Saturday January 7th 1911
Southern League
Exeter City v Leyton

Leyton's Misfortune:
Finish the Match Three Short:

Leyton were the City's opponents at St. James's Park today, both sides being below full strength. Leyton, for instance, lacked the services of the Rev.Kenneth Hunt, Durrant, and McGibbon. was announced to play outside-right to Buchan, Ryder at centre-forward, and King right-half. Regarding the Exeter side, Garside had recovered from a bad cold sufficiently to enable him to play, but Parnell and were absent, being substituted by E.Whittaker and James.
CITY
Whittaker (W)
Evans Jones
Bassett Pratt Prideaux
Whittaker (E) James Hughes Bell Garside
Referee:- Mr H.F.Curtis, of Plymouth.
Coxon McLean Ryder Buchan West
Gray Bell King
Buchanan Busby
Whitbourne
LEYTON

There were five thousand present when Exeter City took the field. Whittaker won the toss and elected to play away from the town end. A false start was made and Ryder had to kick off a second time. The visiting forwards attacked in a line, and Buchan sent in the first shot of the match, which was saved smartly by Whittaker. West was the next to test "Big Walt", and for a moment or two the Leyton forwards were very aggressive. Quickly, however, came a sensational change which put Exeter two up, and both goals were scored by Garside. The first he got after dashing in as the ball came over from the right wing, and play had barely restarted when Hughes and James bundled into the defence and a shot from Hughes bounced from Whitbourne to the ground. Three or four Leyton men rushed up to clear, and Garside went into the fray as well. He got to the ball first, and shot through the forest of legs into the net. Naturally the crowd went wild with delight at such a favourable turn of events so early in the game. Bell struck the side of the net, and Garside forced an abortive corner. Leyton replied with vigour, and Evans and Jones were hard pressed. They kept the Londoners out, however, and the City renewed acquaintances with Whitbourne, who kept out two fierce volleys by Pratt, and tipped a long shot from Bell over the bar. Then a shot by Buchan glanced off Jones's foot for a corner to Leyton. Gray secured the ball from the flag kick and put in a swerving shot which was fielded by Whittaker. The City remained on top throughout the first half, and the Leyton goal had some miraculous escapes. Interval:
EXETER CITY 2-0 LEYTON

The ground had cut up very badly in the first half, and the Leyton defence floundered on the slippery surface. In the first couple of minutes James brought Whitbourne to his knees with a fine drive, and Hughes was just too late to meet a centre from E. Whittaker.
Leyton attacked for a change, and Coxon sent wide. Bell drove in two hard shots, both saved by Whitbourne, and was then brought down just outside the penalty area. The free kick was headed out of the danger zone by Newton, and Ryder got away on his own, his final shot being saved by Whittaker. Then James forced a corner off Buchanan, and Whitbourne had to throw himself at full length across his goal to save from Hughes.

Then Came Leyton's Bad Luck
Leyton were providing very poor opposition, and play was scarcely ever out of their half of the field, yet the City could not add to their score. Several chances were missed through wild shooting, but Whitbourne was playing the game of his life, and had saved literally dozens of shots. Garside slung over a centre which Whitbourne was glad to be able to tip over the bar, and the third Exeter goal came at last following a corner on the right. Enos Whittaker got the flag kick across, right into the goalmouth, and in the melee which followed pretty well every home forward tried to get the ball into the net. Eventually Hughes pounced on the leather and rammed it home, amid delirious cheering. Mark Bell had strained his leg muscles during the mix-up in the goalmouth, and was forced to retire. Almost immediately upon Bell's departure Buchanan was hurt in a collision with Hughes and damaged his elbow so badly that he took no further part in the game. With their ranks thus depleted Leyton carried on bravely, and the tall Buchan sent in a nice header from Coxon's cross, and Whittaker saved smartly. Leyton's appeal that Exeter's goalkeeper had carried the ball over his own line was rejected by the referee. Buchan shot off on his own directly afterwards and appeared to be a certain scorer, but shot just over the bar. At the moment he shot Jones charged into him, and the forward had to be lifted up and carried off with a badly bruised thigh. Thus Leyton were not only a matter of three goals behind, but had only eight men on the field. They played one back, two halves, and four forwards, and from this point offside against the City was consequently very frequent. Enos Whittaker shot high over from a good position. The game ended with the result:

EXETER CITY 3-0 LEYTON

Last season: Exeter 2 Leyton 1.
In 1908-09:  Exeter 3 Leyton 1.

NOTES ON THE GAME

Poor Leyton. Whatever sort of team they will have to put in the field against Chelsea in the Cup next week cannot be forecast. It is true that neither Buchanan, Buchan, or Mark Bell is badly injured, though it is doubtful if more than one of the trio will be able to turn out next week, especially Buchan, for whom a cab was sent for. The Londoners were lucky not to be beaten by more than three goals to nil, for Whitbourne was smothered with work, and had twelve shots to save for every one which came Whittaker's way. Some of his saves, too, were bordering on the impossible. During the last half an hour the ground got so churned up that it resembled a ploughed field, and on a firmer surface Exeter would have probably done their goal average a good turn, for they were masters of the situation throughout. Leyton went under fighting pluckily to the last. They are to be sympathised with in the matter of their injuries, but they cannot grumble about the score as they still had eleven men on the field at the time of the third goal. Enos Whittaker's centres were one of the features of the match, and he has developed splendidly since gaining his place in the first team.

FRIENDLY 
BABBACOMBE v CITY RESERVES.

At Plainmoor this afternoon on a slippery track, Babbacombe were home to the City Reserves in a "friendly". The game opened up in a lively manner, and a crowd of about a thousand spectators enjoyed some exciting play by both sides. After 20 minutes' play Frayn put in a stiff shot, but Wells saved easily. A minute later Exeter were pressing, and Crute was called upon to deal with a shot from Smith. Exeter forced two corners in quick succession, but nothing resulted. Play deteriorated midway through this half, and at this stage a section of the spectators shouted to the teams to "play football", to a considerable extent these remarks were justifiable in view of the bright opening, for neither side was now playing up to the Plymouth League standard. At half time there was no score. The final half was somewhat uninteresting. After about a quarter of an hour's play Exeter scored, through Chenneour, and this was followed up by a second goal from "Tiger" Smith. For "hands" inside the penalty area Babbacombe were awarded a free kick, from which the ball was netted by Bartlett, and after several attacks had broken down Cooke put on the City's third goal.
Final: 
Reserves 3-1  Babbacombe.