Exeter City v Brighton & Hove Albion 

Wednesday, April 17th 1929.

EXETER CITY 4 (Hick 2 Clarke Lowton) BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION 1 (Hopkins)

Rain began to fall as the spectators were assembling for this afternoon's Football League match at St James's Park between Exeter City and Brighton and Hove Albion, and there were 2,000 spectators when play commenced.

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

Brighton: Webb; Smith and Curran;
Wilkinson, Williams, and Gordon; Farrell, Kirkwood, Carruthers, Hopkins, and Wilson.

Referee: Mr J.V.Pennington, of Reading.

Lowton won the toss and elected to defend the St James's Road end, with the wet breeze blowing towards the railway end of the ground. It was important for Exeter to do well today in view of the club's League position, and the hopes of the supporters ran high. However, the opening was sensational, and certainly not the type of sensation relished by the crowd. Barely two minutes had elapsed when from Farrell the ball was sent across to Wilson, who centred into the City goalmouth. Holland made a poor clearance, fisting out directly to Farrell, who placed the ball back in the middle for Hopkins to score from about five yards' range. Exeter showed little idea of combined play or constructive football in the first half, and Brighton were the masters.  Clarke was finding it difficult to settle down to his new role in the forward line, and was inclined to hang back too far, leaving Purcell to forage for himself. Holland saved a certain goal when he jumped to turn a swinging shot by Farrell over the bar, the corner being cleared by Mason. The play was at all times keen, but without much polish, and the superior quality of the Brighton attack served to show in very favourable light the merit of Miller and Lowton. Bastin brought Webb to his knees with a "pile-driver," and following this and one or two other samples of the Bastin genius, Kirkwood deemed it worth his while to pay quite a lot of attention to the former Ladybird, and the Exeter youngster did exceedingly well in his encounters with the hefty skipper of Brighton.

Some Escapes for Brighton and a Goal!

Five minutes before the interval the Brighton goal had two narrow escapes, Purcell shooting fiercely against the crossbar, and Mason following up with another glorious drive that Webb just managed to tip over. And one minute Exeter's long sustained assault was rewarded with a goal. Mason secured the ball on the half-way line and lobbed it up the middle to Hick, who beat the advancing Webb with a low shot from an acute angle. Less than a minute after the scoring of the equalising goal Hick and Purcell collaborated in a clever piece of dribbling, and with the Brighton defence at sixes and sevens Purcell moved in and netted with a thunderous shot that Webb never saw. The ball hit the underneath of the crossbar, struck the ground inside the goal, and spun against the net support and back into the field of play. The referee, however, waved play on, and refused to listen to Exeter's appeal that a goal had been scored.
Half time: City 1 Brighton 1.

Second Half.

Exeter City were very dangerous when play was resumed, and in fact, apart from the shaky opening spell and the concession of a goal to Brighton, the Grecians were providing their supporters with some of the best work of the season to date. There was a very strong appeal for another goal when a hard shot from Purcell beat Webb and the ball was booted out by Smith, standing inside the goal. The referee, however, who seemed to have some views all of his own on the rules, gave Brighton a free kick for offside. Midway through this half Brighton began to have more of the play, and Holland saved shots from Carruthers and Kirkwood. Fifteen minutes before the finish Death picked up a pass from Mason, and made off up the wing, outpacing Smith and transferred the ball to Hick. Hick then dodged past Curran and beat Webb from fifteen yards with a lovely curling shot which entered the net off the inside of the goalpost. At the time of Hick scoring Kirkwood was lying on the ground inside the City penalty area, apparently badly hurt. He was assisted off the field by two of his players and the referee.  With nine minutes remaining Clarke made victory certain for Exeter, heading strongly into the net after Webb had missed a centre from Hick. In the last minute of the game the City were awarded a free kick for a foul on Clarke, and Lowton from nearly forty yards, drove the ball high into the net with the last kick of the match.

Comments.
This afternoon's win, after a poor opening, was in the end richly deserved, and will lift Exeter two or three places in the League table. However, in order to maintain the advantage the team will have to do as well as they did today in the remaining games.