Exeter City v Brighton BRILLIANT PLAY BY CITY HALF BACKS Exeter Now on the Upward Road

Wednesday, September 30th 1931.

EXETER CITY 3
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION 1.


Thanks largely to a wonderful display by their half-backs, Clarke, Childs, and Barber, the City beat Brighton and Hove convincingly on Wednesday evening, the score of 3 to 1 by no means flattering the Grecians. Because of the gloomy day it was considered advisable to commence the game at 5.30 o'clock, instead of the advertised time of 5.40, and to dispense with the customary interval. There was only one thousand people present at the start, but the crowd increased later to about four thousand.

Exeter City:- Davies; Baugh and Miller; Clarke, Childs, and Barber; Armfield, Purcell, Varco, Houghton, and Doncaster.

Brighton: Duckworth; Marsden and Brett; Wilkinson, Mooney, and Dutton; Farrell, Kirkwood, Walker, Smith, and Wilson.

Referee:- Mr G.T.Gould, of London.

The Brighton goal had an amazing escape in the first minute, a lively Exeter attack ending in sharp shots at short range by Varco striking Duckworth and Wilkinson in turn. Exeter were out to do business and the forwards neglected no opportunity of shooting. Houghton's accurate and brainy play was a revelation. He had Brighton guessing at random almost every time he gained possession, and his slick passing of the ball to Doncaster and Varco were a delight to see. Doncaster narrowly missed getting the opening goal, for after dodging round Wilkinson he closed in on the goal and his ground shot, left footed, was inches wide of the post. On the other Exeter wing Armfield repeatedly got the better of Brett, but the Brighton man, like the rest of his colleagues, played in sportsmanlike fashion, and from this aspect no-one could have wished to have seen a better game. Despite all their pressure the Grecians were somehow unable to get the ball into the net, and at the end of 29 minutes the visitors came away in a sparkling attack and opened the scoring. Wilson broke away on the extreme left. Exeter made a half-hearted appeal for "offside" and then thought better of it and buckled to in an attempt to prevent a goal. Wilson was too quick however, squaring the ball in his full stride for Walker to ram it into the net from six yards. Exeter renewed their vigorous assaults on the Brighton goal, and in a very few minutes were rewarded with the equaliser. Barber placed the ball forward for Varco to swing round and land it in the net, shoulder high. The leather was hooked out before it reached the net, but Mr Gould was well up with the play, and immediately signalled a goal. In another two minutes the City had taken the lead. Clarke shot with force from just outside the penalty area, and one of the men in the blue and white uniform had the ill-luck to deflect the ball past Duckworth. Clarke's goal rounded off a neat bit of scoring by the City half-back trio, Childs and Barber having each found the net on Saturday. There were other good shots by Clarke, both before and after the interval, and indeed in the second half the City intermediates all showed brilliant form. Childs was a dominating figure in midfield, and he exerted himself to splendid purpose both in defence and attack. Ten minutes after the interval Childs put through a swift ground pass to Houghton, who was checked, but the ball ran to Varco, who steadied himself before firing a glorious right footed shot into the top of the rigging. Clarke's quickness, confidence, and cleverness were great assets again to his team, and Barber also played his usual consistent game, finding time to cover the enemy and also give his forwards solid support. With Purcell and Houghton in brilliant form in the forward line, and Miller and Baugh stout defenders in Exeter's cause, the Grecians proved to the satisfaction of everybody that they are on the upward road. Varco's bustling methods, and that extra bit of speed which he seems to have developed, proved very useful, and his brace of goals was well earned.