Exeter City v Merthyr Town 
Easter Monday, April 1st 1929.

EXETER CITY 5 (Lowton Hick Houghton Bastin Cameron)
MERTHYR TOWN 0 

Beating Merthyr Town by five clear goals at St James's Park this afternoon, Exeter City moved up two places in the Southern Section table. The Grecians have the same number of points as Merthyr Town and Norwich City, who lost against Brentford today, but their goal average is just a shade better than the Norfolk club and substantially better than that of the Martyrs. This season Exeter City have had their full share of the bottom position in the table, and had been in occupation of the lowest berth since January. Whether the Grecians, having once handed over the wooden spoon to another club, will manage to steer clear of the relegation zone for the few weeks now remaining for football depends largely on the result of tomorrow's game at Penydarren Park, Merthyr, a game for which both Exeter and the Martyrs seemed to be reserving their best energies in the closing stages of today's encounter.

Exeter City: Holland; Lowton and Miller; Sheffield, Dennington, and Clarke; Purcell, Houghton, Hick, Bastin, and Cameron.

Merthyr Town: McKenna; Page and Bishop; Crewe, Warren, and Parkin; Jones, Williams, Parker, Brown, and Borland.

Today's match was watched by a good humoured holiday crowd numbering 10,000. Good football was rendered exceedingly difficult by a strong and gusty wind that amounted almost to a gale at times, while there was also a dazzling sun to bother the players. Merthyr were captained by Warren, the former Exeter centre-half, while Parkin, his left-hand partner, is another ex-Grecian. Although Lowton won the toss and therefore placed Exeter at an advantage to begin with, Merthyr adapted themselves much better to the conditions than did Exeter, and were frequently dangerous. Exeter, however, were strongly represented at full-back, Lowton and Miller defending with their customary skill and decision. Even so, the City were lucky when Borland, cutting in, just failed to get his head to a centre from Jones, and when Parker, later on, shot weakly in front of goal, allowing Holland to save by stretching out his right hand. All through the first half Page had been the stumbling block to the Exeter forwards, and therefore it was doubly unfortunate for Merthyr that he should concede a penalty by fouling Cameron five minutes before the interval. Page and several of his colleagues protested hotly and at length against the award of a penalty kick, but when the Merthyr men realised that the referee meant what he said, and when McKenna had at last been persuaded to take up his stance between the posts Lowton drove the ball past him at express speed to the rigging. Exeter improved greatly after the interval, and with the forwards putting a lot more energy and enterprise into their work, and with the halves giving them really useful support, four more goals were added before threequarter time. Houghton and Bastin, the youngest members of the attack, were the two star performers.

Another Penalty Kick.

Houghton and Bastin between them cut out the opening from which Hick scored Exeter's second goal within a minute of the change of ends; then Houghton himself hustled McKenna into the net with the ball; next Bastin scored from a penalty awarded for a glaring foul on himself, while the fifth goal began with Lowton bring the ball along to feed Purcell, who crossed to the other wing, where Cameron breasted the leather down and scored with a neat cross shot. Merthyr were by this time a well beaten team, and speculation was rife as to how many more goals the Grecians would claim. There were 25 minutes still to play. Five goals proved to be the total, because most of the later scoring chances went to Hick, who, to put it politely, was "out of luck" with his shooting. At the same time, credit must be given to McKenna for a display of splendid and sound goalkeeping, and a couple of sensational saves at Hick's expense.

Southern League
MERTHYR TOWN RESERVES 2
EXETER CITY RESERVES 3.

In this Southern League match, played at Penydarren Park, Merthyr's football was of the kick and rush type, and Exeter, in spite of an indifferent second half display, never looked like losing. The Exeter forwards showed neat combination throughout the first half, and their shooting was strong and generally well directed. Wade and Streets with very good shots gave them a lead of two goals to nil at the interval. Wade added Exeter's third goal in the second half. Banks and Fennell then scored for the Martyrs, each goal coming out of a scramble in the penalty area.