Saturday, December 5th 1931.

MANSFIELD TOWN 3 EXETER CITY 1.

Exeter City's display in their first visit to Mansfield was too bad to be true. The forwards had an "off day" and there was uncertainty in other departments of the team. The heavy ground, which slowed the game down, suited the many veterans in the Mansfield side.

Mansfield Town:- Wilson; Clifford, England; Wake, Robinson, Weightman; Small, Readman, Johnson, Featherby, Death.

Exeter City:- Davies; Baugh, Miller; Clarke, Angus, Barber; Armfield, Varco, Whitlow, Houghton, Doncaster.

Featherby, transferred from Queen's Park Rangers, made his first appearance in the Mansfield team, whose outside left was Billy Death, the former Grecian. The scoring was opened by Johnson, the old Sheffield United centre forward, and at the interval Mansfield led by this goal. Johnson and Featherby scored goals for Mansfield in the second half, and fifteen minutes from time Houghton got one for the City.

Southern League
EXETER CITY RESERVES 4
EBBW VALE 2.

Ebbw Vale, who left their South Wales home at 7 o'clock this morning to travel to Exeter to meet the City Reserves in a Southern League match, found that a steady drizzle had set in at the Devon capital, and the "gate" was below 1,000.

City Reserves:- F.G.Grigg; Gray, Bright; Purcell, Ditchburn, Robinson; Keen, Graham, Woodward, Halliday, Courtney.
Ebbw Vale:- Boulter; Hopkins, Stanton; L. Jones, C. Jones, Pugh; Johnson, Allan, Davies, S. Jones, Morris.
Referee:- Mr J.J.Hughes.

Exeter started off with a rush, and Woodward had one shot tipped over the bar by the goalkeeper, while another one hit the angle of the goal. In eight minutes Exeter took the lead, Graham, receiving from Keen, placing a nice shot into the corner of the net, well wide of Boulter. After 25 minutes a shot by Woodward was deflected into the Vale net by Stanton, then Woodward and Keen gave the City an advantage of four to nil before Davies scored for the Vale. The visitors altered their team in the second half, and Stanton, now playing at outside left, scored for them. Purcell twisted his knee and limped off the field.

Exeter City v Corinthians BRITAIN'S PREMIER AMATEUR TEAM AT ST JAMES'S PARK

Exeter City Given a Football Lesson
Saturday, December 12th 1931. EXETER CITY 1 CORINTHIANS 7.

Being without a competition match Exeter City seized the chance of getting the Corinthians to visit St James's Park in a friendly match this afternoon. The weather was dull, but dry, and favoured a good attendance and good football. Purcell was at inside right for Exeter in place of Varco. The Corinthians had R.W.V.Robins, the Middlesex and England cricketer, at outside right in place of A.H.Fabian, the Cambridge captain, who was injured in the 'Varsity match on Thursday. There were three England amateur internationals in the Corinthians' forward line and another at half-back, namely Hegan, Creek, Ashton, and Chadder, while the intermediate trio were all University "Blues," Oxford or Cambridge. Grant kept goal in the 'Varsity match already referred to.

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

Corinthians:- R.S.Grant; G.B.Partridge and J.G.Stevenson; W.H.L.Lister, L.C.Rumsey, and A.H.Chadder; R.W.V.Robins, C.Y.Ashton, G.D.Kemp-Welch, F.N.S.Creek, and Capt.K.E.Hegan.

Referee:- Mr H.F.Ford, of Exeter. Linesmen:- Mr C.W.Goad and D.H.Bartlett.

The Corinthians wore white "tuck in" shirts with the monogram of the club on the left breast, and black satin knickers of the "Rugby Union" type, complete with side pockets. Starting briskly, the visitors made a nice advance on the left, and from Creek's pass Hegan hooked the ball over the bar. In the next minute they took the lead, and in curious fashion, the referee ignoring the line sman's signal when Ashton broke away with the ball from an obvious offside position. There was nothing for Davies to do except advance to meet the inside right, and as the Exeter man came out of goal Ashton slipped the ball across to Kemp-Welch, who tapped it into the untenanted net. Exeter employed a good variation of long and short passes skilfully, but the Corinthians packed their goal capably, and when at length a good scoring chance fell to Doncaster, he drove the ball over the top of the goal. A further set-back for the professionals came in the seventh minute, Ashton firing the ball head high into the Exeter net from outside the penalty area. Houghton with a powerful cross-shot beat Grant after 25 minutes, and Whitlow was unlucky just afterwards when he flicked a centre from Doncaster just over the bar. Robins and Ashton then scored for the Corinthians, who led by 4 to 1 at the interval. Hegan's clever left-wing play was a fine feature, and there was a hearty round of applause when early in the second half one of his accurate centres was met by Robins who, almost in the goalmouth, scooped the ball into the Exeter net for the fifth goal. The Corinthians, encouraged by all their goals, increased their pace, and in the last ten minutes their score was added to by Ashton and Kemp-Welch.

NOTES ON THE GAME.

The Corinthians earned full marks for their performance in this game, and the Grecians very few. Exeter City were in fact given an object lesson in how to play football. Whether it was that the Grecians did not appreciate quickly enough the strength of the opposition is not known, but it was not long before the spectators did. After this brisk and bright display Exeter folk will always have a warm corner in their hearts for this entertaining and clever band of stylish adventurers. The Corinthian forwards impressed greatly from start to finish. R.W.V.Robins and Capt.Hegan were quick, keen, and difficult to rob, while every man in the line carried a strong and accurate shot. The Exeter defence was very moderate indeed, Baugh being particularly useless against Hegan, and there was too much of the "help yourself" attitude about the City's defensive play early in the game, which quickly went beyond the control of the Grecians. The form of the professionals, apart from Davies, Whitlow, Houghton, and Miller was too bad to be true. It is earnestly hoped that something vastly different will be served up in the home match with Watford next Wednesday.