Canterbury Soccer Has Two Stern Matches

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30768, 4 June 1965, Page 15

Canterbury Soccer Has Two Stern Matches

(By Our Soccer Reporter J In a year when plans have reached the drawing board stage to begin a national league of representative soccer teams, Canterbury’s chances of holding its own in this company will come under the microscope during the holiday week-end.

Tomorrow, the senior team plays the first leg of its Gordon Cup match against Wellington at the Basin Reserve. On Monday, at English Park, the same team, barring injuries, will play Otago in the first leg of the Jones Cup. Both games will thoroughly , test Canterbury’s strengths and weaknesses. By Mondaynight it should be obvious to the selector (Mr V. R. Smith) those positions that are adequately filled and those which must be strengthened. Guided by the need to counter the threat of Wellington’s New Zealand centre-for-ward, R- Moore, the selector has chosen an unusual defensive line-up for tomorrow’s game at the Basin Reserve. Understanding Needed Two specialist centre-halves will be in action, the captain, G. Evans, and the young Technical player, G. Griffiths. It is intended that Griffiths, with less than one full season of senior soccer behind him, should play the deep third back game. Evans will have the more exacting role—to cut off the ball before it reaches Moore and to lay on the passes to put his own forwards on attack. This seems to be the guiding factor behind Mr Smith’s experiment. It will succeed only if Evans and Griffiths can reach a perfect understanding and the rest of the players can adapt their play to these tactics. It might have had more chance of success if the players had had the opportunity to practice together more often. As it is, they will have to learn from their mistakes the hard way—and every mistake equid be fatal. Strong Link Men The mid-field link men. between the defence and attack, will be Evan’s team-mate, A. Gowans, and the Nomads player-coach, R. Batchelor. These two strong, constructive players have the abilities and stamina to dominate the mid-field but they will have to work every second of the

90 minutes to gain and hold ' this control. i Canterbury’s last match against Wellington was on Easter Monday when the two teams met in a friendly game ; as two of the first round los- ' ers in the international tour- I nament. The Wellington gain- i ed a 3-0 lead before being made to fight for the rest of the way to win 4-2. In this match Moore completed a hat-trick for Wellington—it was to stop this

happening again Mr Smith chose his two specialist centrehalves to police the Canterbury goal area tomorrow. The Hurley Shield enters its second half on Saturday and Christchurch City, with seven first team players in the senior and under-18 representative sides, will have its work cut out to hold on to an unbeaten record against Technical. The main game at English Park is between Nomads and Shamrock.