Exeter Chiefs recorded a comfortable 23-13 victory over Newcastle Falcons in their final league match of the Aviva Premiership campaign.
The win, which came courtesy of tries from Luke Cowan-Dickie, Ben White and Fetu Vainikolo, helped the Chiefs clinch eighth place in the table.
Newcastle made a bright start with Sinoti Sinoti and Alex Tait making penetrating runs which eventually led to tackles being penalised. Hodgson knocked over both in the third and seventh minutes for a 6-0 lead.
But Exeter's well-organised line-out drive made it look easy for hooker Cowan-Dickie to claim the first try for the Chiefs in the 12th minute to make it 6-5, Slade failing to add the conversion.
It seemed Dave Lewis must score when he raced away after snapping up the ball in broken play just inside his own half but the scrum half was chased down by Hodgson and caught just 10 metres short.
The Falcons were happy to escape when Lewis dived into the scrum to concede a penalty.
Exeter looked the more threatening and some heavy-duty pick and drives ended with Oliver Tomaszczyk diving in to concede a penalty which Slade kicked after 28 minutes to ease the Chiefs 8-6 ahead.
Newcastle wasted a couple of chances when they failed to win their own ball at a line-out five metres out and then Gonzalo Tiesi was hauled down just short of the corner flag after clever footwork from Sinoti.
But Exeter dominated the closing minutes of the half as flanker White crashed through from close range again and Slade's conversion secured a 15-6 interval lead.
The Falcons started the second half well with James Fitzpatrick bouncing off a couple of tackles but their inability to hang on to the ball was proving costly and they spent the next 10 minutes defending during which Slade kicked a 57th minute penalty for 18-6.
Newcastle did rally briefly with Sinoti barrelling through again and the ball went through several pairs of hands in a brief flurry down the left but Godman's attempted chip was charged down and Exeter broke out of defence to move back into the Falcons half and dominate the last quarter.
Slade kept the Falcons pinned in their own 22 and they could even afford a missed penalty from Gareth Steenson with three minutes left because Vainikolo crashed over a minute from time with the home defence shredded.
However, Newcastle did manage to restore a bit of pride in stoppage time as Wilson crossed for the final try of the matc, with Godman adding the extras.
