Saturday, February 6th 1909.

THE ENGLISH CUP
SECOND ROUND:
ARGYLE V CITY.

A hard and fast, but fair and sporting game between the Devonshire rivals at Home Park resulted in Plymouth Argyle reaching the third stage of the Cup-ties for the first time in their history, and Exeter City being knocked out of the competition after playing right through from the first round of the qualifying series, a total of nine matches, including the replays against Longfleet and Wrexham. The Argyle won by two goals to nil, the first being scored by Hindmarsh ten minutes before the interval, and the second by Leavey less than a minute from the end.

DEVON DERBY:
GREAT CUP BATTLE AT HOME PARK

Huge Crowd
Today has witnessed the greatest Soccer event ever known in Devon, the meeting of Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle in the second round of the English Cup. The two earlier contests between the Devon clubs had both gone in the City's favour, 2-1 in the League match in November, and 1-0 in a friendly match at Plymouth on Boxing Day. For today's encounter, each team had been training at home, and each was fairly confident of success. Exeter City were able to name their strongest
side, but Plymouth were somewhat handicapped by the absence of their centre half and captain, Charlie Clark, who is under suspension. His deputy was Evenson.

Teams :

PLYMOUTH ARGYLE:
Horne
Butler Atterbury McCormick Evenson McIntyre Leavey Hakin Hindmarsh Warburton Holden

Referee: Mr A.W.McCue, London.

Copestake Bell McGuigan Watson Parnell
Wake Chadwick Ambler
Bulcock Craig
Robinson
EXETER CITY:

Throughout the week the match has been almost the sole topic of conversation throughout the county, and there was promise of a record gate at Home Park. The accommodation, in fact, had been specially extended for the occasion. Several excursion trains were run from Exeter, on both the London and South Western and the Great Western lines. Lively scenes were witnessed at both St. David's and Queen Street stations, the Grecians' colours of green and white being dominant everywhere, and high spirits were prevalent on all sides.
The gates at Home Park were opened promptly at one o'clock, and crowds began to pour in at once. Long before the arrival of the excursion trains from Exeter, City supporters with green and white umbrellas, button-holes, and bells, were in evidence. The pitch at this time looked in beautiful condition, and the weather was almost perfect. A brilliant sun played on the pitch just before the start, and by 2.30 it was estimated that the crowd was in the region of twenty thousand.

THE GAME
Watson won the toss and put the Argyle to face the sun from the Plymouth end. Hindmarsh kicked off, and the home team immediately made ground on the right and obtained a corner. Robinson fisted the ball out, but only to Hindmarsh, whose return shot struck the crossbar, a narrow escape for Exeter in the first minute of the game.
Exeter then attacked, and Butler came to the rescue of Plymouth by stopping first Parnell, then Copestake. In further Exeter attacks Atterbury gave away a free kick by fouling Watson, and Copestake sent the ball over the goal line from Chadwick's pass. McGuigan beat two men in a clever dribble, and passed to Parnell, from whose high dropping centre Bell headed just over, amid intense excitement. Exeter continued to have the better of the argument, and McGuigan, receiving from Chadwick, shot behind. But 35 minutes from the start, following a burst by Holden, who beat Ambler and Craig, Warburton passed across the field to Leavey, who in turn gave Hindmarsh a clear opening, from which the centre forward scored. Robinson had no chance with the final shot, but the Argyle did not deserve the lead on the run of the play so far.

INTERVAL: PLYMOUTH 1 EXETER O

Second half: McGuigan restarted, but the City attack lacked the necessary penetration, and the ball was quickly worked down towards the Exeter goal, Robinson having to save from Hindmarsh. A free kick in the City's favour saw Wake slip the ball to Watson, who shot with terrific force to bring a spectacular save from Horne. Eventually the ball came out to Copestake, who, with a chance in a thousand, could only manage a weak shot which rolled harmlessly over the goal line. As in the first half, Exeter were still having most of the play, but missed several chances through the forwards being too slow. The Argyle seemed content to hold on to their lead, and Butler was always capable of keeping the Exeter forwards under control. With only eight minutes left Exeter were making supreme efforts to 
get on terms, but further chances were missed by Copestake and Bell. The Argyle pressed, and forced a corner, which was cleared, and once again Exeter got down to the Argyle end, but the attack broke down almost on the goal line, Butler as usual coming to the rescue of his side. In the very last minute Leavey got possession and very easily got past Bulcock, who hesitated too long in making his tackle. Robinson came out of his goal, but was also caught in two minds, and Leavey had no difficulty whatsoever in putting the ball into the net with the goalkeeper stranded. Final score:
Plymouth Argyle 2-0 Exeter City

NOTES ON THE GAME
It was an exciting game, but a time of bitter disappointment for the Exonians. The Argyle, although defending for long periods, played the better Cup football, and for once in a while their forwards went straight for goal when given the chance. The Plymouth defence always stood firm, with Butler especially a shining light. Exeter City did not reproduce the football they had shown in the match against Reading. Even granted they were up against a stronger defence than last week, the fact remains that they were neither so quick or forceful as when opposed to the "Biscuitmen". Not too much notice should be taken of the actual score, for the last goal, on almost the call of time, was due to an uncharacteristic couple of mistakes, first by Bulcock, then Robinson. The crowd was in the region of twenty thousand, easily a record for a football match in the county.

PLYMOUTH AND DISTRICT LEAGUE.
City Reserves v Woodland Villa.

At St. James's Park. After ten minutes Turner scored for the City Reserves, this proving to be the only goal of the match. The Exeter team was Cann, Fenwick, and Parsons; E.Wells, Tierney, and Oliver; Letheren, Eveleigh, Turner, Singlehurst, and White.

In the second half Turner sent the ball into the net, but the referee ruled offside, and another hard shot by Turner hit the post. Both teams played up better towards the end, but neither defence was again penetrated.