Nelson takes deserved soccer point

Press, 22 May 1978, Page 17

Nelson takes deserved soccer point

Nelson United deservedly, picked up its first Rothmans Soccer League point since April 30 when it drew 1-1 with Trans Tours United at English Park; on Saturday. It deserved Its point for three main reasons—it had as much of the match as Trans; it could I have won the game bui for poor: finishing, on one notable occa-; sion in particular; and Trans; Tours United certainly did not deserve to take both pointsl from the game. As a spectacle, the first half I was very entertaining, but the, second proved a let-down. By | that stage both teams appeared to have difficulty overcoming the! greasy pitch. Nelson had a refreshing,' attractive approach to the game, sometliing obviously instilled by its forward-thinking coach (Mr Doug Moore). He has a crop of young, enthusiastic players and providing, the team stays together, iie is; assured of eventual success. j Nelson applied most of the early pressure, using the flanks' as often as possible. For this reason, the United goal, after three minutes, came somewhat | against the run of play. The Nelson goal-keeper, Wayne, Martin, could only parry a tree-1 kick into the penalty area and! the ball rolled clear to Mulgrew,' who placed the ball just inside the upright from 12 metres. A minute later Mulgrew gave} evidence that perhaps this} would he one of those days on which he could do nothing wrong. He ran half the length of the field, to pull a low, square ball j into the goalmouth, only to see; it desperately cleared. After 17 minutes, Nelson! should have equalised. The! powerfully-built left full-back, John Enoka, chipped a free-kick J into the goalmouth and Eric} James, after moving into space I perfectly, blasted the ball high; over the crossbar from five' metres.

James proved himself to be a bustling, aggressive forward, but this miss was bad. At this stage, Nelson was showing some fine team-work and had it had finish it could have scored three or four goals.

On one occasion, the elusive winger, Ken Cress* eU. broke clear on the corner of the penalty area but, after rounding Ross Durant, was blatantly obstructed by Durant. Fortunately for United, the referee <Mr Robin McDonald) was unsighted. United was at no time completely outplayed and al wax s looked dangerous when moving forward. lan Park got in two good shots, one of which Martin. a decidedly shaky keeper, dropped and only just recovered the ball before the United midfielder, lain Marshall, got his foot to it. Glen Adam left the field after straining a ligament in his right leg after a clash with James and was replaced by Graham Griffiths, who gave a solid performance. The equalising goal came from a chip which Enoka judged expertly, fmding Dave Powdrell in the goalmouth. Powdrell just got his head to the ball before the United goal-keeper. Steve Grvska. and deflected it into the goal. This happened with six minutes remaining until half-time and there was still time left for Durant to redeem himself with a well-timed saving tackle on Cresswell after he had been put clear by a through ball from Powdrell. Nelson seemed susceptible to a late run on the blind side and it was from exactly this that Kees Doornenbal, who had a fine match, volleyed the ball wide. In the final minute, Griffiths almost won the match when Ids blind-side header deflected off the post and bounced behind the goal-line. The second half had few other memorable moments, some of the time being reduced to kick and chase. For Nelson Alex Smith had a solid game and Powdrell. Cresswell and James formed a lively front line. Enoka and John Slo’e maker were the pick of the defence. Doornenbal was United’s best player while Mark McNaughton and lan Park had their moments in attack and Steve Sumner gave a thorough display in th* midfield.