CITY WIN THE DEVON DERBY.

FIRST LEAGUE MEETING WITH THE ARGYLE FOR 21 YEARS.

Saturday, September 23rd 1950.

ARGYLE: Bill Shortt, Paddy Ratcliffe, Pat Jones, Neil Dougall, Jack Chisholm, Johnny Porteous, Maurice Tadman, Harold Dobbie, Eric Bryant, George Dews, Alex Govan.

Exeter City: Singleton; Doyle, Rowe; Fallon, Goddard, Davey; Harrower, Smart, Smith, Lynn, McClelland.

Attendance 25,424.

How greatly today's Devon "Soccer" Derby differed from bygone clashes between Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle. In place of the be-ribboned and rattle-armed thousands who cheered or jeered every moment of the play, a strangely subdued crowd witnessed the game at Home Park. Gone was the old atmosphere. The Plymouth ground, minus its stands, looked different. Even the colours of the rival teams had changed since the last meeting, twenty-one years ago. This in fact could have been just another ordinary League game.

PLYMOUTH ARGYLE 0 EXETER CITY 1.

Almost as colourless as the crowd was the match itself. Though Exeter triumphed by the only goal, scored by Archie Smith at the end of one hour's play, the winners were not a good side in the full sense. Ninety per-cent of the victory can be credited to the defence, for the attack was innocuous.

In a "derby" which never attained classic heights the Argyle spent much time hammering away at the valiant City defenders. Plymouth, superior in constructive play but lacking a match-winning forward, weaved many pretty patterns in the old Argyle tradition and stormed the City goal in the closing stages of the game.

Honours, however, remained with the Exeter defence. They successfully broke up Plymouth's non-stop raids in the last half an hour. Assault after assault was countered, and the four men who can take most of the credit are Singleton, Goddard, Rowe, and Davey.

The gathering of "old-timers" in the ringside seats included Crawshaw, Fellowes, Blackmore, Ditchburn, Sloan, McKenzie, and other stalwarts of some of the more thrilling Devon Derbies.

Southern League 
City Reserves 5 Hastings United 0.

Team:- Salter; Powell, Clark; Hutchings, Carter, Greenwood; Short, Smyth, Dare, Greenaway, Regan.

Tuesday, September 26th 1950.
CITY RESERVES OUTCLASSED. ATTACK MISFIRED AT LLANELLY.

Two goals in the second half of their Southern League game resulted in Llanelly securing a victory they just about deserved against the City Reserves on Tuesday evening.

LLANELLY 2(Mathie, McInnes) 0
EXETER CITY RESERVES.0
Half-time, no score.
Attendance 5,000.
Llanelly:- Atkinson; McInnes, Jackson; Bird, Stein, Emmanuel; G.Lewis, Wallace, Taylor, Fleck, Mathie.
Referee:- Mr W.J.Burns, of Newport.
Exeter City: Singleton; Clark, Warren; Greenwood, Carter, Davey; Regan, Greenaway, Dare, Smyth, Short.

A certain amount of keen-ness crept into the game during the closing stages, which resulted in a penalty being awarded and Warren having his name taken by Mr Burns. The Welshmen were the better balanced team and showed more thrust in attack than Exeter, who, however, had Greenaway a passenger on the wing for most of the second half. Dare was an enterprising leader of the City attack, although he could never quite overcome Stein.

SINGLETON SHINES.
In goal Barney Singleton gave an outstanding display and saved Exeter Reserves from a heavier defeat. He was well supported by Jim Clark. After the interval Llanelly brought Mathie in from the wing to take up the centre-forward position, where he added the necessary punch. Within ten minutes he scored a goal with a lightning shot from close range. A second goal came when the same player was brought down by a foul tackle in the penalty area and McInnes made no mistake with the resultant spot kick.