BECAME BATTLE OF SURVIVAL

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31134, 10 August 1966, Page 17

BECAME BATTLE OF SURVIVAL

Sing Tao Held To Draw

Canterbury fought a magnificent defensive battle to hold the clever, scheming Sing Tao semi-professionals to a 1-1 draw in the Hong Kong soccer club’s second match of its New Zealand tour, at English Park yesterday.

Canterbury took the lead after 37 minutes with a hotly-disputed penalty and led. 1-0. at half-time. For 10 minutes of the second half, when a cold wind and heavy rain threatened to demoralise the Chinese players. Canterbury had a marvellous chance of clinching victory. But the vital second goal failed to arrive, the wind dropped and the rain stopped, and Sing Tao broke away in the eleventh minute to equalise. For the next 35 minutes it was a battle of survival by Canterbury’s defence, as Sing Tao poured in- attack after attack. The Chinese gained almost a monopoly of midfield ball and bore down on the Canterbury goal in seven and eight-man attacks. But the red line of Canterbury’s defence met them just outside the penalty area, a point from which Canterbury refused to retreat further, and held on grimly determined. Disciplined Defence Once or twice it required desperate measures to stop the flowing attacks of the Chinese marauders, but overall this was a disciplined, quick-covering and unrelenting Canterbury defence, prepared to sacrifice everything to keep Sing Tao from getting a clear sight of the goal. Behind them was the cool, efficient and ever-ready D. Spraggs, in goal, who played a hero’s role in a defence in which every man played himself to a standstill. Three times Spraggs threw himself at the feet of a Sing Tao forward to block shots that might have beaten him had he not acted so swiftly and courageously. Using a 4-3-3 formation, Canterbury had planned to adopt a primarily defensive role until it had seen what Sing Tao had to offer. And it was left in no doubt right from the start. The Chinese players were fast, brilliant ball players, adept at switching the pace and the point of attack, swift and sure in their movements on and off the ball. There were times when they appeared to be toying with Canterbury as they confidently stroked the ball towards a retreating defence. Tactical Method But there was method In Canterbury’s tactics, a method that has not been apparent in other matches this season. And time and again Sing Tao was brought to a halt, outnumbered and unable to find a way through. Brilliant though their play was—and it delighted a crowd of 3000—the Sing Tao players lacked only the bite to transfer their mid-field play into more goals. It was more than just an unrelenting defence: it

was also a case of Sing Tao failing to build-up its play with a little more bite in the danger zone. There were marksmen In the team—the equalising goal by the right-winger. Kwong Yin Ying, was crashed through a barrier of legs—but more often they were forced to shoot from well outside the penalty area, and these did not unduly trouble Spraggs. One did, however. when Cheung Yui Knok, a magnificent wing-half, drove the ball from 35 yards against the bar Canterbury’s goal followed a penalty awarded for a foul on T. Conley. It was a harsh decision, but made up for one the referee, Mr A. Williams, i missed when a Sing Tao player handled in his penalty area. But lit took three kicks before the goal was scored. Twice the Sing Tao goalkeeper, Cheung Kim See, paltped shots by G. Donaldson awa'y—first his penalty kick, and then the rebound—before T. Haydon crashed through a melee to add the final touch when the ball was hovering on the line and defenders desperately trying to clear. Attack Disappoints Only in attack was Canterbury a disappointment. Too often the 4-3-3 left only three, sometimes only two. attackers in Sing Tao’s half of the field. The need for defence and the tiring ground conditions paid its toll on the mid-field men needed to support the attack. But there were some close escapes in the Sing Tao goalmouth. A. Gowans having a freekick finger-tipped away for a corner. Conley delaying a fatal step too long after being put through by R. Taylor, and Taylor himself ballooning the ball over when he was strongly challenged. This was a victory tn defence. If not in fact, for Canterbury. Undoubtedly, Sing Tao was the better team, in all aspects of ball control, imagination and speed Nor did Canterbury have a player of the stamp of the former English League player,) Cheung Chi Doy But Canterbury did not lose, and in the final analysis did Hot deserve to lose. It fought a great battle, from beginning to end. and every player gave his utmost. As a team effort it was unsurpassed by Canterbury in recent years.