Mud makes for interesting hockey

Press, 26 June 1978, Page 20

Mud makes for interesting hockey

Two upsets, a game called off five minutes early, and the miseiable conditions made Saturdays round in the senior men’s hotkey competition the most interesting of the season. -he second placed team. Redcliffs. faltered against the pre- \ .-a >eveiHh piaced team, Linwood United, losing 2-1 add fourth placed Seiwyn could >.rape out only a 1-al! draw against bottom placed Woolston Working Men’s Club. The main clash, between Lmversitv and High Schoo! Old Boys, at liam. was called off five min utes before full-time when Christ Tye. the Old Bovs left-half, was I struck on the side of the face by a ruing shot from Barry Maister. Although University was ahead cr.h 1-0 at the time, it had been camped in the Old Bo>s 25 for several minutes. The boggv condition of thei ground caused the ball to sit up. and often rise, when struck. This was the case with Maister’s .-hot at goal. The Old Bov*, coach, Ernie Barnes, railed it auits before there were further injuries. Tye was carried from the field dazed but recovered later. Ln the fourth match Harewood relished the pouring rain and in the first half against Syden-ham-Cashmere produced superb running. pa--ing hockey and thoroughly deserved its threegoal margin at half-time. It was a different situation in the second half, however. Redcliffs’ loss allowed University to move further ahead at the top of the points table. Now with eight straight wins it has 16 points, five ahead of Redcliffs, and Seiwyn. Old Boys and Harev.ood are ail grouped In third. Sydenham and Linwood are becoming embroiled *n 3 for .sixth place which will give

the successful side a chance in the grand final competition later in the season. Results and scorers:— University 1 (F. Borren), High School Old Boys 0. Harewood 3 (B. Bhana, R. Pettit, I. Hill), SydenhamCashmere 2 (S. Ambler). Linwood United 2 (P. Bhana, G. Williams), Redcliffs 1 (A. Ineson*. Selwyn-Hillmorton 1 (G. Carnoutsos), Woolston W.M.C. 1 (J. Morse).

SPARKLING HAREWOOD Under the circumstances Harewood plated some exceptionally good hockey in the first half against Sydenham-Cashmere, and deserted its three-goal margin. But it lost the initiative in the second spell and allowed Sydenham to dictate the terms, with the result that it was able to score twice and almost force a draw. The Cottesmore ground held up well under the heavy rain and it was only late in the match that it began to cut up and make play difficult. Harewoods first goal came from a penalty-stroke after 10 minutes by Balvant Bhana. The goal brought a miraculous change in the Harewood team, and for the rest of the half its

play was sparkling, helping' spectators forget the miserable conditions. Dick Pettit scored the second goal from a penalty-corner after: 20 minutes and the third came, after 30 minutes when lan Hillj nudged the ball through a scrambling defence from close : range. Hill had been in an excellent scoring position two minutes earlier after a copybook attack that started on the edge of the Harewood circle. Bruce McLean, the left-wing, and Bhana, the in-side-left. took the ball the length .of the field, but McLean’s cross to Hill was a little astray. Harewood lost its rhythm completely in the second-half, and made few attacks on the Sydenham goal. At the other end Sy- 1 • denham was pushing the ball be-1 hind the Harewood defence and; causing much consternation. It' forced a series of penalty-cor-ners. after 15 minutes, and Steve] Ambler scored from one of l these. Sydenham continued the pressure. but it w r as four minutes before full-time before Steve Am-' bier scored the second goal from another penalty-corner. In spite of further attacks in the remaining minutes the Harewood defence held. Alan Black, the Sydenham centre-forward, moved into space well and dribbled incisively, while Bhana was the most elusive Hare wood forward. DIFFICULT GROUND The ground at Ham for the University-Old Boys clash was spoiled by a senior B game beforehand. From the start both goal-mouths were quagmires and University, by pushing the ball into these sloppy areas, put early pressure on Old Boys.

' However, excellent cover ; defence by Geoff Gibson, Rob Smith and Maurice Kidd, and 1 fine goal-keeping under ex- • tremely difficult conditions by : Graeme Sligo, kept the goal inti tact. i Frank Borren scored the only: ? goal of the match after 15 minutes. It resulted from a splendid : build-up on the University right- ; flank. John Christensen got the . ball just to the right of the post, i but unselfishly slipped the ball , left to Borren who took the ball on the run into the net. i Barry Maister and Christensen ; started some telling attacks; using a dry area in the centre of! the field between the twenty-' U fives. Several times they split; the Old Boys defence, only to; ■ ‘loose the ball to the cover' ■ defence or the clinging mud. [ In the second-half University dominated play and Old Boys ■ made the opposition circle on ‘I three occasions. For about 10 H minutes before the game was i called off University camped - almost entirely inside the Old - Boys twenty-five, controlling the • ball on its right-flank. i Just a minute before the in- • cident which brought the pre- - mature end, Kidd was hit on the 1 arm by another high shot from a Chris Maister penalty-corner. i LINWOOD SURPRISES Because it used direct methods more effectively in the first-half and then revived these late in the game, Linwood deserved its win over Redcliffs. Both teams > attempted to play according to j the dictates of the mud. but in . the first half, Redcliffs was less U effective because it insisted on I j dribbling a yard or two extra before passing the ball. For much of the first-half, play

r'was confined to Redcliffs territj ory, with the defenders making: 1 valiant efforts to send the ball to; - the other end and Linwood try-] r|in-g to breach the Redcliffs! - defence. Eventually Redcliffs. after a rare break into the Lin-! wood half, gained the first penal- - ty corner. 1 But the only goal of the half - was scored by Linwood, after a ? break from the right brought the . ball into the centre, where 1 Graeme Williams pushed the ball I past the Redcliffs defence. Early in the second half. Red- ! cliffs showed its intention of bet-! storing Linwood at the mud game.! [• and the writing seemed on the . wall for Linwood. Tony Ineson [ converted a penalty corner, and | , several more corners suggested ~'it was going to get the better of: Linwood. But. its effort slowly subsided. s and Linwood swept back into the| 1 game with a goal. Following in! j from a left side push across the] _ goal, the rigiht wing. Parsotl > Bhana, glanced the ball into the: i net. Redcliffs failed to recover! J:from that reverse. ; Linwood’s win was largely due: to the goalkeeping of Ishwar Ghanda. He made fine saves' ' when the ball was almost indis-1 < tinguishable from the surface. In . :the centre, Bikhu Bhana handled! the conditions better than most, and gave his team admirable guidance. s For Redcliffs, Tony Ineson, f sought to impart to his team the] i methods they should have been: s using from the outset. Neil Cos-i s ter was sound at right back, but 3 his move to left wing for the t second half added little to his] s team’s attacking effectiveness. i Of the forwards, the pick was - lan Jackson, who seemed almost unaffected by the muddy condi- < tions. Leon Munt, played a more

thoughtful role than usual, seekHng to pass the ball speedily and ’accurately in the conditions. SELWYN FORTUNATE Woolston must feel it was robbed of a win and Seiwyn that i( ; was fortunate to scramble out of: . the match with a draw. After i Woolston had scored early, when !John Morse pul the ball in the ;net from a penalty corner! rebound, Seiwyn drew level be fore the mid-mark of the first half from a penalty stroke. There was clearly no basis for ; the stroke and its being awarded | was of doubtful logic. George Carnoutsos converted the shot, and from then on there I was little other action which sugjgested that the deadlock would ]be broken. It was a case of considerable .vigour pitted against a measure ]of skill — and for once vigour ; was supreme. From the outset. I Woolston worried the Seiwyn ‘defence, without finishing off ‘sufficiently well to suggest it !was going to win. By contrast. Seiwyn had greater skill, and looked capable of breaching IWoolston’s defence. ! For Seiwyn, Mark Burtt made I many runs with the ball and ■much running off it, giving his ‘jforward line an incisiveness the others could not. Carnoutsos made sharp progress at times, as did Jeff Pepper on the right. Tony Jury gave sound, mostly unobtrusive, support and at left: back Robin Wilson was probably. ■ the soundest player on the field. ] Woolston’s Tom Brennan was l ’[also sound, and vigorous in re-' Spelling Seiwyn attacks. With him, 1 Garry Jones, the other back was : responsible for ensuring that Sei-. . wyn was allowed no latitude, behind a half line which was ’ largely anonymous in its partici-' » pation in the fray.

Points table:— D L F A Pts P W University 9 8 0 1 24 5 16 Redcliffs 9 5 1 3 20 12 11 Selwyn 9 3 ■ 2 15 11 10 H.S.O.B. 9 3 4 2 9 8 10 Hare wood 9 4 2 3 11 13 10 1 Sydenham 9 2 3 4 10 15 7 Linwood 9 1 5 3 11 21 7 Pegasus 8 1 3 4 7 12 5 W.W.M.C. 9 1 2 6 7 17 4