Waterside Now Almost Certain To Go Down

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31114, 18 July 1966, Page 14

Waterside Now Almost Certain To Go Down

For the third successive year Christchurch City is the Hurley Shield soccer champion. And unless it can perform a minor miracle in the last round of the competition on July 30, Waterside will return to the second division.

City clinched the championship at the week-end when it collected three points from its two matches, and with one round to play leads Western by five points.

Waterside has one slim chance left of staying in the first division: it must beat Rangers by at least seven goals to nil when they meet at English Park on July 30. While Waterside went down to Shirley-Nomads, by 5-1, Rangers collected a valuable point in a 2-2 draw against Technical. The equalising goal was strongly disputed by Technical and came with only a minute of the match remaining. Waterside has five points, Rangers seven, and Rangers also have a superior goal average—lB for, 35 against, to 17 for, 45 against. In their finalround clash, Waterside must not only win, but win handsomely. Western, the Chatham Cup qualifier, assured itself of being runner-up in the Hurley Shield by its defeat of Technical yesterday. Its goal average is so much better than Technical’s that it would need to concede 20 goals in its final match to be overhauled. Results:—

City 1, Western 1. Technical 2, Rangers 2. Shamrock 5, H. 5.0.8. 0. Shirley-Nomads 5, Waterside 1. City 5, Rangers 0. Western 2, Technical 0. Goals

Western Robbed A magnificent goal by J. Logue, driven from a yard outside the penalty area and in the dying minutes of the game, gave Christchurch City the equalising goal and the point that made the club Hurley Shield champion for the third successive year. But spectacular though it was, the goal did not do justice to Western. It was the fourth meeting between the two clubs since the Rangers floodlit competition, and the score now stands at two wins for Western, one to City and one match drawn. For all but short periods In the game, Western was largely the better team. In particular its forwards, cleverly prompted by T. Haydon, exerted considerably more pressure on the City goal than City’s forwards were able to maintain at the other end. In attack City was a pale shadow, neither hunting for the ball nor using it when it came its way. Western was the aggressor, and it was fortunate for City that O. Nuttrldge was safe and sure in goal. He made several splendid saves and could only be faulted for his distribution of the ball. Too often his long, powerful kicks were easily picked up by the Western midfield defenders. With less to do, D. Spraggs also had a fine game in goal for Western and the shot that beat

him was good enough to beat anyone. P. Frost played another sterling game for Western, this time at centre-half, while A. Brooks again showed his development into a hard-working. Intelligent Inside-left. Western took the lead soon after the start of the second half when It had looked as if one goal would win the match. With his back to the goal, D. Torklngton neatly side-stepped the ball through a bundle of legs. Although G. Evans Immediately moved Into the forward line there did not seem a hope of City scoring until Logue got the equaliser. It was barefaced. daylight robbery. Disputed Goal A dispute goal in the last minute enabled Rangers to snatch a vital point from Technical after they had been 2-0 down with 10 minutes of the match remaining. . , In the first half Technical looked the better-drilled combination and dominated play. But in spite of a good deal of pressure it could not breach the Rangers defence, in which the left-back, G. Massie, had An outstanding game against his old club. However, within 10 minutes of the resumption, Technical was two up. A. Wardle netted from a fine cross by C. Jones and then A. Vernon, who had earlier missed a penalty, scored with a hard low shot from 12 yards. Rangers’ hopes were quickly fading when B. Rumbold revived a tiring team with a solo effort and a good shot. There was one minute left when M. White centred and B. Presland turned the ball Into the net. The ball had appeared to go out of play but the referee, Mr J. G. Gourlie, on the spot, allowed It, much to Technical’s consternation and Rangers’ glee. Fate Sealed Anchored by the Canterbury defenders, A. Hawthorn and G. Donaldson, at one end. and utilising the speed and opportunism of their young forwards at the other, Shirley-Nomads outplayed Waterside at Barrington Park. This was one of the key matches of the season and one that sealed Waterside’s fate. The victory ended Shirley’s long battle to avoid relegation and has practically ensured Waterside will drop into the second division next season. The issue hung in the balance for 40 minutes. During this period Shirley had most of the play but could not score. Waterside broke away spasmodically and was beginning to look more dangerous when the Shirley inside-forward, A. Bishop, struck twice within five minutes to give his slide a 2-0 lead at half-time. From that point the result was never again in doubt. Bishop had a foot In the third goal, making the pass for D. Horton, who came on as substitute for the Injured R. Dean, to finish the movement. J. Walton scored twice more for Shirley and Waterside’s new signing, K. Olley, added a consolation goal when Nomads were 4-0 ahead. H. 5.0.8. Hard-Hit A re-arranged H. 5.0.8. team, hard-hit by representative commitments and injuries, could not contain Shamrock at Rlccarton Domain. There were only one or two occasions when the Old Boys looked like scoring while defensive errors presented Shamrock with two of its five goals. There was no fire or cohesion in the Old Boys’ play, leading to poor passing and an inability to anticipate moves both by

their team-mates and the opposition. R. Richardson was badly missed at centre-half, and in the forward line only N. McAlpine was a danger to the Shamrock goal. Shamrock had its best game for some time although the run of play was with the side, especially in the first half. During this period, playing against the wind, too many long passes failed to find their target. However, in the second half, the wingers, J. Kitlick and D. Glubb. were more fully exploited and each finished with two goals. The fifth was scored by W. Yates. Four-Goal Rush A four-goal rush in 15 minutes late in the second half, when City swept from 1-0 to 5-0, ended Rangers’ hopes of collecting the one more point it had needed to make the club completely safe from relegation. City had been coasting along with a 1-0 lead from a goal by R. Taylor and Rangers had been hammering away, without much success, trying to score an equaliser. There had been chances but these had been squandered. Then K. Pahl rounded off the best movement of the match to put City 2-0 ahead, and the bottom fell out of Rangers. Taylor added his second, G. Evans rushed through a standing defence to head in the fourth and A. Gowans completed the scoring from the penalty spot. Rangers were a tired, leadenfooted bunch when City took its stranglehold on the game. City gained almost 90 per cent possession in mid-field and it took strenuous defence by M. Shard-, low and some fine saves by M. Henderson to contain City to five goals.

Lively Match After one of the most lively matches of the season, which contained as many goalmouth incidents as half-a-dozen such games, Western ran out a very comfortable winner over Technical. But it Technical had taken only two of four giltedged chances in the first 20 minutes Western would have been harder put to claim full points. The goals came one in each half and they were worth waiting for. M. Clements made the first after a solo run down the right-wing during which he beat two players, took the ball to the line and then crossed it into an open goalmouth. Clements’s run had so disrupted the Technical defence that any one of three Western players could have added the final touch: It was D. Torklngton’s boot that had the honour. Before this and after Technical should have scored. W. Logan missed with two headers, and A. Wardle, A. Vernon and C. Jones were just off target. Western’s second goal came near the close, this time Torkington making the running and then clipping the bail back for Clements to drive powerfully into the net from 18 yards.

P w D L F A Pts City 13 10 3 0 43 12 23 West. ... 13 7 4 2 31 11 18 Tech. .C 13 7 2 4 21 20 16 H.S.O.B. .. 13 5 3 5 25 26 13 Sham. .. 13 5 2 6 25 30 12 Shir. ... 13 3 4 1 17 18 10 Rang. ... 13 2 3 8 18 35 7 Wat. .. 13 2 1 10 17 45 5