Canterbury reaches final of national hockey

Press, 27 August 1977, Page 52

Canterbury reaches final of national hockey

From KEVIN TUTTY, in Wanganui

Auckland and Canterbury reached the final of the Challenge Shield at the Rothmans national hockey tournament yesterday but not before both had to produce supreme efforts to overcome their semi-final opponents. Both games went to sud-den-death extra-time — Canterbury beating Northland, 2-1, and Auckland beating Wellington 4-3. It is believed to have been the first time at a national tournament that both semi-finals have been decided in sudden death extra time. Canterbury’s goal came from Barry Maister 2min from the end of sudden-death time, after which the result would have been decided by penaltystrokes. Auckland’s came 2min into the second period of sudden-death time when Arthur Parkin scored. After 70min ordinary play, in which Canterbury squandered several scoring chances, the score was nilall. Thur Borren missed an open goal early in the second half and the 17-year-old Northland full-back, Grant McLeod, made two brilliant goal-line saves — one in each half — off full-blooded Tony Ineson penalty corners. Northland scored first after 2min of extra time. It made a raid on the Canterbury goal. Neil McLeod’s shot was partly saved but flew in the air behind the goal-keeper, Rodger McHarg. The ball was knocked out of the goal by Gary Marshall covering but the umpire, lan Faulkner of Auckland ruled it had crossed the line. Canterbury’s chances of winning looked bleak. It was

r'not moving forward with > any purpose but it did man- 1 { age to force two penalty- ii comers and, from the second < ’of these Ineson saved' i t Canterbury as he did on, I . Thursday against Welling- !l ton. I’ His penalty-corner shot, ‘ about a foot off the ground, < was virtually unstoppable. It - came only 90sec from the : - end of ordinary extra-time. Canterbury received two 1 penalty-comers in the first , > period of sudden-death j j extra-time but could not | ■ score from either. The first s was struck poorly and the! i second was ruled illegal through a faulty hand stop. ]■ • Canterbury then had to , r defend a penalty-corner , I 2min into the second sud- ( r den-death period when Rod-, : ger McHarg, attempting to - clear the ball from the | ! circle, kicked it into the face j I of an oncoming Northland i player, Neville Thome. With 2min of sudden- , .(death time remaining, it was - Ineson who set Canterbury' ; up for its winning goal. He ' • dribbled the ball from the ’ i 25-yard line, beating sev- • eral players. His cross from!' 1 the left of the circle was 1 t partly trapped by the North-!' t land full-back. Nigel Ross, ! i but he slipped trying to re-J 1 cover it. Barry Maister 11 . pounced on the ball and! t pushed it past the Northland! 1 t goal-keeper. Canterbury started the! s match in much more impres-' t sive form than it displayed e! against Wellington in itsH ;. final pool match on Thurs-| f day. In the first half, its I passes were fluent and the n forwards running onto them 1 with all their verve. During this period, the fl Northland defence was, s'stretched to the limit.

For 15min of the first half, Canterbury was without its inside-right, John Christensen, who received a temporary suspension after hitting the Northland centrehalf, Ross McLeod. The blow was retaliation for subtle hits that Christensen received and which, unfortunately, the umpire, Euan Johnson, did not see. In the second half, Canterbury became more pedestrian and Northland was able to intercept a number of passes and catch Canterbury players in possession. Some of the passing was bad. If the ball was not yards off target, it was mis-hit. It was only sheer determination and experience that pulled Canterbury through. McHarg, in the Canterbury goal, was his side’s saviour several times. Two minutes from full-time, he got his right pad to a hard penaltycorner shot and, in the first half, he had one hectic period where he had to make three saves in quick succession, bounding from one side of the goal to the other.

Of the other players, Gary J Marshall was the best. He! made a number of neat tack-' les in extra time when the pressure was on and mistakes could have been easily made. At right-half, Alan Chesney made few errors and tried to instil some (drive into the right-flank attack by dribbling forward and seeking gaps. Ted Salmon, the former New Zealand representative, with Grant McLeod, did a tremendous job tying down the Canterbury right flank. In the Northland forwards, Willie Byers at inside-left and Peter Rowley on the

right wing, impressed with their speed and control. Wellington took an early lead when Phil Benfield scored from a penalty-corner and it was only a few minutes before half-time when Trevor Laurence scored in the same fashion, for Auckland. Arthur Parkin made the score 2-1 just after half-time but a few minutes later, Bruce Holmes equalised. Ramesh Patel again put Auckland ahead with a penalty stroke and Wellington again equalised through Holmes. The winning goal was a magnificent effort by Parkin. He collected a pass at the top left of the circle, rushed past a defender, and, from the left of the goal, pushed the ball past the Wellington goal-keeper, Brian Drake, just inside the right-hand goal-post. South Canterbury won its way into the final of the Rothmans Cup, beating Hamilton, 2-1. South Canterbury dominated the game and was unlucky not to score two more goals. Two shots were cleared off the goal-line. It will meet Taranaki in the final early this afternoon and has a good chance of success. The West Coast is close to success in the India Plate. It won its fifth game yesterday and is one point ahead of Rotorua. A win today against Piako will assure the Coast of success.

Nelson caused an upset in the Challenge Shield playoffs by beating Manawatu, 1-0, and saved itself from relegation to the Rothmans Cup section. Ashburton beat North Otago, 3-2, and saved itself from the threat of relegation.