Boxing Day Football

Exeter City v AFC Bournemouth 

On Boxing Day' St James's Park was at its sloppiest, and Exeter City mudlarked their way through to a splendid and convincing victory over Bournemouth by four goals to one. The waterlogged state of the playing pitch prevented anything in the nature of a scientific contest, for while the ball skidded and shot away at a tangent on some parts of the arena, it stuck and would not respond to the coaxings of the players on others.

The referee of a football match does not always find favour in the eyes of the spectators, but when Mr Jewell, the gentleman with the whistle, captured and carried off a small dog which had run on to the field, he was loudly cheered by 7,000 witnesses to his action. Chesters and Poulter were unable to play for Exeter due to injuries received at Bournemouth on Christmas Day. The "Cherries" also made one or two changes, and the teams were:

EXETER CITY.
Davies
Gray Miller
Clarke Webb Angus
J.Scott Wrightson Hurst T.Scott Dryden

Referee:- Mr A.J.Jewell, of London.

Parris Chalmers Curwood Farrow Ritchie White Pincott Smith
Richardson Turner
Mellors
BOURNEMOUTH.

The applause accorded to the referee in connection with the dog incident, however, was mild compared to that which greeted Jack Dryden at the end of the match. Dryden, who was a late choice, and then only because Hurst had to move to centre-forward due to Poulter being unfit, had played one of those "blinders" that comes to every footballer on his day. Dryden was without doubt the star forward of the game, and his strength of kick and his great speed were remarkable in view of his frail build and the condition of the ground.

At the interval the Grecians led by two goals, both scored by Wrightson, after five and twenty-five minutes, to nil. Curwood obtained a goal for Bournemouth within a minute of the re-start, but when one of their backs handled the ball inside the penalty area Webb scored from the "spot." It was entirely fitting that Dryden, with a hard low shot, got Exeter's fourth.