SATURDAY OCTOBER 5th 1963 

CITY (CURTIS) 1
DARLINGTON (LAWTON) 1.

STRONGER CITY NEEDED TO STAY AT THE TOP.

There were not many satisfied Exeter City fans after this performance. They witnessed Exeter slowly crumble apart against the sort of opposition which they should have beaten by four or five goals. The team needs strengthening to maintain their position as front runners of the Fourth DivisionIn the opening twenty minutesCity ran rings around a shaky Darlington defence. There was little cover in defence and City should have scored at least twice, The rot gradually set in, spreading back to the normally steady defenceThere was very little cover for anyone and certainly no service for the forwards, City did stage a late attacking rally and had two shots stopped on the line from Rees and Harvey, it does not say much for the rest of the forwards when the centre half has to come up and take a pot shot. There is no excuse for not being able to shoot or find a way through when they are actually on the move, In the 40th minute Curtis got the goal from a Mitchell free kick which caught the Darlington defence in a state of disarrayThe keeper caught the ball, dropped it as he was challenged by Curtis who gratefully belted it into the net. In the second half City's defence began to make mistakes and Darlington equalised with a qwuick Maltby-Lawton move and if they had not been so bad as Exeter they would have got a couple more.

Teams.

Exeter City: Barnett; Smyth and MacDonald; Mitchell, Harvey, and Anderson; Rees, Henderson, Curtis, Grace, and Ley.

Darlington: Head; Whitehead and Henderson; Potter, D.Robson, and Peverell; Weddle, Maltby, Lawton, L.Robson, and Burbeck.

Attendance 5,965,

Western League 
Bridport 2-2 City Reserves 

Bridport and the City Reserves drew at Bridport, 2 goals all. Holder through his own goal and Redwood scored for the City.

EXETER CITY RESERVES
Parkhill; Quarrington, Patrick; Rutley, Parsons, Spiers; Riding, Symington, Redwood, Edgar, Stuckey.


MONDAY 7th OCTOBER 1963.

DIED ON WAY TO MATCH.

A 75 year old Exmouth man Mr Thomas Horsham, collapsed and died while walking along Old Tiverton Road on Saturday going to watch the Exeter City v Darlington match.

PHOENIX MOVE HELD UP.

Peter Phoenix, the Rochdale left winger with a goal scoring reputation, was due to talk terms with Exeter City today, but in a last minute telephone call, he has asked for more time to think over the move. Terms have been agreed between the two clubs for his transfer and now everything is up to the player, Born in Manchester, Phoenix joined Oldham Athletic in 1958 and was the leading goal scorer in his first season with them. After four seasons and more than 150 first team games Phoenix left for Rochdale in 1962 and has been a consistent performer since. The 26 year old turned down a City offer when he left Manchester City in 1958, prefering to join Oldham and stay in the Manchester area,

TUESDAY 8th OCTOBER 1963.

CITY SIGN PHOENIX.

Peter Phoenix, the 26 year old wingman from Rochdale signed for Exeter City this afternoon, After yesterday's hold up the officials of City got a shock when Phoenix turned up unannounced at St James's Park today after travelling overnight from Manchester with his wife to talk over conditions of his contract after both clubs had agreed terms,