A STORY OF MISSED CHANCES: NORTHAMPTON GET THE GOALS
City Out of the Cup
Grecians Without Confidence: Gray and Poulter Work Hard

NORTHAMPTON TOWN 2 EXETER CITY 0 
Saturday, November 25th 1933.

Exeter City, beaten by two goals to nil, failed because they could not take their chances. They had as many opportunities as opponents but there was little or no thrust in their attack. their The City were clever in approach and good when in possession of the ball, but the men were slow to run in to position. The Exeter team played without confidence, and several mistakes could be attributed to nervousness.

Gray and Poulter worked their hardest and Houghton was brilliant in the first half, but not so prominent afterwards. The attendance was 8,801, with receipts of £562.

Northampton Town. Allen; Crilly and F.Dawes; Riches, McGuire, and Davies;
Dowsey, Boyle, Henderson, A. Dawes, and Wells.

Exeter City. Davies; Gray and Hughes; Clarke, Angus, and Hardie; Gumm, Poulter, Whitlow, Houghton, and Hurst.

The attendance was not large considering it was a Cup-tie, and when the game commenced there were no more than 8,000 people present. Owing to the similarity of the normal colours of the teams, Exeter turned out in white, and the Cobblers in blue and white.

Arthur Davies started off well by winning the toss, and the Grecians were favoured by the breeze in the first half. Exeter were first to attack. Clarke sent out a long crossfield pass to Hurst, but the winger's centre was intercepted by Crilly, who kicked to touch. For some minutes the game was in midfield and the ball was put to touch with frequency. It was, in fact, the usual opening to a Cup tie, with both teams very unsettled. Northampton attacks on both wings were checked in turn by Gray and Hughes. Exeter now took up the running and Houghton passed quickly to Whitlow, who, standing on the penalty line, banged in a fierce drive which flashed less than a yard beyond the near upright with Allen out of position.

NORTHAMPTON LEAD.

The City made another bid for an early opening goal when Houghton sent Hurst away with a lovely diagonal pass. Hurst took the ball in his stride and passed inwards and along the ground to Poulter, who was about 20 yards from the Cobblers' goal. But Poulter's shot was diverted over the line for a corner by Crilly's head. Hurst's kick from the flag was splendidly placed but Northampton won the battle of heads and tried an unsuccessful attack on their left flank. Whitlow and Hurst between them almost got through for Exeter, Hurst being eventually penalised for a foul. Northampton were next to call the tune, and from a corner on their right Boyle shot yards over the bar. Then, fifteen minutes after the start Northampton secured the lead, undeservedly on the run of the play up to that point.

Dowsey got clear on the right, avoiding a tackle by Hardie, putting the ball across to Henderson, who shot at great pace from fifteen yards' range. Davies dropped to the ball but it trickled from his grasp and spun along the goal-line, and Wells rushed it net. Exeter fought back strongly, and a brilliant dribble into on the the part of Houghton, who swerved past three opponents, gave Exeter a fine chance of squaring their account. Houghton passed to Whitlow, who transferred quickly to Poulter. Poulter shot hard and low, and it looked a goal all the way until Allen saved with his leg, making a lucky clearance.

No forward on the field could match Houghton for artistic skill and deft control of the ball. His ability to hold the ball against any opposition drew a number of Northampton players round him, and with Hurst thus unmarked Houghton put him clean through. Crilly doubled back to tackle Hurst, and the ball came across to Whitlow, who from six yards and in an offside position cracked the leather into the roof of the net. The referee quite properly disallowed the goal.

EXETER DEFENCE SHAKY.

Exeter's quick passing attacks, inspired mainly by Houghton, often had the Cobblers' defence guessing, but the home side were faster on the ball, and the City backs were inclined to be shaky when under pressure. Gray dispossessed Wells with a flying tackle, and Wells fell heavily. The crowd clamoured for a penalty, a claim which fell on deaf ears as far as the referee was concerned. A nicely taken corner by Gumm was headed out by Crilly to Hardie, whose shot sailed high over the goal.

HALF TIME:
NORTHAMPTON 1 EXETER CITY 0.

It had been an interesting first half, but Exeter, despite being by far the cleverer side, had shown their old fault of hesitancy when in the vicinity of the opposing goal, and all the good work done by Houghton and Poulter had come to nothing. When the teams lined up for the second half it was seen that there was a change in the City attack, Poulter being at centre forward and Whitlow on his right. The play in this half opened with Northampton very much on top. Henderson nipped between Angus and Hughes to take possession of a forward pass from Dowsey. He middled the ball into the goalmouth, and Wells, with only Davies to beat, sliced wide of the near post. Exeter continued to be very subdued and were slow indeed in getting to the ball. This weakness enabled the Cobblers to maintain a good superiority and the Exeter goal underwent a sensational escape in the fifteenth minute when Boyle headed on to the top of the cross bar from Dowsey's centre.

Gray, who was the only man in the Exeter defence to properly get to grips with the opposition, saved the situation when Hughes failed to tackle Dowsey. The Northampton winger bore inwards at great speed, but Gray was quicker, darting across to dispossess Dowsey with a brilliant tackle. But he was injured in the attempt, and was taken off the field for repairs. Exeter, apart from Gray, were playing like a beaten team now, and they were outmatched, outmanoeuvred and outpaced in practically all departments. Dowsey confirmed the superiority of Northampton when he scored their second goal, and Exeter were out of the Cup. Exeter in fact have not won a cup tie since beating Leeds United in the fifth round of the 1930-31 competition!

ST AUSTELL v EXETER CITY RESERVES.

Friendly match at St Austell, played before a large crowd in very good weather. Exeter City were aggressive, but offside spoiled several of their best moves. J. Taylor, on trial from Beer, and J.Wright, scored for Exeter, who led by 2 to 0 at the interval.

Pine scored for St Austell fifteen minutes after the start of the second half. Playing against the wind Exeter were forced back on the defensive, and were lucky to win by 2 goals to 1.