Stoke came to their final game of the season looking for a win that would give them a realistic chance to secure runners up spot and achieved that victory courtesy of a scintillating first half performance. Ok, so Exeter Civil Service arrived through the teatime traffic only 15 minutes before kick off without four recognised attacking threats but that shouldn't detract from a first half where Stoke kept and moved the ball like they have during their better performances this season and effectively had the game won inside the first quarter of an hour. They opened the scoring inside a minute when Martin Sutcliffe's thrusting run from midfield ended with a sliderule pass inside the full back to Lewis Robinson whose first shot was saved by Nick Coles in the visitors goal only for 'Huey' to follow up and tap in the rebound. On 7 minutes it was 2-0 as Dave Worthington fed Ty Hawken down the right channel and the rangey striker began what was to be a memorable evening's work by turning inside and thumping home a drive from 20 yards. Five minutes later, Hawken's brace was complete when a quick Kev Wills free kick found the 'Ninja' whose cross beat the defender to find 'Bad to the Bone' lurking on the six yard line where he chested down and swivelled to smash home a volley. On 19 minutes Glen Palmer selflessly squared to Hawken when well placed himself to strike, for the intrepid finisher to complete his hat trick with a guided side footed placement. The goals were coming regularly now and with 25 minutes on the clock, Richard Gomm kept possession through two tackles and found 'Worthdog' who sublimely chipped the keeper from 15 yards. A classy finish. Finally and on the stroke of half time Palmdog outpaced the Civil offside trap to reach the by line before again selflessly cutting the ball back for Hawken to smash home from 12 yards to make it 19 in the season and lead the scoring charts. The second half was always unlikely to live up to the first half's stunning exploits, Stoke introduced Jimmy Holland, Dan Harmer and Simon Laity and Civil defended stoically as Stoke misfired somewhat albeit the damage had long since been done and the victory secured. No further goals resulted although Palmdog, Worthdog and Bad to the Bone all hit the woodwork with shots from various angles and the visitors had a purple patch in the final quarter when Matt Thompson in the home goal was required to make a couple of saves low down in 1v1 situations to keep the sheet clean. A routine victory to complete their fixtures and once again Stoke are now left looking anxiously at other results to see whether they have done enough to achieve their highest league position for a decade.