Prepared For Tough Cup Final

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32072, 21 August 1969, Page 13

Prepared For Tough Cup Final

“We’ve got to be ini the game from the word go. We can’t afford to let up at any time. Our opponents are unknown quantities as far as we are concerned and as; such it is difficult to work out pre-match tactics. “I shall be more than happy if the ground is heavy because we can adapt to these conditions." These were the thoughts of the New Brighton coach, Mr G. Spiers, yesterday, as he was putting the finishing touches to the club’s preparation for the South Island Chatham Cup soccer final against Thistle at Invercargill on Saturday. Thistle, for the second time, and New Brighton, for the first, are now only one step away from the national final, to be played at the Basin Reserve on September 6.

The North Island qualifier will come from the titleholder, Eastern Suburbs (Auckland), and the 1966 winner, Miramar Rangers, who will contest the North Island final at Auckland, also on Saturday. Mr Spiers named the Brighton attack as his

principal worry—its need for more punch, greater cohesion and 90-minute purpose. “I may have to put a halfback into the forward line to get this improvement, but it has not yet been decided,” he said. “My great concern iis that I must not attempt to improve the attack at the expense of the defence.

“I know that the defence has been wobbly in recent matches, but this has been because too many breakdowns in attack have allowed too much pressure to be developed on the defenders. Striking the right balance will be essential in the team selection for Saturday’s match.” Two factors have upset Mr Spiers’s calculations this week—the loss of the robustness given to the attack by W. Penman and the loss of the lighted ground on which the club has trained this season.

While his team-mates are making their final preparations in Invercargill on Saturday morning, Penman will be flying to New Guinea to take up a job as manager of a quarantine station two miles outside Port Moresby. He will be away for at least 21 months. “The loss of the lighted ground was just as big a shock,” said Mr Spiers. “We

have been training on the New Brighton Rugby Club’s pitch and had the use of their floodlights. When we went to the ground for training on Monday night we found it had been turned over for returfing and the lighting turned off. “I tried to make arrangements to use Cowles Stadium but this was fully booked. It has meant that the boys have not been able to train with a ball this week. “After leaving Christchurch on Friday morning we will stop at Oamaru for a training run to loosen the players up and give them the chance to use a ball, and we will complete the schedule with an hour’s training in Invercargill on Saturday morning.” The ability of the Brighton players to adapt themselves to a heavy ground is the factor Mr Spiers relishes, particularly in the light of

heavy rain Invercargill has had in the last week or so. “We have played some of our best football this season on heavy grounds,” he said. “The brightest example was when we beat Shamrock, 6-2, at English Park. And conditions were similar in our 3-2 victory over Queen’s Park at Invercargill earlier in the season.” Apart f rom the loss of Pen-

man, Mr Spiers has no other concerns about all players being available. Fourteen will make the trip. “I know we have been a hit of a Jekyll and Hyde team recently,” he said. “We have been strongest in cup ties—that is when we have not under-estimated the opposition—weakest in league matches when the players have not had the same incentive to work for the whole 90 minutes. “We had about 20 minutes of determined, aggressive football against Technical last week. There was nothing at stake and, perhaps subconsciously, the players were worrying about being injured before the cup tie. “On Saturday it will be a different matter. The boys know they must be on their toes for the whole 90 minutes and they will be. They are confident, not over-confi-dent, they can win. Equally, they know it will be a tough match.” Thistle’s only other occasion it has reached the South Island final was in 1967 when the team was beaten 4-1 by Christchurch City. Several of its players are members of the united team, Invercargill City, which is entered in the second division of the southern league.