Banks' goals keep Exeter in top four

RALLY AFTER HARSH PENALTY

FRIDAY 28th FEBRUARY 1964.

York City 1, Exeter City 2

TWO more goals from star inside-forward Alan Banks gave Exeter the points which will keep them in the Fourth Division's top four this week-end, It was a close call, however, for at one stage Exeter had to fight from behind after what was a harsh and disheartening penalty decision. For this game team manager, Mr. Jack Edwards. had taken a gamble and dropped Eire- inter national centre-forward Dermot Curtis from the line-up which won 3-0 against Chester last week. He brought back Graham Rees. on to the right-wing and switched former Plymouth player. Adrian Thorne, back into the centre And it paid off, for while Thorne did not score, he added more life to the attack and gave a better backing to Banks, who last week was fighting a lone battle. The penalty came after 30 minutes when Goldie tried a centre and the ball hit Derek Grace's hand when the Exeter man was not even fully facing it. It was inside the penalty area, however, and referee Mr. H. Richards, of Oldham, had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Even then it was a close thing as Scott's shot beat Barnett, but only went in off the inside of a goalpost.

Soft tackling

Exeter must get credit for not. going to pieces after this shot. Right from the start they had been playing neat and attractive, foot ball, but it was not effective enough. Rees and Banks did get as far as putting in shots. York, who were a soft-tackling and porr passing side, looked what they were, a team third from the bottom of the table, and it seemed as if they would give Exeter little trouble. After the penalty Exeter settled down to mount a few more attacks, but once again there was not quite enough finish to bring them a goal. At the start of the second half they began to realise some of their promise and young George Ley started them off by firing a shot just over the bar. It was the ever dangerous Alan Banks who finally got a goal as he showed his usual opportunism by shooting on the rebound of a Rees centre which had been pushed out to him in the 60th minute.

Desperate defence

Six minutes later he did it again. This time nipping in to pick up a loose ball after Thorne had challenged well to intercept a back pass between centre-half Boyes and his goalkeeper. Then York goalkeeper Moore saved his side twice first as Ley drove in a long ball just under the crossbar and then as Grace dived full-length to head a ball from Banks. In the last few minutes it turned into a game of desperate defence for Exeter who were inclined at this stage to rely just little too much on their lead. York threw everything they had into this last-ditch attack, but with a little luck and a lot of first time clearing.  Exeter got away with it. Again this was as team performance and desrved praise as City moved into second place in the table. 

Teams 

YORK CITY 

Moor; Wealthall, Baker; Woods, Boyes, M.Scott; J. Scott, Peyton, Goldie, Rudd, Heran.

EXETER CITY  
Barnett; Smyth, MacDonald; Mitchell, Harvey, Anderson; Rees, Banks, Thorne, Grace, Ley.

Scorers
York Scott,
Exeter City Banks 2,

Attendance 3,585,

Western League

EXETER CITY RESERVES 1 MINEHEAD 1

Parkhill; Quarrington, Arbury; Rutley, Henderson, Gough; Welsh, Redwood, Riding, Edgar, Spiers.

Scorer
Exeter City Redwood,

Saturday 29th February 1964 

CITY F. C. SEEKING A 15 ACRE SITE.

Exeter City directors are looking for a 15 acre site as near as possible to the City centre which they can buy and develop for practice pitches and training facilities for the club, Chairman Mr Reg Rose has been looking privately for some time but has been unable to find anything suitable and so the club has started advertising for the land, Mr Rose said it is all part of the expansion programme which the board has in mind for the club. They have been badly needing extra training facilities for some time and this would provide the answer, They would have pitches which they would be able to use for practice matches at almost anytime when the St James's Park surface itself was unfit. There would  be proper sprint stretches and lapping circuits and a permanent circuit training course as well, It would also mean that City no longer had to rent a seperate pitch for the Colts side for their Exeter and District League games. If possible a gymnasium would be errected so that the players can have training facilities in bad weather. A gym has been needed for years, but it has never been possibe because of lack of space at St James's Park,

MONDAY 2nd MARCH 1964.

CITY V TORQUAY ALL TICKET.

Exeter City directors have decided that the Devon derby game against fellow promotion chasers Torquay United at St James's Park on Good Friday will be an all ticket match. This will be a vital clash for both clubs and a gate of 15,000 is expected. It has been decided to make it all ticket to avoid any hold ups at the turnstiles on the day of the match,

NEW LIGHTS.

The board of directors have announced that they will not be trying out the new floodlights at the City reserve v Bristol City reserves Western League game at the Park on Wednesday night, Originally they were going to use the game as an experiment but they have decided that to bunch the new lights in one place would be unfair to the players and to spread them around the ground would be an unfair test for the lights.

TUESDAY 3rd MARCH 1964.

PATRICK MAY MISS REST OF SEASON.

Exeter City full back Roy Patrick will probably not be able to play again this season because of his back troubleAt the moment he is in a plaster jacket and has been ordered to rest for at least six or seven weeksHe injured his back against Lincoln in the first home match of the season, several times he has tried to make a comeback but he has been hit with a recurrence of the back injury, caused by pressure on the sciatic nerve,

Western League 

EXETER CITY RESERVES 0,
BRISTOL CITY A 4.

Parkhill; Quarrington, Parsons; RutleyHenderson, Gough; Riding, Symington Curtis, Edgar, Welsh,

CITY PLAYER ON TRANSFER LIST.

Young Irishman George Spiers has become the second player within a week to request a transfer from Exeter City. He joins Scottish forward John Henderson in a bid to establish a first team place with another club, Spiers, a tough 22 year old was signed from Crusaders two days before the season began. He has made four appearances for City and wants to stay in the Football League rather than return to Ireland,

THURSDAY 5th MARCH 1964.

CITY F.C. LAND BID.

Exeter City chairman Mr Reg Rose will tell tonight's board meeting that there have been so far two replies to the club's advertisement for 15 acres of ground in or near the City to be used for training and practice. So far though he has given no indication as to where the land is or whether it is suitable for City's purposes, They do not want land which has been scheduled for building as the price would be prohibitive.