Merthyr Town v Exeter City 

Tuesday, April 2nd 1929

MERTHYR TOWN 2  (Crewe Williams) EXETER CITY 1 (Hick)

The defeat of Exeter City this afternoon at Penydarren Park by Merthyr Town has had the effect of sending the Grecians to the bottom of the Southern Section again, with the last five places held as shown:

Merthyr Town
Torquay United
Gillingham
Norwich City
Exeter City

The first half of the game at Merthyr was played at a terrific pace, and the honours undoubtedly went to the Welsh side, their attack being more direct in its methods than Exeter City's. The first goal to the Martyrs came after ten minutes' play, Borland passing to Crewe, who beat Holland from close in. Despite the fact that Lowton's deputy, Pollard, who also captained the team, won the toss and placed the City at an advantage as gards the wind the sun in the first half, nearly all the play ran in Merthyr's favour, and only the brilliant defence of Holland and Miller, and to a lesser extent Pollard, prevented a total collapse.

Merthyr Town:- McKenna; Page and Scott; Lewis, Crewe, and Warren;
Jones, Brown, Parker, Williams, and Borland.

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

With the second half only a few minutes old Williams placed Merthyr further ahead after a pretty round of passing on their left wing. Exeter woke up after this, and the speed of Cameron and Purcell on the wings frequently had the home backs in difficulties, and it came as no surprise when Hick reduced the lead with a magnificent shot from long range, which completely deceived McKenna. From that point till the end Merthyr adopted "safety first" tactics, packin their goal at the slighest sign of danger, but they were nevertheless good winners, if only for their excellent first half display. For Exeter, Holland played a remarkably fine game in goal, and he was covered exceptionally well by Pollard and the brilliant Miller. Mason, now seemingly fully recovered from a serious illness, was a reliable and sound pivot, although he frequently came under the ban of the referee for using his weight too vigorously. At the same time, he rendered Parker more ineffective than any centre-half has since Parker transferred to Merthyr. In the forward division Hick was a forceful leader, and scored a nice goal, but generally speaking Bastin was the only member of the Exeter attack who seemed to know where the goal was. Exeter City's remaining matches are against Watford home and away, Walsall home, Brighton home, Newport away, Crystal Palace home, and Swindon away. An extra special effort is now required.


Western League 
BATH CITY 5
EXETER CITY RESERVES 0.

Exeter City Reserves, weakened by injuries, and tired after a very strenuous Easter programme, came a cropper at Bath this afternoon in their last but one away match in the Western League. The first half gave no indication of the way the Grecians were going to be over-run in the second, for Bath, despite all their pressing, were well off the target when it came to shooting, and only managed to score just before the interval. Afterwards, however, they took charge of the game, and might have penetrated more than four times but for the sterling goalkeeping of Campbell. The backs, who began well, faded out, and this imposed a heavy task on Campbell. The Bath City scorers were Brittain (2), Alsop (2), and Andrews (1).
Andrews obtained his goal in the last minute. He is on a month's trial at Bath, and was previously with Torquay United, Exeter City, and Merthyr. He has netted five goals in four matches for his new club, and has displaced Brittain, who has been sent to outside-right, though he has 47 goals to his credit to date this season. It will be recalled that although Andrews failed to secure his place with the "Chiefs" at St James's Park he obtained 37 goals in Southern and Western League matches for the Reserves last season.

Inability to Shoot Straight.

The chief sin of omission on the part of Exeter was the inability of any of their forwards to shoot straight. Repeatedly the ball was sent over the bar, and only Wade came near to scoring, which he did on several occasions. Exeter's approach work, however, was at times very convincing, but it was all wasted at the crucial moment. The halves were Exeter's best line, and Phoenix in particular caught the eye with his strong tackling and brainy ball distribution.