Good Friday Football

EXETER CITY GO UNDER TO BRISTOL ROVERS:

Friday, April 2, at Eastville. BRISTOL ROVERS 4 EXETER CITY 2.

The first of the Grecians' holiday matches, at Bristol, was disappointing from the point of view of the club's supporters, many of whom journeyed to Stapleton Road to encourage the team. The Rovers tried an experimental forward line, and must have been delighted with the result, for the quintette played better, it was said, than in any match since Christmas. There were 14,000 spectators.

ROVERS:

Stansfield;
Harvie, and Brandon;
Whitton, Crompton, and Steele;
Walter, Davison, Simms, Weston, and Palmer.

REFEREE:- Mr C.Austin, of Kidderminster.

CITY :
Pym;
Coleburne, and Strettle;
Crawshaw, Popplewell, and Mitton;
Oldacre, Makin, Goodwin, Green, and Dockray.

The Rovers were heartened by a couple of very soft early goals, scored by Simms and Davison, the first, within a minute of the start, resulting from a mistake by Strettle. Exeter reduced the margin by means of a penalty, taken by Popplewell in his classic style. There was a quaint touch of humour about the incident that led to the goal. Crompton handled just outside the penalty area, and Popplewell tried a direct shot. The ball was beyond the reach of Stansfield but Harvie threw up his hands and stopped it in the goalmouth, hence the penalty.

The Rovers were leading by two goals to one when the interval arrived. Two minutes after the restart Weston netted the third goal, and fifteen minutes later Pym had to admit defeat for the fourth time, being unable to stop a fine drive by Walter. Makin scored the sixth and final goal of the match not long afterwards, following a corner taken by Dockray.

EXMOUTH UNITED v EXETER CITY RESERVES.

The Exmouth United club entertained the City Reserves in a friendly match at the cricket field on Good Friday, a crowd of about five hundred being in attendance. Clapp was called upon early in the game to clear his goal, and he responded in good style. The City forwards kept Exmouth's defence busy, and a shot by Sanders skimmed the crossbar. Following a corner, which was taken by Connor and cleared, the Exmouth forwards came in a rush down the field, and Kelland was fouled in the penalty area. He took the kick himself, and shot hard, but the ball hit the bar and rebounded, and from a second shot Loram saved.

Gill was tripped up in the Exmouth penalty area, the kick being entrusted to Twooze. He found the net with a hard drive which Clapp had no chance of stopping, the ball going past him like a bullet.

Half-time:
Exmouth nil City Reserves one.

After some desultory play in the second half the Reserves got going, and Sanders scored with a low shot close in. The Exmouth forwards retaliated, and Powell, who had previously been spoken to by the referee, was ordered to leave the ground for fouling. The referee also stopped the game to caution a spectator.

Clapp was kept busy in goal, and saved several shots, but in running out to intercept the ball he left an unguarded net, and Gill quickly seized the opportunity to score. In the final minute Kelland scored for the United, who thus lost by three to one.

Exmouth:- Clapp;
Coles, Channing;
Axon, Clarke, Channon;
Dixon, Wilson, Sturman, Kelland, and Brooks.

City Reserves:- Loram;
Twooze, Osborne;
Powell, Thompson, Perry;
Collins, Sanders, Gill, Chown, and Connor.