A mudbath at Newmarket

Press, 16 August 1976, Page 14

A mudbath at Newmarket

By

BARNEY ZWARTZ

Newmarket Park was the final victor in the Lion Chatham Cup semi-final between Trans Tours United and Blockhouse Bay at Auckland on Saturday. The match itself was drawn, 2-2, after extra time.

It was a mudbath. The ball simply refused to be moved in a great area around the centre: the rest of the ground, to quote the players, was merely an absolute disgrace. Had it not been for the conditions it is unlikely that Blockhouse, down to 10 men for the last 50 minutes of

the 120, could have held out against a rejuvenated United. But the United side, well on top for most of the game, could not convert its many opportunities into goals, and must now face 11 Bay players in the replay

today. United went 2-0 up in the first 30 minutes and looked practically invincible, with its poise, and intelligent, composed soccer. But for only the second time in its history, it surrendered a twogoal lead. Great credit is due to the Bay players who fought back with courage and character in an uncompromising match that typified much of that which is best in cup football. "We had all the class,” said United’s manager (Terry Conley) afterwards. “For the first 30 minutes we were magnificent and could have been four goals up at half-time. We are going to fight this bloody thing called luck and kick it over the hill.” The game was fast immediately-, and United manufactured three hard chances in the first 16 minutes, while the Bay’s first shot, after 17 minutes, was a hopeful long-range effort that was well wide. Then, after 19 minutes. Kevin Mulgrew opened the scoring witii a beautifully-taken simple goal, involving passes from Norman Moran and Steve Sumner after Gary Lake. Both sides missed an easy chance before Mulgrew beat two

men to work his way inside the penalty area and split the defence with a good ball across e the goal. Mark McNaughton could not reach it, but his effort distracted John Morris in goal, 11 and Kees Doornenbal timed his d run perfectly to slither the ball d home. Moran was wide with a header, * when lan Ormond decided to r make his presence felt. He made a great run down the flank, taking lan Park and Roy Drinkwater s out of the game, and crossed 2 for Steve Bruce to score. a Barely was the second half * under way when Ormond danced t around Drinkwater and fiercely 3 volleyed from the edge of the area. Dave Turner had it covered but he dived over it and the scores were level. 3 The rest of the half was most b notable for the “booking” of Moran and Jimmy Hogg, and the 1 sending-off of Gary Lake for hitf ting Moran. k The Bay exerted pressure in i the first five minutes of extra I time but from there it was all United, and a superb performI ance from John Morris. Time and time again Morris spectacu- ‘ larly saved the Bay, and in the ; last second Moran got in an excitingly vicious header only to see Morris make one of the saves of his career to force it around the post. Bill Arney, just back from a 10-week absence through injury, was the man of the match, elegantly setting up play with precision passing and running, chasing and tackling in a manner seldom seen from him. Up front, the excellent Moran put in his usual solid and courageous performance, and Mulgrew showed a welcome return to top form. He rushed back to tackle and the Bay had no answer to him until Mulgrew laded later in Hie game. Sumner was also sound, grafting in midfield, although his play was largely nullified by the destructive work of Hogg, and Doornenbal covered the boggy ground at a remarkable rate. Trevor Reece was the most inspired of the defenders. Drinkwater had a poor game and lan Park was patchy, although his distribution improved. Graham Griffiths was reliable, as was McNaughton. The Bay defence was as ironhard and resolute as ever. It is a ruthlessly destructive affair, as is largely the midfield, in which Duncan Ormond and Bruce worked hard. lan Ormond showed flashes of his great skill and nearly proved a match winner, but United, was superior in every facet except finishing.