Women’s Hockey DIGBYS, WEST DRAW

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28619, 23 June 1958, Page 3

Women’s Hockey DIGBYS, WEST DRAW

Harewood’s Lead Increased

In the eighth round of the Canterbury Women’s Hockey Association’s senior competition the runners-up, Christchurch West, were held to a draw by Digbys with the result that the leading team, Harewood, moved further ahead on the points table. Conditions were again very pleasant overhead, and the grounds were firm and dry and reasonably level. Results were:— Christchurch West 2, Digbys 2. University 3, Aranui 1. Carlton 2, Rawhiti 1.

Harewood 4, Teachers’ College 1. Points to date are:—Harewood 13, Christchurch West 11, Carlton 11, Digbys 10, Aranui 8, University 6. Rawhiti 3. Teachers’ College 0. University and Teachers’ College still have a match to play.

CHRISTCHURCH WEST V. DIGBYS Digbys looked the better team, but after leading by two goals at the interval was held to a draw. Its defence was sound until the closing stages when the backs failed to mark the opposing inside forwards. The wing halves, D. Quinn and J. Sluis, played well on attack, but S. Wood at centre-half rushed into tackles instead of- allowing her opponents to bring the ball to her. On attack, the forwards combined well, with M. Mann distributing the play intelligently at centre-forward. Tn addition the two inside forwards, D. Norrie and S. Boag, were tenacious in their back-tackling. For Christchurch West, J. Hall at right-back trapped and passed well, and her partner, P. Hayles, brought off many neat interceptions. N. Powell was very steady at left-half, and H. Grant played her best game of the season. In the forwards J. Fifield showed all the requirements of a good left-wing. M. Thomson at centre-forward was heavily marked, but showed her ability by turning this to advantage in drawing the defence and making play for her other forwards. Such a move led to the equalising goal when she placed a beautiful pass for D. Abernethy to score with an excellent shot.

The Digbys goals were scored by M. Mann and D. Norrie, and the Christchurch West goals by J. Wise and D. Abernethy. lIAREWOOD v. TEACHERS’ COLLEGE Teachers’ College made a bold and determined showing against the competition leaders and fully held its own in the first spell. Harewood’s strong shooting was the decisive factor in the later stages. Its defence was patchy, the winghalves tending to stray infield and the clearing hits of the backs being ill-directed at times. For Harewood, G. Merrin played well on the left-wing, and the inside forwards. B. Turner and H Turner, were as quick as ever on the ball in the circle, the latter being particularly good. For Training College, the fullbacks showed some improvement, but the main burden of the defence again fell on a willing half-line in which M. Newbury in the centre covered a lot of ground. J. Thomson and N. Stupples on the right flank led some promising attacking movements, but the trapping of the remaining forwards was very poor. In fact they missed the ball more often than they controlled it. Harewood’s goals were scored by H. Turner (2), B. Turner and G. Merrin, and S. Whyte scored for Teachers’ College. CARLTON v. RAWHITI This was a dull match in which Cartion’s victory was unconvincing. This team has deteriorated in ability in recent games and only the return of C. Cole held it together on this occasion. Its defence was steady but very slow in initiating attacking movements, and the passing in the forward line has become inaccurate, although C. Cole and N. Gordon were prominent in good individual moves. The Carlton forward line is unbalanced through not being sufficiently strong on the right flank with the result that the attack has to be concentrated in one direction. The remedying of this serious weakness is the first requirement in improving the team’s capacity and performance. For Rawhiti, M. Rouse at centreforward added some thrust to the attack and L. Todd made a few good runs on the (right-wing, but in general the fight flank did not see enough of the ball. For this reason A. Schimanski was not as prominent as usual. C. Herritt was the best of the half-line and B. Kilroy was a reliable left-back. Goals were scored for Carlton by H. Rich (2), and M. Rouse scored for Rawhiti. UNIVERSITY v. ARANUI Although below full strength in the absence of F. Kelly and A. Mac-

Donald, University showed further improvement in defeating Aranui J. Joll and B. Dawson in the backs were trapping with more accuracy and clearing with greater strength and better direction. The wing halves, D. Lunn and J. Spooner, have vastly improved their cover defence and the feeding of their forwards, whose line was reshuffled and in which S. Spooner played an excellent game, returning to her best form. Her back-tackling was tireless and her passing accurate. In the centre, T. Minehan led the attack with great determination, and the two young wings, B. Purdom and P. North, played their parts adequately. The presiding genius of the University team is its centrehalf, S. Comer, who was in her best form. She was equally good on defence as on attack, and is the best centre-half seen in Canterbury hockey for many years. Her ability to supply her forwards with the ball and to initate attacks from the most difficult situations places her in the highest class. For Aranui, Z. Walker played very well at right-back, her passing showing considerable improvement in accuracy. At centre-half, A. De Ville covered much ground and would have been more effective with a better forward line. The Aranui attack depends too greatly upon S. McCaw, who was playing very well but was closely marked oy the opposing defence. Insufficient support from her other forwards was her main handicap. Like Carlton, Aranui needs to strengthen its right flank, which has not been able to retain possession -long enough to make openings for the centre and left flank forwards.

The University goals were scored by T. Minehan (2) and S. Spooner, and ( S. McCaw scored for Aranui.

LOWER GRADES

Senior Reserve.—Aranui 2, Christchurch West 1; Hinemoa 9, Selwyn 0; Cranmer 7, Digby’s 2; Carlton 6, Pacific 2. Third Grade.—Technical 4, Avonside 2; Belfast 3, Carlton 2; Harewood 4. Digby’s 1; Rangiora High' 3, Aranui 0. Fourth Grade.—Hornby beat Dental Nurses by default. Fifth Grade.—Digby’s 1, Christchurch West 0; Hinemoa 7, Avonside 1: Hornby 5, Shirley 0. Sixth Grade.—Rawhiti 0, Belfast 0; Shirley 4, Hornby 3. Malvern Results Results of women’s hockey matches played in the Malvern sub-associa-tion’s competitions on Saturday were:— Darfield A 2, Kirwee I 2; Kirwee A 4, Darfield B 2; Halkett 5, Sheffield 0.