FOOTBALL—NAVALS v. CLUB.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1816, 18 May 1874, Page 3

FOOTBALL—NAVALS v. CLUB.

"Will it be fine?" said the prettiest drop-kickm the province. ""Ihope so/' was my reply, and fine it was, with very little wiud; in fact good football weather though rather too close, if anything! When I arrived on the ground, which I did as the Club skipper was peeling off, I found the game had begun, though no igoal had_ got bj either sido. " Hurrah! here's' Billy," said a young "red stocking," as the skipper stepped into the field, evidently, bent.on getting a goal by the way; he rushed the first Naval who got in his rbad.'gettih'g an easy chance of a drop, which ho availed himself of by sending the ball over, tho.-,,cross bar. Goals were, changed, and the : iNavals. rallied ( and ' worked well, but Mercer's excellent: dropping proved too much for them, backed up as it was by Davey, Merriman, and Itussell, who worked well up the right toutch line, Burgess and Bull doing good service as backs. Oarrick, Swanson, Crawford, and the two light weights, Severn and Curtis, wore very busy forward. JNichol, too, worked very hard, and though his spills .were numerous, he soemed always on the ball, Mercer kicked a splendid goal with loft' foot drop. Shortly afterwards, Bull,- who had come forward to relieve some one, got a chance which of course ho did not miss, making three goals in all. Time was now called, aud a rattling scratch game took place for about half-an-hour, resulting in a toutch for each side. There is no doubt the Ulub played much better together, but still there was noticeable a want of passing the ball, oachplaying too much for hinuelf. The Navals worked hard, but as they have not had any practice, it could not be oxpected that they would work well together.- They havo the right stuff in them, and I quite expect to seo several of them in the team against Auckland should our annual opponents mako thoir appearance somo line Saturday afceruoou. As Ido not know the names of the Naval team, [cannot give honour where honour is due, except by saying that they all played well, and kopt their tempers and legs, much better than beginners usually do at the game of football. Drop.kick.