and Smith;
Warner, McCulloch, Riddock; F. LeMay, McCarthy, Perry, Phillips, and Mann.
Exeter City:- Davies; Baugh, Miller;
Clarke, Angus, and Barber; Armfield, Purcell, Varco, Houghton, and Doncaster.
Referee:- Mr J.M.Wiltshire, of Sherborne.

The weather was perfect, but the attendance was less than 4,000, which was a poor tribute to Exeter City's cup-fighting fame. The ground was heavy with thick mud and players experienced difficulty with attempts to make the ball travel far. Houghton initiated several promising moves for the Grecians, but Varco was too closely marked by McCulloch to be as effective as usual. Midway through the second half McCarthy scored for the London side after Varco and Clarke had gone close for Exeter. The game was largely spoiled through the bad state of the ground, and played mostly at little more than half pace.

Result: Thames 1 Exeter City 0.


Western League
CITY RESERVES v TAUNTON TOWN.

At St James's Park in sunny weather Exeter City Reserves entertained Taunton Town in a Western League match and beat them by four goals to nil. There was a crowd of 2,500 spectators present when Ditchburn won the toss, the teams lining up as follows:
City Reserves:- Jones; Gray, Shanks; Inglis, Ditchburn, Hill; J.Gumm, McCosh, Parsons, Halliday, and Lister.
Taunton Town:- Bristowe; McLean, Wilcox; Walker, Maclachlan, Brace; Smith, Paul, Western, Thomas, and Fish.

The visitors pressed at the start and forced the pace, but strong defensive play by Ditchburn sent them back. Halliday scored for Exeter in ten minutes and Parsons in thirty-five. Halliday registered Exeter's third goal right on the interval. In the second half Parsons had a penalty kick saved by Bristowe, Gumm having been tripped by Wilcox, but the City centre-forward made amends later on when he broke through and beat Bristow with a fierce shot.