Norwich City v Exeter City 

Saturday, February 9th 1929.

NORWICH CITY 5 (Porter Slicer Chappell Dent McKenna)
EXETER CITY 0

The Grecians' best work was seen in the first few minutes of each half, and they were unlucky in those periods not to score. Under pressure the defence went to pieces in the second half, five goals being conceded. Exeter's attack played smartly, Purcell and Death being prominent. The home goalie and backs, however, were just a little too good for them.
Norwich City:- Dennington; Hannah and Richmond (captain); Lamb, McLaverty, and McGrae; Porter, Chappell, Dent, McKenna, and Slicer.
Exeter City:- Campbell; Pollard and Lowton (captain); Phoenix, Pool, and Dennington; Purcell, Streets, Hick, Cameron, and Death.

With so much depending upon the result, today's match at The Nest, Norwich, was sure to be a desperate struggle. Each team was in a precarious position the League, and neither could afford to drop points if the relegation bogey were to be avoided. Surprisingly little interest was taken in the match locally, and although the weather was bright only about 4,000 spectators put in an appearance. The old Exeter City centre-forward, Fred Dent, who has been traneferred from Merthyr Town, led the Canaries' attack.

Goals Mounting Up Against Exeter City.

For the second week in succession Exeter forfeited five goals. On the other hand Norwich City, who had not scored a goal since December 29th, obtained their biggest League of the season. Exeter's main weakness was at half back, and Pool, a very hard worker in the pivotal position, had frequently to go to the aid of his wing partners. In the defence Pollard played well until he was injured and had to go to the outside right position, and Lowton all through was a strong defender. Campbell made several brilliant saves, but also several mistakes. He might have prevented the first goal, by Porter, from a free kick, and the third was the result of his mistake, Chappell scoring. In between these two goals Porter had had a hard shot saved by Campbell, but the ball went to Slicer, who scored from the rebound. Death and Cameron played well on the Exeter left wing, and Hick held the line together very efficiently most of the time. With better support than usual from their half backs the Norwich forwards gave an improved display, especially in the second half, when Dent layed a clever game at centre forward. His goal, and Norwich City's fourth, followed a fine dribble, very reminiscent of his methods at Exeter last season. McKenna got the fifth Norwich goal from close in after a pass from Dent had opened up the Exeter defence. Every Norwich forward thus got a goal each. The Grecians never gave up hope, but in the second half with Pollard on the right wing, Purcell inside, Streets at right half, and Phoenix at right back, they were a disorganised team, and they could not reduce the lead, yet though they were vanquished by five goals to nil they scarcely deserved such a high score against them.

Southern League 
CITY RESERVES 8
YEOVIL AND PETTERS UNITED 2.

There were 2,000 spectators at St James's Park this afternoon to witness the Southern League encounter between Exeter City Reserves and Yeovil United. The weather was clear, but the ground muddy and wet after recent rains. The following teams took the field at two minutes to three o'clock.

Exeter: Holland; Noble and Miller; Sheffield, Mc Devitt, and Clarke; Bluck, Doncaster, Smith, Bastin, and Hutchings.

Yeovil: Rogers; Day and Baynham;
Williams, Smith, and Campbell; Newman, Goulden, Waite, Lowes, and Grist.

Clifford Bastin, who has now signed professional forms, turned out for his first match as a paid player, flanked by two amateurs, Smith and Hutchings. Yeovil took the lead in seven minutes, Waite tapping the ball into the goal after a long drive by Smith had struck the bottom of the crossbar and dropped on the line, Holland missing the ball. Bastin, who was the prime mover in Exeter's attacks, nearly scored twice, but generally the finishing of the forwards was weak. Rogers saved from Doncaster, and then Bastin, dribbling through, was tripped in the penalty area. Taking the spot kick himself he beat Rogers with a swift low shot to the corner of the goal. From a beautifully placed corner kick by Bluck the City's second goal was scored by Hutchings.

Second Half.
By the end of fifteen minutes in the second half Exeter Reserves were leading five goals to one, Smith having netted three times. Doncaster put the correct finishing touch to a very pretty attack, making the total six, and in later play crossed the ball accurately to Smith, who scored his own fourth goal and the City's seventh. In a short Yeovil attack Waite reduced their arrears, then Doncaster ran nearly the length of the field to net the eighth goal.

• EXETER CITY DEVELOPMENT.

DIRECTORS ACCEPT MANAGER'S RESIGNATION: PLAYERS CONFIDENT.
Mr. Dave Wilson, manager of the Exeter City club, tendered his resignation at the Wednesday's night's meeting of the Directors. It was accepted, and takes effect immediately. Mr. Wilson was appointed to the position towards the close of last season, his predecessor, Mr. Fred Mavin, having resigned in November 1927, to take up the managerial position with the Crystal Palace club. From then onwards until the beginning of April the City were without a manager, the duties being carried on in the meantime by Mr. S.H. Thomas, the secretary. Mr. McGahey, the Chairman of the club, is abroad on business.

Statement by Mr Thomas.

Mr. S.H.Thomas stated this morning, Thursday, February 14th, that no steps had been taken with regard to filling the vacancy and the Club will carry on with no team manager, as it did at the successful period of last season. "The Directors feel," Mr Thomas said, "that the remainder of the 1929 season, and its success, is in the hands of the players, and we have every confidence, in spite of the fact that we are at the bottom of the Southern Section, that the present players are quite capable of pulling the Club out of the fire, and they have expressed so themselves.
"Unfortunately, the Club is suffering very severely from injuries, and every week we have to keep changing the team. But the players are now getting right, and we hope that by the end of this month things will straighten out, and that with the predominance of home matches next month the City will begin to pull through." Mr. Thomas added that the teams for next Saturday's matches could not yet be selected because of injuries to players. Pollard and Streets are unfit, due to knee injuries, but it is hoped that Houghton will be able to resume duty.

• Saturday, February 16th 1929. Exeter City v Brighton.

FUTILE EFFORTS TO SAVE THE SITUATION.

St James's Park has a remarkably good record in the matter of fitness for foot ball, and in the confident belief that the adverse weather conditions could be overcome in time for today's Football League match between the City and their visitors from Brighton, the City Club this morning decided to have the playing pitch cleared of the four-inch covering of snow. At ten o'clock therefore, some fifty men commenced operations with shovels, brooms, and wheel-barrows, the work being assisted by a slight thaw. Further snowfalls occurred while the work was in progress, but this caused little or no concern in view of the rise in the temperature. Before noon the work was half completed. The ground was hard in patches under neath the snow, but the thaw was taking effect. When the referee arrived at one o'clock, however, he decided that the match could not be played. As a matter of fact the snowfall had become increasingly heavy, and it was found impossible to combat the weather conditions. Banks of snow lay across the centre of the pitch, which became uniformly white again. the Shortly before two o'clock the Brighton team and officials arrived on ground, and the most cursory inspection of the field satisfied the visitors that the referee's decision was the right one. They hastened away from "Sunny Devon" by the first available train.
Despite the fact that the heavy snowfall persisted, many hundreds of would-be spectators put in an appearance, and one of the regular gatemen remarked with a "twinkle in his eye," that the habitual grousers (the people who vow every so often that they will never turn up again to see the team) were very largely represented among the supporters standing ankle deep in the snow outside the gates, regretting the latest development.

ST. JAMES'S PARK RECORD BROKEN TODAY.

The postponement today of a Football League match at St James's Park because of snow has broken the ground record. Mr S.H.Thomas, Secretary of the Exeter City Football Club since its original entry into first-class football, stated this afternoon that he could not recall a similar postponement on the City ground, either in the club's old time days in the Southern League, or in its later years in the Football League. Watford in the first season after the war failed to appear at St James's Park on the date fixed, but that was on an ideal autumn afternoon, and the reason was the railway strike. More recently a Southern Counties' Amateur Championship match between Devon and Middlesex, arranged for a Wednesday afternoon, could not be played because of a very heavy and prolonged rainstorm, the ground being flooded. And a County match arranged for a Saturday before the War was put off also on the account of rain. Although the Exeter City playing pitch was declared unfit for match play this. afternoon and the gates were not opened, the Secretary and a number of players enjoyed some lively ball practice in the snow.

TAUNTON TOWN 1
EXETER CITY RESERVES 2.

Southern League match at Taunton. The ground had to be cleared of several inches of snow, and the game started twenty minutes late. The City Reserves maintained their recent good form, the team being very quick and lively. Gumm, of St. James's, scored for Exeter in the first half. In the second half another goal was added by Gumm, who shot between the posts after retrieving the ball from his own header which had rebounded off the crossbar. Pattison then scored for Taunton. Bastin dribbled through and scored Exeter's third goal, but it was disallowed on account of Gumm standing offside.

The Exeter team was:- Campbell; Hill and Noble; Dennington, Pool, and Christie; Bluck, Gumm, Wade, Bastin, and Hutchings.