LAST-MINUTE WIN

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31649, 8 April 1968, Page 15

LAST-MINUTE WIN

An Inspired second half switch of tactics provided the base on which City built a magnificent recovery effort to score three times, the winning goal in the eighty-ninth minute, against Northern. The move was made by City’s player-coach, G. Evans, five minutes after the resumption. He changed the young halfback, J. Wilson, to centre-half, and moved himself forward to be the link man. The result was that Evans wrested the domination Northern had clamped down on the mid-field, calmed the frustrated efforts of his forwards, and linked with A. Brooks to put F. Madrussen and M. Clements through to spread panic and disorder among a previously undisturbed Northern defence.

Suddenly, the Dunedin team found it had lost mid-field control. and that its 2-0 lead, until then appearing to be impregnable, might not be wide enough. The fears were soon realised. In the ninth minute Evans and Madrussen set up play for Clements to head City right back into the game. Then followed intense periods of City pressure, such as Northern had enjoyed in the first half. Superb mid-field play by Clements. Madrussen and Evans enabled J. Logue to equalise, off his knee and at the second attempt, and with time running out Clements, turning quickly and shooting acurately, snatched a dramatic victory for the Christchurch club.

The second half metamorphosis erased the bad taste for City in the eighth minute when E ' j ns _ was harshly penalised and G. Crawford opened the scoring from the spot. This gift, plus City’s weakness mid-field, enabled Northern to dictate play and to add a second goal ?/ ter , a fine individual effort by the New Zealand international', J. Ferrier.

Evans was the outstanding tactician and player: Madrussen and Clements, for City, and Ferrier. for Northern, were alwavs dangerous. In the second half Madrussen won complete control over the Northern back. L. Parker, and with the service given to him by Evans and Brooks, carved holes in the Northern defence.

Disappointing Team

Three precise, smooth-as-silk goals by Technical in the first 24 minutes virtually put the lid on the main game at English during this period, St Kilda offered Technical the opposition necessary to bring out the best from the Christchurch players: afterwards, St Kilda was reduced to half pace Tech.s ed ? e became blunted as it lost its keenness, and the second half was long and dreary brought to life only momentarily by two more goals for Techmeal.

lp ss K- France a minute before half-time with a broken ankle, which will probably keep him out of soccer for the rest of the season, was a hL t a er >. b nw .‘u Tec bnical. France had been the powerhouse for holding the players L d *!* her ’ _ ,ns P*Ting them to greater efforts and calming ' h „ e t m d °Y n when ,he baH no * r “" nln 8 Quite so kindly. ■? was a tremendous ?J«™ P K O i‘ ntment - sh <>wing little resemblance to a club that In?v h <h 1 . * he Chat ham Cup final ?h2 y f ,h « years ago - K missed i,L i ? fl . uence of ‘he New Zea,an<* ihteruational. W. Kennedy at centre-half, but even KenFnwiiiT^ 1 r? ave ,ountl difficulty instilling life into his players as i? e th»v O s d ?^ f - They placed in L th A y had los ‘ all interest in the game, as they might be h\ P r t s d . ,n . a team so fa" be wJ > . d ’h bu !. also ln socc er, which was harder to understand in the opening game of the season, anal whh’ who made ,he first goal with an accurate centre t 0 K , h Pahl ' s head thes£ fs d T“h a beautiful pass through the middle for A. Dawe th. hIS str,de - and scored for st Ki'irt. a ? . the ma ' n cause K,l<| a later shutting up and withdrawing into total defence. The second half goals were scored by s Mc"ho substituted for France, and C. Jones.

Pollard Outstanding .Jf„ fa 5 ta ? id goal by the Dunedin Technical right-wing, g. Thomas, was the first of five fE orc< L l n the early match at the Caledonian ground. For

eight minutes Rangers had played football of dream-like quality, three times going within inches of scoring, while Technical had not been able to get the ball across the halfway line. Finally, the Dunedin forwards broke away, forced a corner, and Thomas’s kick curled into the goal, the referee deciding that D. Spraggs, until the last minute unsighted, had carried the ball across his line.

For the greater part of the remainder of the match Technical withdrew eight and nine men in defence, seemingly with the intention of holding on to what it had so luckily won. It took Rangers until the forty-third minute to force open a gap, T. Haydon and G. Adam combining for V. Pollard to open his soccer career in the South Island with a powerful scoring shot.

Pollard, the outstanding player on the field, and Haydon tried desperately hard to break down a massed defence, and when their greatest efforts looked like being frustrated, the young W. Robinson took over for the last 35 minutes, to play a leading part in the second half surge to victory. In the fifty-seventh minute, Robinson collected the ball 10 yards inside his own half and beat three men in a long, bewildering run deep into Technical territory, before he slipped the ball to B. Hammond, who turned and drove home an unstoppable shot.

A rejuvenated Rangers swept back into the attack five minutes later when M. Blight and Hammond probed open a hole in an unyielding defence, for Blight to score. Two minutes from the end Haydon jinked his way past two men and chipped the ball through for D. Allen, who had substituted for the injured Adam, to add the finishing touch.

Pollard revealed himself as the same kind of dynamic player on a soccer ground as he is on a cricket pitch. His tackling was deadly, his energy almost inexhaustible and his twofooted shooting of great power. With the slightest luck he could have had two or three goals in the first half. D. Simmonds played a strong, steady game at centre-half, well backed up by Haydon, C. Pickrill, Adam and Blight.

Chances Wasted “If we can win 3-1 after such a performance, what won't we be able to do when we settle down,” said Western’s coach. B. Smith, after his side had defeated Roslyn-Wakari in the early game at English Park. And !if all of Western's opponents this season throw away the chances that came Roslyn’s way. Western could carry off the $5OO first prize.

It was a dismal match to start the season, highlighted by D. Bussey’s hat-trick and the interpretation of the steps rule by the referee, Mr W. Robinson, that gave Western two indirect free-kicks within half a dozen yards of the Roslyn line and brought Bussey two of his three goals.

Roslyn had taken the lead in the thirty - second minute through D. Bottomly and had only themselves and Western’s goal-keeper, D. Smith, to blame for not turning round at least three goals ahead. Smith, in fact, was the match-saver for Western. Twice he has retired, twice he has come back when Western has needed him, and he is playing now as well as when he was Canterbury’s regular ’keeper. Once he turned in mid-air to stop a shot deflected in another direction and once he was almost wrapped around a post denying the aggressive Roslyn’s forwards the opportunity to get back into the game in the second half.

But over-all. Western’s play lacked positive movement in the mid-field and aggression in attack, and in defence relied far too much on D. Smith and P. Frost. The tactical approach was of a side badly unrehearsed and this was made worse by the basic failure of passing accurately and moving into the open spaces.

Yates Hat-Trick Until it ran out of steam and lost the edge on its play, the Invercargill club. Queen’s Park, made Shamrock fight for everything it won at Western Park. Later, however, Shamrock grabbed the bit and galloped on to a comfortable victory, its superior stamina overcoming tiring opponents, a strong cross-wind and a rough ground. Shamrock’s strength came in mid-field, where K. Sudlow, P. Yates, and H. Taylor won control, as they had done in the play-off against Brighton. Shamrock’s tactics matched the conditions, its quick use of the ball bringing mistakes but also keeping the pressure on the Queen’s Park defence. W. Yates, with a hat-trick, Taylor and D. Glubb scored for Shamrock. J. Hawkes and B. Swales for Queen’s Park.

Disputed Goal New Brighton and ShirleyNomads both found difficulty in their matches in Dunedin, but Brighton’s performance in holding the strong Caversham side on its own ground augured well for the seasiders’ hopes of winning promotion at the end of the season.

After G. Taylor had opened the score for Caversham, Brighton was on the losing end of a disputed goal when the referee judged that D. Phillips had carried the ball across the line from a corner kick by B. Duncan. D. Harvey put Brighton ahead again in the thirty-sixth minute but before half-time Duncan added his own and Coversham’s second.

Shirley-Nomads managed to bet back on terms with Mosgiel by a goal from W. Shannon, but the Dunedin club scored the winner late in the second half.