Soccer WESTERN STILL LEADS IN HURLEY SHIELD MATCHES

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28951, 20 July 1959, Page 6

Soccer WESTERN STILL LEADS IN HURLEY SHIELD MATCHES

Western retained a firm hold on the Hurley Shield championship when it beat Shamrock, 6-1, at English Park on Saturday. In a fast and interesting match Shamrock fully extended Western, which was never sure of victory until the final stages of play. Nomads were upset by Christchurch City in a drab curtain-raiser. At Ensors road, Rangers came from behind to draw with Technical Old Boys. Atlantis gained its first win in the series when it beat Neerlandia-United in a close match at Linwood Park.

Results:— Western 6. Shamrock 1. Christchurch City 5, Nomads 3. Technical Old Boys 3, Rangers 3. Atlantis 3, Neerlandia United 2. Points in the Hurley Shield competition (with the number of games played shown in parenthesis) are:—Western 16 (Bi. Christchurch City 15 (11), Nomads 14 (9», Shamrock 13 (11), Rangers 10 (ID, Technical Old Boys 7 (10). Atlantis 4 (11), Neerlandia United 3 (11). SHAMROCK v. WESTERN Shamiock provided Uie championship leader. Western, with stiff opposition in the main Hurley Shield fixture at English Park. The Shamrock players showed good ball contiol and combination tor most °* lv e , matc h. but the experienced fit Western team gained full control ln ~,! he losing stages and won 6-1 The Western goal-keeper, H. Langley, made some fine saves. R Durant and M. Shardiow. the fullbacks. were well tested by the speedy Shamrock wings early in the match, but were seldom beaten later. The centre-half, A. Laffev was never faulted and cleared the ball intelligently. W. Rodger, left half, and P Feenstra. inside right, played well in midfield with good support from the inside left, K Olley. C. Steel. ,at right and (ater left wing, was a constant thieat to the Shamrock i ?ir£ e . nt L e ' Tbe centre forwards C I whitehead, passed well and com- , bined neatly with his inside men | but seldom beat his marker. | J. Callaghan, the Shamrock goalkeeper, was not as safe as usual. At centre half, P. Flynn dominated the defence with powerful, welldirected clearances. The fullbacks. N. Morisini and J. Campion also defended stoutly for most of (inti wages. bUt SloWed Up in tbe Shamrock was strong in midfield PW wliere. the wing halves. P Fletcher and H. Taylor, worked tirelessly throughout. The inside forwards. J Price and W. Yates, also played hard, with Price particularly formidable on attack. The young Shamrock wings. J Rea and J. Kiliick. impressed with detei mined attacking and made some good openings, especially in the first spell. The weak link in Uie forward line was the centre f- , T aylor. who could not cope "’™ i !,e masterful positional play of Laffey J

Shamrock showed good form from the kick-off and scored first after U minutes’ play. Price secured in midfield and passed to Rea. who made a good run and sent over a powerful centre which Kiliick slammed into the net from close m on tlie angle. Western equalised when Feenstra scored with a hard drive from a direct free kick. Olley twice sk>ed the ball over the crossbar. but made amends when he scored with a low angled shot, following a long pass from Whitehead. Feenstra scored again from another free kick, to give Western a 3-1 lead at the interval.:. , Shamrock attacked strongly early in the second spell, and after a powerful shot by Kiliick hit the crossbat Langley just managed to save a hard drive by Yates. With 15 minutes left for play the Western right half, j. Longmuir. swung a long pass across the goalmouth, and Olley beat Callaghan With a hard, rising shot. The Shamrock defence began to falter in the pace of concerted Western attacks, and when Olley and Steele combined, Whitehead scored from close in. Whitehead scored again in the final minute of play after a determined solo effort. Mi G. Baxter (Hawke’s Bay) was referee. NOMADS v. CHRISTCHURCH CITY In a mediocre match at English Park on Saturday the unpredictable Christchurch City team beat Nomads 5-3. tn spite of a superiority in midfield play, the Nomads forwards were unable to work up a satisfactory combination The play of the Citv attackers was little better, but they made the most of their chances and were quick to capitalise on mistakes by their opponents. J Joyner, the Nomads goalKeepsr. made some good saves but was 'occasionally drawn out of position. The central half, I. Graham defe .aed well, with good support from B. Prebble at left back The Nomads wing halves. D. Simmonds and I. Toth, worked hard, but their efforts were wasted by an ineffective forward line. The individual efforts of the centre forward. P Rennell. and A. van. Hooven, at inside right. worried the r'ity defence, but the wings. J Bouhwis and D. Ennis, seldom beat 'heit markers. I Hunter was a competent goalkeeper for City The left back. T Lynch was the best of the defenders, with the centre half. M. Wild heading well but too often miskicking The right half, T. Clackson. plaveo hard throughout, often starting attacks with his accurate passes Although there was little combination among the Citv forwards tht ins.de piayers, A. frotter and A ZeUbeiger. worked hard when in possession D Worthington made some good play on the left wing and centred strongly. Foi the first 30 minutes play was even with neither side able to gain an advantage. When Nornaas were awarded a free-kick Rennell slipped a short pass to van Rooyen, who opened the scoring with a hard drive. Soon afterwards Worthington made a good break on the left flank and passed to Trotter. who scored from close range From the kick-off the ball went to the Nomads outside right, D Ennis, who centred well for Rennell to beat Hunter close in. City equalised when Trotter and the centreforward, P. O’Toole, combined well for O’Toole to score with a good shot At half-time the score was 2-2 In the third minute of the second spell Hunter stopped a powerful drive from Ennis, but failed to clear, and Rennell secured to score an easy goal. Zeilbergei scored for City soon after, following a freekick by tlie right half. R. Herbert. City went ahead when Joyner was drawn out of goal and Trotter lobbed the ball into the net With 10 minutes left Worthington scored tile final goal from a penalty Mr J. Sheffield was referee. ATLANTIS V. NEERLANDIA UNITED Atlantis gamed a narrow, but deserved 3-2 win over Neerlandia United at Linwood Park. Neerlandia was the first to score against the run of play. Atlantis equalised and the score at halftime was 1-all. After the resumption. Neerlandia was on top fur .. short spell, but Atlantis was the first to go in front. A misunderstanding in the defence allowed Neerlandia to get back on level terms, but immediately Atlantis restored its 1-goai >ead. and in spite of strong efforts by the Neerlandia forwards, the Atlantis defence held. Neerlandia were well served by H. Hoevers in goal. A. Van der Lelay. at right back, cleared his lines well, but with the rest of the Neerlandia players, did not kick accurately K Orsouw at centre-half, defended well, but at a line the Neerlandia halvea were not constructive

and relied on hard kicking into Atlantis territory to find their forwards. Neerlandia had two speedy wings. J. Kemp and J. Van Hout. G. Proost, at inside left, combined well with Kemp but it was H. Scholten, at inside right, who caught the eye. M. Campfens at centre forward, showed some deft touches and compared favourably with the other inside forwards For Atlantis B. Salt had another good game in goal, and two or three of liis saves were first-class. J. Skimmins was a steady full-back, and A. Allardyce, his partner, at left-back, had his best game for weeks. The Atlantis half-back line did well against the improved Neerlandia forwards. J. Hegarty, at centre half, played a fine stopping game. R. Garters used his height in heading effectively, and his throwing in was long and accurate. A. Condie. at right-half, plaved strenuously throughout. In the Atlantis forwards there were two insides with different styles. J. McGrath, with his polished ball control and defence-splitting passes, and R McDonald, who was tremendously strong in possession, and a powerful shot, both penetrated well I Torsde tried hard at centre-forward, and was the best ol the other forwards. Goal scorers were M. Campfens and an Atlantis defender (own goab for Neerlandia. For Atlantis J. McGrath (21 and Torsde scored goals. The referee was Mr F. Malins. TECHNICAL v. RANGERS Rangers made an aggressive second-half recovery at Ensors road to make up a two-goal deficit and draw with Technical Old Boys 3-all. The game was fast and rough, and a number of unpleasant incidents involving piayers on both sides did nothing to help towards better football. Technical, playing into the sun foi the first half, attacked from the start and K. Rasmussen, the centreforward, scuffled the ball into the net after a goal-mouth scramble following a cross from the right by the wing. M. Jones. Rangers soon equalised, with a similar goal, scored bv P. Farrell, inside right. Play was even for some time, with Technical having a slight edge, and then A. Chee, the clever Technical inside left, made a fine dribbling run of 40 yards, to take the ball almost to the goalline and then cross. The defenders missed the ball as it went across the goal, and G. Kerr, Technical inside right deflected it in. A minute later V. Smith, Technical right halt, had a run and put a beautiful high ball into the penalty area, and W Shannon, the left wing, came in fast for a header which gave E Brown, the Rangers goalkeeper, no chance

Rangers, down 1-3 at hall-time, rallied and put in a series of vigorous attacks after the interval. J Mills, at inside left, who had been trying hard all the match, slipped one through, and T. Ryan. Rangers centre forward, ran through and scored. Encouraged. Rangers fought back, but could not score until almost the end of the match, when T. Smith on the right wing got possession from a free kick and crossed. Ryan was In the goal-mouth to head in, to draw the match. Tempers were frayed in both teams in the second half, as well as among the extremely vocal spectators, and the referee, Mr L. J. Tointon, had to speak to players on both sides before Ordering several dropped balls.

Technical’s forwards were a strong line, with the exception of Kerr who seemed out of place in the senior grade. Shannon had a good game, and frequently beat his rnarker. R. Cassie, while Jones on the other wing used his speed well, i Dalsum. the powerful left halt, had one of his best games, and was well backed up by W. Charlton behind him. C. Spinks, the other back, was not so sure, however, and °nen misdirected his passes. For Rangers. Brown, substituting in goal for VV. Adam, was courage°us. with a powerful and well-direct-ed kick. P. Cole, at centre half Played an intelligent and solid game. His clearances always had purpose hTTo « was supported excellently by R. Pearson and I. Pash, the wing ,he f ? rw ards. Mills was outstanding, continually testing the defence with subtle dribbling B and oassing. B