Exeter City v Crystal Palace
Saturday, April 27th 1929.

EXETER CITY 1 (Lowton)
CRYSTAL PALACE 2  (Charlesworth Griffiths)

This was a disastrous afternoon for Exeter City, who led by Lowton's shot from the penalty spot from the thirtieth to the fifty-fourth minute, then conceded two goals in less than sixty seconds, and thereafter found that the Palace in a winning position was a very different proposition to the Palace when they were a goal behind. The damage done in these two simple Crystal Palace scoring movements was irreparable. The mischief was of course done on the Palace wing, Butler and Clarke being allowed to get the centres across. Those two goals undid all the good accomplished by the City's strong play before the interval, and in the eyes of the crowd nothing mattered at all this afternoon except the final score. The City were beaten by a heavier side, and the persistent rain throughout the second half certainly suited the Palace, for they played much better on the wet pitch than anything they had looked like doing at any time in the opening chapter. Bastin was Exeter's best player by a long chalk.

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

Crystal Palace:- Callender; Crilly and Charlton; Salt, Wilde,and Greener; Charlesworth, Havelock, Griffiths, Butler, and Clarke.

Referee:- Mr G.Franklin, of Portsmouth.

Exeter City's home Football League programme was wound up this afternoon with a match of great importance to both the competing teams. The City needed the points to escape the necessity of applying for re-election at the end of the season; Crystal Palace required them to preserve their prospects of getting promoted to the Second Division. Add to this the fact that the Palace manager and captain were with Exeter City last season and it will be realised that today's game at St. James's Park was one of the most interesting, as it was the most vital, of the whole season.

Team Changes.

Exeter had Billy Death at outside left again, now recovered from his recent injury. Crystal Palace made several alterations as compared with the eleven which lost at Bournemouth on Wednesday. Charlesworth moved from the centre forward position to outside-right, and the leadership of the attack was en trusted to Griffiths, who joined the Palace from Torquay United. The Palace at inside-left dropped Dunsire in favour of H.Butler, who is a brother of W.Butler, the Bolton Wanderers outside-right, who is, with Blackmore and Dick Pym, in the limelight at Wembley this afternoon. Dull but dry weather, not much wind, and a hard ground were the conditions at the commencement, and the spectators turned up in bigger numbers than of late. There were six thousand present when the teams took the field, Crystal Palace wearing deep blue jerseys and white knickers. "Auld Lang Syne" (Should auld acquaintance be forgot) was played by the Band in Stanley Charlton's honour as he led his team out, and the crowd gave the popular ex-Grecian a rousing ovation. He appeared to have put on some weight, and in fact looked to be almost as heavy as his old partner Wilf Lowton.

The Game.

Charlton won the toss, as he so often used to when skippering the City in the old days, and Exeter kicked off from the St James's Road end. A free kick to the Palace in midfield was placed to the front of the Exeter goal by Salt and Holland jumped and punched away in his classy style. Two centres by Purcell were headed clear by Crilly. Butler started a bright Palace movement in which Griffiths veered to the left, hooked the ball over Lowton's head and centred for Charlesworth to race past Miller and head strongly goalwards, but Holland came out and fielded the ball. A corner to the Palace was headed clear by Bastin, then Bastin and Death made ground up the wing in front of the grandstand, but Crilly intercepted the move and cleared downfield to Griffiths, who in turn was checked by Mason. Death got away nicely for Exeter, but the only shot Callender had to deal with was a twenty-yarder from R.Clarke.

Exeter Get a Penalty Against Charlton.

The crowd had increased to seven thousand, and they saw Charlesworth send a powerful header over the bar from a corner taken on the opposite wing. The City returned to the attack through the usual agency of Death and Bastin, and Bastin indulged in a brilliant piece of dribbling, going past Charlton like an express train. Unfortunately he failed to control the ball closely enough, and Callender dashed out of his goal and picked up. Exeter forced the pace and Hick tried a shot from Bastin's pass, but there was nothing behind it. The crowd were thrilled when from Lowton's long clearance Purcell managed to hustle the ball past Charlton, out on the touchline. As he was closing in on the goal Purcell was overhauled by Charlton, who threw his right foot out in a determined attempt to reach the ball. Purcell fell over Charlton's leg, and the referee, after seeming to suspend judgment until he had quite made up his mind, awarded Exeter a penalty. Lowton with his customary "thunderbolt" to the back of the net scored from the white mark, the game then being half an hour old.
After Holland had saved from Griffiths the City swarmed back again to the Palace end with Bastin in positively brilliant form. The fair-haired local youngster delighted the spectators with another marvellous dribble across the Palace penalty area and a quick left-foot shot which sailed narrowly over the bar. Death came near to increasing the City's score with a crashing drive and Callender made a thrilling save, fisting the ball high into the air and over the top of the goal. The corner was cleared by Charlton, and at half time the score was Exeter City 1 Crystal Palace nil.

The football all through the first half was as good as anything seen at the Park this year and the City were really good value for their goal lead. The goalkeepers had both been busily employed, Callender the more so. Hardly had the game been resumed when Bastin again thrilled the spectators by dribbling confidently almost to the Palace goal area for an opening. At the last minute Callender came out and partly stopped Bastin's shot, and the ball was deflected over the line for a corner. And Bastin received a leg injury in the collision with Callender, but after a brief rest was able to carry on, although he had to change places with Death.

Palace Improve on a Wet Pitch.

Rain now began to fall heavily, and with the Palace relying mainly on their right wing for attacking purposes, Miller was the busier of the two Exeter full-backs. The injury to Bastin was beginning to look more serious than it had at first appeared, for when the City broke away now the crippled youth lost the ball at the goal-line and collapsed in pain. He bravely decided to carry on, and even under his handicap continued to give the Palace defenders deep anxiety when in possession of the ball. The Palace, with their style suited to the wet pitch, improved considerably and began to force the pace, and when the second half was ten minutes old equalised through Charlesworth, who headed sharply into the Exeter net from Butler's perfect centre. Straight from the kick off G.Clarke captured the ball from Sheffield, and in a flash took it full pelt up the touchline and centred to Griffiths, right in front of the Exeter goal, and another header landed in the Exeter net. The momentary failure of the City defence was disastrous. The second half was ten minutes old and the Palace now held the whip-hand. Exeter were faced with a heavy task indeed, for their forward line was reduced to four fit men and a cripple. Never surely had a game been transformed so suddenly, quickly, and dramatically as this one.

Ball Skidding About on the Wet Turf.

Death raised Exeter's hopes with a strong run down the popular side, but in the end he was halted by Crilly in the penalty area. Callender saved a shot from Hick, and Charlton with a strong tackle prevented Hick getting clear for another shot. Streaming rain thinned the crowd out considerably, and the players found the slippery conditions very difficult after months of dry hard grounds. There then was a lot of big kicking which did not impress, and Bastin, almost on one leg, still managed to dribble past the Palace defenders in that amazing way he has, and once skimmed the Palace crossbar with a truly great shot. There was a big cheer when the news of Bolton Wanderers' F.A.Cup victory was put up on the Football Express score-board, the Bolton team of course having the two ex-Grecians in its ranks. This in fact was about the only thing the spectators had felt able to wax enthusiastic about since the Palace had so unexpectedly taken the lead.

Western League
Yeovil v Exeter City Reserves
The Reserves, with Pollard at centre-forward, drew their Western League match at Yeovil 3-3. Pollard, Cameron and Hutchings scored for Exeter.

Wednesday, May 1st 1929.
THE "ALLEN PALMER" HOSPITAL CUP.

BENEFIT MATCH IN AID OF THE TROWBRIDGE COTTAGE HOSPITAL. EXETER CITY LOST TO THE "WOLVES" BY THE ODD GOAL.

On Wednesday evening Exeter City sent their strongest eleven to Trowbridge to defend their title as holders of the Allen Palmer Cup, which they won last year by defeating Bristol Rovers. Their opponents were Wolverhampton Wanderers, who came on the invitation of the Trowbridge Town club. The attendance at the ground was about 2,600 and the takings £130. After the match the players and officials of both teams were entertained to dinner at the "George" Hotel, where various speeches were made, and a musical entertainment provided.

The teams, who were competing for the Cup and gold medals, were: -

Exeter City:- Holland; Lowton and Miller; Sheffield, Pool, and Dennington; Purcell, Clarke, Hick, Doncaster, and Death.

The Wolves: Tootill; Williams and Shaw; Brown, Hollingworth, and Kay; Bartley, Marshall, Johnson, Green, and Hetherington.

Referee:- Mr F.J.Lowe, of Bristol.

Doncaster, the smallest and quickest player on the field, was given a nice pass by Purcell after 25 minutes, and raced on to beat Tootill with a sharp drive for the opening goal. Purcell then got away on the wing and centred to the goalmouth, where Tootill failed to check its progress. Doncaster was on hand to breast the ball into the empty net. Just on half-time Marshall was charged off the ball by Lowton in the Exeter penalty area and Green scored from the spot kick. The Wanderers had not appeared to be "all out" in the first half, but after the interval they speeded up their play, and eventually Marshall scored with a lightning drive that gave Holland no chance. In the closing stages Hick shot wide for Exeter, and the Wolves raced through to the other end, where He the rington scored the most spectacular goal of the match with a beautiful left foot shot from twenty yards. The Cup was presented to Kay, the Wolves' captain, by Lady Palmer, and each player received a gold medal.