Canterbury Clubs In Soccer’s Top Places

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31725, 8 July 1968, Page 13

Canterbury Clubs In Soccer’s Top Places

Canterbury’s leading clubs—Rangers, Christchurch City, and New Brighton—hammered home their present superiority over Otago’s main challengers in three of the week-end’s major southern league matches.

Rangers and City each have 19 points in the first division, four ahead of their nearest rival, and Brighton is the new leader of the second division. Rangers led the way with a magnificent 5-0 victory over Northern in Dunedin, while City, after beating Technical (Christchurch), 2-0, on Saturday. yesterday overwhelmed St Kilda, 8-1. On the same ground, at Western Park on Saturday, St Kilda had outplayed Western,

6-1. Brighton ousted Mosgiel from top place in the second division with a splendid 5-1 victory over the Dunedin club and now heads the section on goal average. Equally helpful to Brighton was Thistle’s holding of the third-placed team. Caversham, to a 2-2 draw.

However, Brighton now enters a most strenuous part of its programme. All of its last four matches are away from home—two in Dunedin and one each in Invercargill and Timaru—and it will still require a tremendous effort to pull through. Brighton has the same points as Mosgiel but has played a game less, and is two points ahead of Caversham.

However, Mosgiel and Caversham have still to play each other, and the result of this match will ease the pressure on Brighton slightly. Two of the key matches still to be played in the first division are Rangers’ clashes with Technical and City. While Rangers are without a match next Saturday, City is at home to Roslyn-Wakari. The following week, while Rangers will meet Shamrock, City will have two games away, against Queen’s Park and Technical (Dunedin), the bottom clubs in the competition. Results and tables are:— First Division.—Christchurch City 2. Technical (Christchurch) 0: western 1, St Kilda 8- Shamrock 5, Technical (Dunedin) 2: Northern 0. Rangers 5;

Queen's Park 1. ROslyn-Wakari 3; City 8. St Kilda I (played On see6nd as Divi»ten.—New Brighton 5, Mo«gI61 1; Shirley-No-mad* 1. Timaru City 2: Maori Hill 3. H. 5.0.8. 1; Caversham 2, Thistle 2. First Division Goals

p WOLF A PtS Rangers 11 8 3 0 35 8 19 City 12 O 1 2 38 13 19 Tech (Ch) 11 7 1 3 23 14 15 St Kilda 12 8 1 5 35 30 13 Northern 11 5 2 4 33 24 12 Shamrock 11 5 1 5 28 30 11 Roslyn WOtterh 12 11 3 5 5 0 4 6 33 17 21 11 22 10 Qu. Park 10 1 O 9 17 54 2 Tech (Dn) 10 0 0 10 17 81 0 Second Division Brighton 10 7 2 1 32 18 18 MOSgiOl 11 7 2 2 25 19 18 Caversham 10 5 4 1 32 20 14 Thiatle 10 5 1 4 15 IS! 4 Maori H. 11 4 0 7 19 28 8 Shirley 11 3 2 8 17 25 8 Tlmaru 10 3 1 8 18 25 7 H.S.O.B. 11 1 2 8 18 31 4