City v Northampton
COBBLERS RIDDLE CITY DEFENCE

Exeter Outplayed and Well Beaten:

Saturday, November 22,
at St James's Park.

EXETER CITY 2-4 NORTHAMPTON TOWN 

Glorious weather favoured the match between Exeter City and the Northampton "Cobblers" at St James's Park this afternoon, and the playing field, benefitting from the sunshine and drying wind of the morning, was in excellent condition. The City management, concerned over the recent shortage of goals, decided to change the forward line, and Oldacre was given preference over Goodwin for the centre-forward position. Burkinshaw, transferred from Sheffield Wednesday, was at inside-right in the Cobblers' team.

As the crowd was assembling prior to the kick-off, members of the Supporters' Club busied themselves in collecting on behalf of Billy Smith, the popular 1914-15 half-back, who lost a leg in the war. The Exeter City Military Band, under Mr George Newman, also sacrificed their usual collection in the interests of this special effort.


CITY
Pym
Coleburne Potter
Rigby Popplewell Mitton
Connor Makin Oldacre Lovett Dockray

Referee:- Mr H.G.Tyler, of London.

Freeman Lockett Whitworth Burkinshaw Pease
Tomkins Grendon Manning
Davies Sproston
Thorpe
NORTHAMPTON

Davies, the Northampton skipper, won the toss, and decided to defend the St James's Road end in the first half. The attendance at the start numbered six thousand. After early play in midfield Whitworth swung the ball across to Freeman, who shot first time, Pym saving under the crossbar. A free kick to Exeter, taken by Connor for "hands" against Davies, was cleared by Thorpe, and in a race for possession between Connor and Davies, the Northampton captain kicked to touch. From a free kick against Grendon, for a foul, Thorpe had to rush out and clear, punching the ball off the heads of Makin and Oldacre, who were following up. The ball struck Oldacre and spun to Sproston, who relieved the pressure. In a sudden breakaway Lockett obtained possession, and coming in at full speed opened the scoring for Northampton with a swiftly rising shot into the top corner of the net. This was after seven

minutes' play, and Northampton's first serious attack. In the next minute Pym had to dive full length to divert the ball round the post from Burkinshaw. From the corner kick Exeter transferred play, and a corner was forced at the other end. The flag kick was sent in beautifully by Dockray, and amid hearty cheering Makin headed the equaliser, with Thorpe helpless.

Clever Half-backs.

The crowd cheered again as Makin shot the ball into the goal, with Thorpe out of position, but it looked rather peculiar, and the referee found that the leather had entered from the side of the net, which had not been securely tied to the goalpost.

Connor began Exeter's next move by passing to Makin, who fed Oldacre, and the centre-forward skimmed the crossbar with a fast shot, while Mitton repeated the performance after receiving from Coleburne. But the Northampton attacks, when they came, carried more weight than Exeter's, and backed up by Manning, Grendon and Tomkins, three clever half-backs, began to give the City defence an anxious time.

Pease beat Potter for speed and sent hard across to Lockett, who bustled his way through towards goal. Pym ran out to worry him, but Lockett dodged round him and hooked the ball into the empty net with a fine rising shot. Pym saved from Whitworth in the next Cobblers' raid, but following a fine run and dribble by Freeman, the Cobblers' third goal was netted by Whitworth with a smart drive at short range. Potter was being run off his legs, so to speak, by Pease, who was much too fast for him, but a moment before half the reserve back intervened to save a certain goal from whitworth. At half-time the Cobblers led by three to one.

Second Half.

On the resumption Oldacre forced a corner after a fine dash through, but Connor's centre was cleared by Grendon, and again the scene of operations was shifted to the City quarters. Makin and Doc kray combined effectively, and Dockray obtained a corner off Sproston, but the flag kick was saved by Thorpe. A grounder by Makin just missed, then at the other end Pym did well to keep out a mighty header by Lockett. Northampton eased up a little, but their defence left nothing to chance, and the City forwards met with a stonewall resistance. Strong kicking by the home backs mostly proved ineffective, the ball seldom being allowed to reach the forwards, and an eventual victory for Northampton appeared certain when Whitworth got the better of Rigby and went on to beat Pym with a shot from close quarters. Thorpe punched out a centre from Connor, and Coleburne pulled up Whitworth very capably. The sky had now become overcast and grey, in keeping with the spirits of the spectators. The Exeter forwards were still trying their hardest, but the claret clad men of the Cobblers were the more dangerous on account of their pace and fine ball control. However, with ten minutes still played, the ball was placed forward to Connor, who raced ahead to be unhindered. Coolly he dropped the leather over to Oldacre, who promptly steered the leather past Thorpe for the City's second goal. It was a bad defeat, but Northampton won well on their merits; they have three fine half-backs and a fast and skilful forward line.

The collection for Billy Smith resulted in a sum of £33 being raised.

TORQUAY TOWN v CITY RESERVES. Plymouth League.

Played at Plainmoor, before a fairly large gate. The Town got off to a good start but the ball eventually went over the bar.

Play was then transferred to the Torquay end, and Lincoln, on the left wing for the City, proved very dangerous, making a nice run, but nothing resulted. Torquay next attacked, and Smythe put the ball over the bar. Another good effort by Smythe was cleared by Loram, then the City attacked and gained a corner. The flag kick was headed out by Evans, the old City centre-forward, who was playing his usual reliable game.

Cotter, on the Torquay left, now received the ball, and after beating the defence centred for Smythe to head through. Torquay continued the better side, and a shot by Channing was narrowly wide. Interval: Torquay 1 City Reserves nil.

Torquay pressed again at the restart and Martin twice sent behind. Exeter, with the wind now in their favour, took up the running, and Collins just failed with a good shot. Play became faster at this stage, and in a sharp Torquay attack Cotter hit the crossbar. Channing passed to Cotter, who ran through and scored, and two minutes later Smythe got another goal.

The game ended with the following result:
Torquay Town 3-0 City Reserves