Leaders hold places

Press, 18 June 1979, Page 19

Leaders hold places

L Soccer

The top three teams all had narrow wins to maintain their chase for the Midland Coachlines Soccer League title in Saturday's round of matches. Caversham held on to first place on the points table with a somewhat lucky 2-1 win over Cashmere-Wanderers in Dunedin. It was an uninspiring Caversham performance and had Cashmere not missed an open goal, it might have pulled uff the most surprising result to date in the; competition. Bill Chisholm and Barry White scored for Caversham, and Gus; Neave scored Cashmere's goal. At Garrick Park. Woolston ■ W.M.C. won an entertaining) match against Western. 2-1. Western is the only team to have beaten Terry Mann’s Woolston side during the competition and at one stage it looked as if it might repeat that previous effort. After a fairly even first half, the Western substitute, Ray Wild, who was brought on at halftime. was pushed off the ball in the first minute of the second half and Robert Courteney scored from the penalty spot.

Good play followed for Western with both Wild and Paul Jarman having excellent chances. Wild’s shot was well saved by the Woolston goalkeeper, Neville Petrie, while Jarman pushed the ball wide from 12 metres. Woolston equalised after 66 minutes when Brent Simpson scored from a low cross which was not cleared. The winning goal came 13 minutes from the end when the Western full-back, Peter Bremmers. kicked a cross

into his own net. By that stage, Woolston had taken control and looked an impressive side. Rangers beat North End United, 2-1, with Neil Francis (30 minutes) and an own goal by Brian Cox (42 minutes) being the Rangers’ goal scorers. North End took the lead after nine minutes through Albert Evans, but could not capitalise on this early success. Shamrock had an important 2-1 win over Technical, with Joe i Mullins and Derek Jones scoring in the first half, and the Technical substitute, John McGuire, scoring after the interval. The win was crucial I for Shamrock, one of three teams involved in a tight relegation struggle. Two goals by Alan McCall brought Papanui W.M.C. its first point since April 28. when it drew' 2-2 with Green Island at Burnside Park. Green Island led, 2-0. at half-time with goals from Lloyd Napper and Steve Haggerty, but Papanui fought back determinedly in the second half and McCall’s goals came in the final 25 minutes.

Matches played in the qualifying league resulted: — Nomads 2, Timaru City 0; New

Brighton 4. Northern Hearts 0; High School Old Boys 2, University 0; HalsweU 3, Christchurch United 2; Burndale United 2, Rangiora 0. QUALIFYING LEAGUE

MIDLANDS LEAGUE P W D L F A Pts Caversham 11 9 1 1 34 7 19 Woolston 10 9 0 1 27 7 18 Rangers 10 7 2 1 25 10 16 Western 11 4 2 5 12 13 10 G. Island 11 2 5 4 16 15 9 Papanui 11 3 3 16 29 9 Technical 10 3 2 3 14 24 8 Shamrock 11 3 ■ 7 15 27 7 Cashmere 11 3 0 8 13 23 6 North End 10 I 2 7 9 26 4

P w D L F pts! Brighton 10 9 0 1 32 12 18 Nomads 11 7 2 2 31 15 16 Hals well 10 8 0 2 27 16 16 Hearts 10 6 1 3 20 19 13 Timaru 11 n 1 27 18 11 University 11 4 2 22 24 10 Chch Utd 11 3 3 18 17 9 H.S.O B. 11 2 2 7 14 31 6 Burndale 11 2 0 9 15 35 4 . Rangiora 11 1 1 9 8 29 3