University Hockey Leader

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32323, 15 June 1970, Page 9

University Hockey Leader

There were no upsets in the Canterbury Hockey Association’s senior competition on Saturday, with all matches resulting much as expected. *• Bumpy grounds made close control and effective trapping difficult and the matches lacked spectator attraction because of this. The University ground was not quite as bad as the rest and this was probably the most interesting game. University now appears to be headed for its third consecutive championship as it is one point ahead at the moment and atill has a game in hand. Results of Saturday's matches Were: ■ £ ; University 3, Selwyn 0. High School Old Boys 4, Sydenham 1. Harewood-Burnside 1, Wools- ■ lon 0. Hagley Old Boys 4, Linwood Old Boys 1. Competition points, with goals' for and against in parenthesis, are: University (27-7). 7J;Hagley i Qld Boys (16-12), 6s: High School i Old Boys, (14-11), ss; Linwood, Old Boys, (14-16), 4: HarewoodBurnside, (9-13), 3: Woolston, 411-9), 3; Selwyn, (11-17), 2i; 1 Sydenham, (11-18), 2i. Hagley v. Linwood _ Three goals scored in less than two minutes, early in the; Second half put Hagley Old Boys in a match-winning position after the sides had fought a goal-less first half. The’ spate of goals left Linwood Old | Boys shakey and they were not: able to recover sufficiently to pose any threat to Hagley. Hagley dominated the game and in the first half was un- j lucky not to score, particularly] from the five penalty corners it forced. The uneven ground pro-

ivided problems for stopping the I ball however, and this was the : case throughout the game. Of fat least a dozen penalty corners it forced. Hagley could only score from two. Trapping and passing were ;, made hazardous through the : bumpy ground and the scrappy * ! play which developed at times J during the match could prob- { i ably be attributed to this. Although Hagley had control i of the game in the first half it B was unable to make use of its *i opportunities and at half-time J neither side had scored. After eight minutes of the second half Hagley gained its sixth s penalty corner of the match and K. Thomson scored from it. Less than a minute later, Thomson gathered a free hit just outside the Linwood circle, moved into the circle and drove the ball home. From the bully Hagley again attacked and gained a penalty corner. Thomson again drove hard at the net and his hit was deflected into the net s ! by his brother, W. Thomson, and Hagley had raced to a three-goal lead in less than two I. minutes. About mid-way through the ’ half F. Harding scored for ! Linwood when he collected a ’ [loose ball moved into the circle jand slammed the ball home. Near the end of the match W. Thomson put Hagley further 5 ahead when he scored after an !• attack on the Linwood goal. 11 T. Williams made some good ■ saves in the Hagley goal, and HP. Clark was a reliable full--back on defence. The half-line I: dominated the mid-field play, 11 with K. Thomson prominent. W. )‘Thomson dribbled with some success in the Hagley forward Ji line and J. Bailey and R. Thom- - son also had reasonable games r: on the wings. t K. Budhia played steadily at - full-back for Linwood, his good

b trapping being the feature of j I hrs game. The Linwood halffl line spent much of its time on - defence, with P. and B. Bhana f having creditable games considering the amount of work e they had to do. Both trapped e well but P. Bhana appeared to 'f hold the ball too long. This s was probably forced on him - however, as the Linwood forwards did not have the ability 1 to find gaps. The forward line t lacked cohesion and never ; really posed a danger to the » Hagley defence. Umpires: Messrs A. Ostler and . D. Lloyd. ’ Harewood v. Woolston 1 Bad passing and poor traps ping marred this game. Both i sides lacked any real team com- - bination and as a result the > game was generally scrappy. I Both sides had its chances to 7 score but they were squandi ered in most cases. ! Attacks usually broke up i through lack of support among' L the forwards and poorly direc-' • ted passes. The result was a I ‘ fair indication of the game although Harewood could have , had another two goals with a 1 ; little luck. i From a scramble in the Wool-i > ston circle shortly before half- 1 time C. Broadhurst scored.! About half-way through the ■ • second half I. Hill the Hare-> i wood right-wing burst into the circle and fired a shot at the! i goal but gave “sticks.” An- f other chance was also missed i . near full-time through poor . shooting. ■ E. Clarke and J. White were two solid full-backs for Hare- • w'ood with both tackling well I and breaking up several attacks. The half-line of the • Harewpod team was its strength, however, with A. t Chesney prominent. He interI cepted numerous passes and

set up his forwards well by passing intelligently. Chesney was well supported by G. Haste and G. Baldwin. Both these halves covered particularly well on defence. The Harewood forwards had no combination to speak of and only C. Broadhurst oh Ijhfe leftwing showed any penetration on attack. J. Monk in the Woolston goal cleared well in a couple of dangerous situations, and the full-backs worked hard throughout the match, mostly with success. J. Rountree at right-half for Woolston was the best defender. His trapping was good and he tackled well and intercepted several passes to thwart a number of Harewood movements. Umpires: Messrs T. Eggleton and D. Witheridge. High School Old Boys v. Sydenham Although it is not indicated by the score, this game was very even and both teams played interesting hockey. High School Old Boys won. however, because they accepted the chances that resulted from good attacking moves, mainly from the right flank of J. Thomas and T. Burrows, who worked very effectively together. Sydenham played well as a team and was in the game until mid-way through .the I second half. Sydenham actually scored the first goal and appeared as though it might' bother Old Boys. . ’ P. McAllister scored for Sydenham after a break by G, Butterfield and came close to scoring again a couple of .times shortly after. However, Old Boys equalised after N. Thomas made a good run down the left-wing. T. Wall put Old Boys further ahead after Burrows and .J. Thomas attacked down the centre of the field. This left the half-time score at 2-1.

Early in the second half play moved from end to end, with both goalkeepers saving good shots until Old Boys, with better control on the right, took a firm hold on the game. G. Brittan scored twice during the half to give Old Boys a decisive win. D. Warren and S. Parry a capable pair of full-backs for Old Boys, and E. Barcos at centre-half looked after the mid-field area with assistance from M. Kidd and G. Marshall. Besides J. Thomas and Burrows in the forward line, G. Brittan, a skilful young player, helped add thrust which made the Old Boys forwards that much more effective than their opponents.

The Sydenham goalie, A. Prattley, played well when called on and saved two ■ penalty strokes, while B. Hall showed he could be one of the top full-backs in the cpmpetition with more experience. B. Trethewey at left-half was the best of the half-line and saved his team on several occasions with intelligent cover defence. G. Butterfield and D. 'Petherbridge led the Sydenham forwards well and the first goal was scored after Butterfield nad set up an attack. ; Umpires: Messrs N. Dailey and E. Gilliver. University v. Selwyn Although it won by three goals University was not convincing. It led by the winning margin at halfjtme, but could not increase it ih the second half, in spite of numerous attacks. <. . University had the better of the first half, and after a penalty corner in the early stages J. Christenson scored from the resulting melee. Shortly After this J. Borren scored after he had been set up by some good work from B. Majstcr. Christenson put his side further in the lead when, he was left unmarked. In the second half there was a great deal of spoiling play and obstruction, which was not penalised in a number of .instances. University’s, trapping in the second half let it (Town badly. R. McHarg made some good saves in the University goal, while C. Ineson at full-back covered well. At centre-half -A. Borren intercepted many passes and fed his forwards well. I. Bishop’s covering on defence proved valuable on several Occasions. S. Harvey blocked well in the Selwyn goal, and G. Newburn and G. Jones defended well in the full-back positions: S. Palmer at centre-half, covered a good deal of ground and intercepted many flat passes. W. Burtt at inside-left backtackled well, and R*. Best dribbled effectively. Gi Ritchie at inside-right harassed University and trapped well but I passed inconsistently. Umpires: Dr L. Berry and E. J. Ambler.