Hagley and University lead men’s hockey

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33212, 30 April 1973, Page 5

Hagley and University lead men’s hockey

Hagley Old Boys scored a deserved 2-0 win over High School Old Boys A in the ■ senior men's hockey competi- | tion on Saturday to leave them I and University unbeaten with \ the preliminary competition at- | most half-way through. Hagley and Old Boys A clashed ! In the most important game of the season to date, but the expected exhibition of controlled hockey did not eventuate, even though the Ensors Road ground was slower and more true because of rain. Both teams made a host of fundamental mistakes, and the talents of both forward lines remained dormant through the

match. The battle for places in thei top six at the end of the pre-, liminary round of nine games! is beginning to develop, with I four teams tied in fourth place| after four matches. Redcliffs caused an upset by| beating Linwood Old Boys by al single goal. Linwood in its four matches to date has not scored i a goal, and the talent of this voung team, particularly its for-j wards, has not yet revealed itself. I It will be hard pressed now, with several difficult matches ahead of it. to make the top six. Harewood-Burnside recorded its first win of the season, and its first goals, against a determined Selwyn-Hillmorton team, and

University was again in an aggressive mood to beat SydenhamCashmere by six goals. Woolston, after an unsure start in its first three games, revealed hidden ability with a five-goal win against the High School Old Boys side. Results and scorers were:— Hagley O'd Boys 2 (R. Best ! and K. Thomson), High i School C*d Boys A 0. Harewood-Burnside 2 (B. Fraser, T. Wall), SelwynHillmorton 1 (A. Hayde). Woolston 5 (G. Newton 2, G. Jones, S. Tasker, B. Aldridge), High School Old Boys B 0. University 6 (A. Borren 2, B. J. Maister 2, C. Maister, T. Borren), SydenhamCashmere 0. Redcliffs 1 (A. Ineson), Linwood Old Boys 0. Points are: —

NO PENETRATION High School Old Boys A had more possession and attacking chances than Hagley Old Boys, Kut thoir tactics Of “hit aiW

but their tactics 01 mi anu : chase did not work against the solid Hagley defence , Hagley did not pray well. but> made more of its tew opportunnies. There was a lack of; combination among its forwards? but on one of the tew times they i Old combine a goal was scored. The other goal came from K j Thomson on a penalty corner, i Old Bovs spent almost the last 15 min on attack, but could not score the vital goal. They had several penalty corners, but probably lost the advantage through not persevering with the hand stop. Both teams gave away a large amount of possession with erratic passes, although this aspect of Old Boys' game improved in the last minutes. ; K. Thomson. P. F. Clark. XV. B Wright, and P Cox made numerous interceptions and were; a solid wall on defence, W right i showed a marked improvement in his ail-round play, and Clark: several times tried to instil punch into the forwards by dribbling at length and speed. S. Parrv was the outstanding Old Bov’s defender. He appeared in all parts of the field, tackling and clearing quickly. R Best dribbled and bacstackled well, but was the only Hagley forward to show any Messrs R. H. Campbell and E. GUliver CLUNG TO LEAD Vfter three games where its forwards looked completely unfamiliar. Harcwood-Burnside tin-

ally found its feet against Seiwyn-Hillmorton. j The first half was fairly even, I with Harewood having a goal advantage at the interval, and I soon after it went to a twoI goal lead. But Selwyn fought : back and scored, but in the last I2smin. although it spent most of j the time on attack, it could not equalise. B. Eraser, playing on the right wing for Harewood, made a considerable difference. He dribbled very well and linked well with the inside forwards and halves. T. Wall and L. Brown both linked and back-tackled well in the inside forward positions. A. Chesney, J. Bate and E. ' Clarke had plenty of tackling

land intercepting to do, but performed their job well. The halves i varied their passing to the eager i forwards, enabling them all to exploit their new found form. M. Burtt again played an outistanding game for Selwyn. His! 'dribbling was strong and he was j well supported by the experi- I jenced A Hayde. I Umpires: Messrs K. Gray and I :D. Lloyd. IMPROVED DISPLAY Woolston deserved its five goals against High School Old Boys B. which couid not combat the unusual Woolston defensive formation and was also bewildered by the attack which was based on three forwards. S. Tasker used his speed to advantage and beat the Old Boys defence consistently, but his speed was also a disadvantage in that he often lost control of the ball in the circle. B. Aldridge showed more control than in previous matches. The return of J. R- Gillespie .played a major part in the team s .performance He saw that each 'plaver was carrying out his funcition. His sound play was also an

example to the others. T. Brennan as usual was swift and sure with his tackling and A. Curtis at left-half was an excellent foil for the Old Boys ; right side attack. E. Copsy, in his first senior season blocked and cleared effectively in goal. i C. Dawson made some penetrating runs on the right wing ; for Old Boys, but the other forwards were well bottled up by the Woolston defence. Umpires: Messrs D. Holland | and R. Nickalls. SKILL TELLS Although its defence was better organised than in its previous match, the young inexperienced Sydenham team was overwhelmed by the speed and aggression of University. So urgentlv did University play that it forced errors upon itself and the score might have been higher with more diligence in technical skills. The best moves, _how-

ever, tore gaps out of the Syd- ! enham defence in the approach play, but conscientious covering J produced many admirable saves at the goalmouth. The University halves, P D. Ackerley, S. G. Maister and N. Coster, dribbled and inter-passed their way out of menace and gave their forwards a ceaseless service. Within the vanguard, J. H. Christensen wove innumerable patterns and B. J. Maister was continually appearing in the spaces to continue the assault with the impetus of his close

dribbling. At inside-left, A. Borren was most active in the midfield and distributed the ball widely. His many reappearances in the circle I were costly to Sydenham. To'wards the end of the match, C. I Maister made his presence felt ion the left wing. For Sydenham, M. Fitzsimmons. was outstanding in goal, one save; from a penalty stroke being espe-i cially admirable. A. Tizzard and G. Butterfield withstood the pressure bravely and their wing- i halves, C. Tomlin and A. Me-! Neil, covered persistently. In: the centre, R. Anderson managed! to initiate some attacks whose depth was a credit to a young I forward line. Umpires: Messrs E. Ambler and R. Beardsley. MEDIOCRE STANDARD

Seldom did the Redcliffs-Lin- j wood match reach a senior stand- • ard, but Redcliffs for the second! time in succession justified its! promotion by its unexpected win. Linwood spent most of the time on attack, yet failed to score i for the fourth match in succes-1 sion. Its shooting was poor and its complicated penalty corner system merely increased its error rate. The rearrangement of the half-line was not successful. the chief fault being the lack of support for the forwards. At right flank, which took advantinvolved with the forwards as to create a chaotic situation. Redcliffs took advantage of Linwood's failure, to mark its right flank, which took advantage of the situation not onlj; to gain ground, but also to utilise the time available for useful placements of the ball. Two players dominated the proceedings. D. Small constantly embarrassed Redcliffs with his stickwork and dribbling in the approach play area, but his efforts were frustrated by the lack of support. On deep defence, A. Ineson was outstanding for Redcliffs. His trapping was very good and he eluded successfully, although his exaggerated movement of the ball will retard his develop-

ment in higher company. His ; attempts to impede Small s proI gress from the left side were 1 seldom justified, but he scored the onlv goal of the match with a good shot. The repeated hitting of the ball over the goalline after crossing the twentyfive yards line by Linwood was a further reflection of speed without control. Umpires: Messrs T. E. Eggleton and B. Newton.

p W L D F A Pts Hagley O.B. 4 4 0 0 15 0 4 University 4 4 0 0 26 4 4 H.S.O.B. A 4 3 1 0 3 3 Harewood-B. 4 1 1 2 2 1 2 Woolston 4 2 2 0 7 4 2 Selwyn-H. 4 2 2 0 7 7 2 Kedcliifs 4 2 2 0 4 19 2 Linwood O.B. 4 0 3 1 0 10 0J bvdenham-C 4 0 3 1 0 6 Oa H.S.O B. B 4 4 0 0 1 12 0