NATIONAL LEAGUE SOCCER Brighton beaten and in worse danger

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33858, 2 June 1975, Page 15

NATIONAL LEAGUE SOCCER Brighton beaten and in worse danger

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DERRICK MANSBRIDGE)

IL as they say, life is tough at the top, it gets a whole lot tougher at the bottom. New Brighton, after two successive drawn away games following a change of coach early last month, lost its second successive match at home yesterday, beaten this time, 3-2, by Caversham, and has reached the Rothmans National Soccer League halfway in dire danger of being relegated to the play-off series in October.

The victory was worth i four points to Caver-; sham—the margin now; between the Dunedin club and Brighton when it would have been cut' to nil had the seasiders : I won. ; And such was the fruiti-! ;ness of yesterday’s match, !anything could have hap-: pened. Both teams lived a I little dangerously, and in the ifinal count they might Just Shave easily shared 10 goals than one being left with the ■odd goal in five. FAST CONDITIONS : The damp ground caused I the ball to skid another i dozen yards or so, and gave the fleet-footed attacker a definite advantage over the hard-pressed defender. And as both Caversham and Brighton prefer the swift breakaway type of game, the conditions helped produce a racy, exciting game. Caversham was better at it than Brighton. The Dunedin club’s players, surer of touch, more imaginative, and using the space cleverly, seemed on occasions to be about to take the game under their complete control. Thev never did because Caversham’s defence was as unsure under spirited attacks as Brighton's was, because Caversham too often surrendered the midfield, and because Brighton is never more dangerous than when things are not going its way. The first five minutes of the second half and more than a fair share of the rest of the period were cases in point. For Brighton came out 1-2 down, attacked Strongly and well, suddenly conceded a third goal, but refused to allow this to be the knockout blow. In fact, the seasiders hit back with their second goal only four minutes after Caversham had taken a 3-1 lead, and with a little luck might well have scraped together another to save a point. On its credit side, Caversham produced some superb touches. Steve Bentley, George Craig, and Terrv Breen, backed from behind bv Doug Hemmings and Alf Stamp, looked good enough to run any defence in the country ragged. On the debit side, Caversham was prone to sharp counterattacks when it failed, as it did too often, to recover ground when the ball was lost, and because it did not look as fit as a side should be at this stage of the season. The first failure may have been caused by the second. Apart from the penalty Caversham scored, the other four goals were well produced. The penalty was harshly awarded. Both Ken France and Alec Smith looked committed to the ball, unknown to the other, when they sandwished a Caversham striker. It was far more an accident than a purposeful clash. Frank Madrussan scored both of Brighton’s goals. The first was with his head after Alec Smith had split the Caversham defence and Graham Storer had dropped a perfect centre to the far post. The second came when Storer, again, put through a fine ball which the goalkeeper. Willy McNally. should have Intercepted before Madrussan had time to control it, turn on it, and hook it into the net.

Owen Nuttridge, »t the opposite end, was at fault when Caversham equalised after 18 minutes. He lost the ball to Bentley

combe luring two of the former and one of tne latter, and Bentlev and Craig one of each. Two players had their names taken — Storer and Murray Muir. Over-all, it was a game which both excited and entertained. The result of it did Caversham a lot of good, allowing it some breathing space for the second round. But it left Brighton with an exi hausting uphill climb tn the i weeks ahead.

ranj the farmer Dunedin City striker managed to squeeta it past Kan France from a narrow angle. Ken Morrison’s wqll-taken penaltv put Caversham ahead after 26 minutes, and a diving header by Stamp, after Hemmings’s centre had beaten Trevor Blake’s jump, consolidated Caversham's lead. There were some bad misses, and near misses, Graham Da-1