Saturday, December 8th 1934.

GRECIANS' CLOSE PASSING GAME FATAL
SOMERSET'S DAY OF TRIUMPH OVER DEVON

Yeovil Sweep Exeter City Out of Cup by 4-1

Yeovil 4 Exeter City 1.

Somerset triumphed over Devon today both at Soccer and Rugby, for in addition to Exeter City being ousted from the F. A. Cup by Yeovil, Somerset beat Devon at the County Ground, Exeter, in the Rugby Union Group Championship match. Beaten by four goals to one at Huish this afternoon Exeter City made a sorry exit from this season's Cup Competition. The Grecians persisted in playing a close passing game, which was fatal against the Glovers' quick tackling, and on a ground which made close football almost impossible. The little ground at Huish was more than half full an hour prior to the kick-off, and people were still coming in by the thousand. The Yeovil supporters all seemed to be armed with megaphones and rattles, and the green and white colours of the team, and they cheered lustily! The home side would not go down for the lack of vocal encouragement at any rate!

YEOVIL AND PETTERS.
Lynch
Woods Birks
Smith Price Parkin
Holbeach Parle Crewe McNeil Page

Referee:- Mr L. E. Gibbs, of Reading.

Hurst T.Scott Poulter Wrightson J.Scott Angus Webb Lewis
Miller Gray
Chesters
EXETER CITY.

The City forced the pace in the opening stages but within five minutes of the start Yeovil had taken the lead. Page cut in at top speed, and challenged by Gray he stumbled and fell. Though the offence was not serious the referee whistled, and awarded Yeovil a penalty. Smith took the kick and netted with a model shot, high up in the rigging to Chesters's left. Exeter pressed strongly again and had the Yeovil defence fully extended, and Lynch, using his height and reach to great advantage, did some heroic work in goal for the Glovers. Exeter, by far the cleverer side but not necessarily the most effective in a match of this description, persisted in their attempts at close passing and pattern weaving, but could make little headway against the relentless and quick tackling of the Yeovil half-backs, and fifteen minutes after the start Yeovil scored again. Holbeach beat Miller in a race for the ball, and crossed to Page, who advanced a few yards before driving into the net from an oblique angle. Angus reduced the lead direct from a free kick at a range of about 30 yards after Hurst had been brought down heavily by Price.

HALF-TIME: YEOVIL 2 EXETER 1.

Exeter confined Yeovil to their own penalty area for long spells in the second half. Shots were rained in on the Yeovil goal but they all went either wide or over the bar or were fisted out by Lynch. Yeovil, on the occasions when they did break away, were in fact more dangerous than Exeter. Their plan was to give the ball to Page at every opportunity, and the old International showed he has lost none of his skill and little of his pace with the passing of time. One of his shots was deflected by Chesters to Holbeach, who put the ball over the bar, but with a little more steadiness could have provided Yeovil with a third goal. The issue was however settled five minutes before the close, when Crewe scored two goals in quick succession. The first of these followed a throw-in, Page heading the ball forward, to Parle. Miller was slow to tackle, and Parle dribbled on for a few yards and then kicked across to the right. Chesters came out but was beaten by Holbeach in a race for the ball, which was put into the goalmouth. Crewe was waiting, and he sent the Yeovil crowd wild with delight when he ran into the net with the ball at his feet. Exeter were now a beaten team and they became more disorganised than ever as Yeovil advanced and scored yet again. Page sent the ball sailing over from the left wing, Chesters jumped but misjudged its flight, and Crewe headed it into the net.

COMMENTS.

The City persisted in holding the ball and relying on the short passing game. These methods proved fatal against an alert and quick tackling defence, and Exeter, although having more of the game territorially, were nothing like as dangerous as Yeovil. Far too much latitude was given to the Yeovil wings, and against the veteran Page and the speedy opportunist Holbeach this cost Exeter dearly. One of the outstanding players in the Yeovil side was Tom Parkin, the ex-Grecian, and he was ably supported by Smith. Yeovil thoroughly earned their success. They were smarter on the ball and played the type of game best suited to the conditions. It is the first time Exeter City have been dismissed from the Cup by a team of lower status than themselves since 1922, when they were defeated by Bath City at St James's Park.

Southern League
CITY RESERVES 2
TORQUAY RESERVES 2.

There was only a small crowd at St James's Park to witness the Southern League match between the reserve teams of Exeter City and Torquay United as most of the City supporters had gone to Yeovil. After a quarter of an hour Exeter went ahead, a lofty drive by McArthur being too good for Maggs. Close on half-time a sudden Torquay raid ended with Flavell scoring. Tannahill scored for Torquay and McArthur for Exeter during the second half, when play became very rough.