4th November 1972
Football League
Exeter 1-1 Darlington

What the papers said!

NORTHERN ECHO:
Shortly be fore the kick-off at Exeter Darling ton's manager Allan Jones said he had a feeling they could do well. It was a somewhat illogical feeling, as only two sides had taken a point at Exeter all season and on the basis of form there was no reason why Darlington should join them. But the Quakers didn't do too badly and became the third side to earn a point with their 1-1 draw. After 15 minutes Exeter were one goal up, scored by Fred Binney from a Scott corner. Darlington's defence looked susceptible to Bin ney's aggressive play and Mick Wright had his name taken for trip ping Neale when any other action would have left the Exeter No. 7 with an open route to goal. That was the low point of Darlington's performance. From then onwards they began to build up some attractive moves, the defence became steadier and they were moving the ball around with much more confidence.The turning point came just before halftime when Alan Harding brought the ball down with his chest, lobbed it over a defender's head and shot just too high. It was a move which brought applause from the West Country crowd and must have upset the Exeter defence as they realised that despite Darlington's low League position they could still play some good football.