It will be tight, tough South Island final

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31754, 10 August 1968, Page 11

It will be tight, tough South Island final

JTOUR months ago, in any Canterbury soccer follower’s assessment of the season ahead, Technical would have been on all lists as one of the two or three clubs most likely to succeed, either in the first southern league competition or the Chatham Cup. The signings the club had made, in particular the three Brighton players—K. France, G. Davis and A. Caine—and the City goalkeeper, W. Weir, suggested, on paper. Technical would be a team of all talents. And for a short while the talents were displayed where they counted most, on the field of play. In the floodlight competition before the season began. Technical played magnificiently to beat City in the final. And in its first southern league match, against St Kilda. the team again produced all that had been expected from it—flowing football and deadly finishing. But this was the game that also brought tragedy to the club’s hopes, the injury to France; the team became unsettled and in match after match after that Technical rarely again showed the movement with which it had started the season. There were performances that stood out, especially ‘ the 3-0 defeat of Rangers in

the Canterbury final of the Chatham Cup, but over-all Technical’s play has been scratchy. Matches have been won, but seldom convincingly, and the pattern that seemed to be developing in the early games, that was disturbed by injuries, has not reappeared. Yet it is not too late—and Technical will be hoping to slip back into gear for today’s final against RoslynWakari. And it probably will need to. For Roslyn is a team that thrives on a fight and is most dangerous when it is being underestimated. Its performance last Saturday in beating Northern in a southern league game after being 0-3 down was significant of the spirit that Roslyn can call on when all else seems lost. But it is not spirit alone that has taken the Dunedin club to the final. There is considerable talent, too, and the fact that Roslyn was massacred, 10-0 by City, on its last appearance in Christchurch, should not be taken as a guide to its prospects in today’s final. On that occasion, Roslyn was short of four key players and everything City touched turned to goals. It can happen to the best and to the worst. It may have been trite but it w’as also a fair summing up, when Technical’s

player-coach, J. S. Chalmers, said this week: “It will be a tough match but I think we will win.” He could not have said more, because it will be tight. Perhaps not a classic match, flowing and fluent; but hard and unrelating, as cup finals should be.