Saturday, January 25th 1936. City v Newport. 

HOMAGE PAID TO THE LATE SOVEREIGN AT THE PARK. TWO MINUTES SILENCE OBSERVED FOR KING GEORGE V. 

The tribute to the late King, who died on Monday, was one of solemn impressiveness at St James's Park this afternoon. Five minutes before the scheduled time for the commencement of the match between the City and Newport County the players of both teams, together with the officials, walked to the centre of the field, there to line up (the two teams facing each other) and stand to attention while two minutes' silence was observed. This was followed by the playing of King George V's favourite hymn, "Abide With Me," and finally one verse of the National Anthem. Appropriate music was played by the Exeter City Military Band, under the conductorship of Mr George Newman, before the match and during the interval. The club flag and the supporters' club flag were both flying at
half-mast.

• LATE KING MOURNED ON FOOTBALL GROUNDS.

Events of a like nature took place on other grounds. Football supporters all over the country paid tribute to the memory of King George, who was patron of the Football Association. At Tottenham the band played Chopin's Funeral March, the crowd of 50,000 joined fervently in singing "Abide With Me," and the teams (Tottenham and Huddersfield) lined up on the field while two minutes' silence was observed. At Fulham the "Last Post" was sounded while the crowd stood bareheaded.

CITY DRAW AN AMAZING GAME: TWO DOWN AT HALF TIME. HOPELESS POSITION NOBLY RETRIEVED.

After one of the most remarkable games seen at St James's Park for many a month Exeter City and Newport County shared half a dozen goals there today.
The result did not represent a brilliant performance by Exeter, but the manner in which the Grecians rallied from a seemingly hopeless position (3 - 0 down) commanded admiration. Exeter were a team of varying moods. For the first half an hour they were all at sea against a smart County side. Then came a complete change, and in the second half Newport were battling desperately to avoid defeat. Weak defence on the left flank in the first half was Exeter's undoing,Newport scoring the three goals in this period. A belated rally saw Dunn reduce the arrears before the interval but it was not until Poulter and Ebdon changed places that the Exeter forwards were seen at their best. Poulter, although finding the muddy conditions trying, is well deserving of commendation on the prominent part he played in movements which led to the scoring of two of the goals. But the best forward on the Exeter side was Dunn, as has been the case so often this season. He initiated several dangerous movements and manoeuvred the ball with First Division class and dexterity on the sodden and churned up ground. Newport were in the end fortunate to avoid defeat, for three times this afternoon the framework of their goal was struck. On the other hand, the manner in which they adapted themselves right away to the conditions was most praiseworthy. They set an example which Exeter advantageously copied in the second half.

EXETER CITY
Chesters
Gray Miller
Clarke Robinson Angus
Ebdon T.Scott Poulter Dunn Hurst
Referee:- Mr E. Pincston, of Birmingham.

Jones Burgess Smith Appleby Derrick Jenkins Helsby Whitehouse
Kelso Calder
Briggs
NEWPORT COUNTY

The drizzling rain, which commenced to fall early on, showed no signs of ceasing, and the weather was about as dismal as it could have been. The attendance was naturally affected,only 3,000 spectators being present when Miller lost the toss and Exeter kicked off towards the St James's Road end. The "Ironsides" staged their big surprise during the opening half an hour, at the end of which they had scored three goals by Derrick (2) and Appleby (1). Dunn then scored for the City. Up to the interval not much had been seen of Poulter, and it was a good move when he was switched over to outside right, for Ebdon then took over the leadership, and the experiment was crowned with success. Ebdon quickly found the net, and although the referee was quite correct in ruling the point offside the decision provoked some hostility from the crowd. Soon afterwards, however, Ebdon scored a beauty after Poulter had made the opening, and that player also inspired T.Scott's header, which entered the net for the equalising goal.

STRUGGLE FOR SUPREMACY.
With the scores level a great struggle followed for supremacy. Exeter, with Dunn inspiring most of the moves, swarmed to the attack but the Welsh defence held out. Newport were being run off their legs at this stage, and their backs and halves kicked anywhere for safety. Smith netted for Newport in a rare attack, but the referee gave him offside. It was one of the most remarkable games ever seen on the Exeter ground, and the result was in the end a fair reflection of the exchanges.

CITY RESERVES MATCH CANCELLED.

The Southern League match between Newport County Reserves and Exeter City Reserves at Somerton Park, Newport, was cancelled because the ground was under water.

• NEW CENTRE FORWARD FOR EXETER CITY.
  Alex Merrie, a Scottish centre-forward, has been transferred to Exeter City from Aldershot on a month's trial. It is rather a surprise that Aldershot were willing to release him, for they declared him to be the answer to their centre forward problem earlier in the season. Merrie is an experienced player, having seen service at several clubs, including Aberdeen and Portsmouth. Playing for Aldershot against Exeter City three days after Christmas, he scored spectacular goal, diving full length to head home a right wing centre.
  With the support of players like Dunn and T.Scott he should do well at Exeter.