Canterbury struggles to second hockey win

Press, 28 August 1979, Page 32

Canterbury struggles to second hockey win

From

KEVIN TUTTY

in Blenheim

Canterbury struggled for 62 minutes against Manawatu yesterday in its second game at the Newman’s national hockey tournament, before it scored twice in the last eight minutes to gain a shaky win.

Canterbury dominated the Challenge Shield section game, attacking frequently throughout, but each time it reached the Manawatu 25m area it was met by a wall of defenders determined to keep the goal intact For a time it looked likely to succeed. Canterbury had seven penalty-comers in each half, but an erratic surface made hand-stopping a tricky occupation, and thus Tony Ineson’s striking effectiveness was greatly reduced.

Canterbury eventually resorted to stick stops, and it was from one of these that John Christensen scored the first goal. Barry Maister trapped the ball at the top of the circle, passed left, and Christensen hit the ball cleanly as he was backpedalling. The match, played at Woodbourne, was delayed 30 minutes. It was moved because the headquarters grounds at Horton Park were still saturated. Unfortunately the organisers had neglected to provide goals, and a set was brought from town.

Manawatu decided that its best chance for success against Canterbury was to

mark closely, and the tactic almost paid dividends. The Canterbury forwards were subjected to a fair share of body checking, but | the Manawatu halves and I backs also defended well, : Paul Ackerley, at left-half, virtually forced Canterbury to forget about attacking down the right-wing (three different Canterbury players were tried in the position during the course of the match) and in association with Graeme Hall and Franz Knottenbalt he was also responsible for halting many Canterbury attacks inside the circle. Manawatu was not completely on the defensive, and several times in the secondhalf it was close to scoring first. Had it had a little more ombination Canterbury would have been in dire trouble. Graeme Sligo, in the Canterbury goal, was twice called on to make quick saves. The Canterbury rightback, Greg Pierce, and Jeff Gibson, at right-half, were the outstanding defenders. Both were as sure with their trapping as they could be on the difficult ground, and Gibson was quick to unload passes to the forwards. He was also very swift to cover

and clear the ball from the Canterbury goal area. The Canterbury forwards were changed about several times in the second-half, and Warwick Shillito and Neil Edmundson were substituted by Chris Maister and George Camoutsos. Chris Maister scored the second goal after splendid work by his brother, Barry, who trapped a free hit on the reverse stick inside the circle and passed the ball left. Chris Maister calmly steadied himself, and the ball, before shooting. Hawke’s Bay surprised Wellington by beating the national champion, 3-1, in a representative match last month, but yesterday Wellington was the more efficient team. It won, 3-2, and would have had a fourth goal had a Phil Benfield penalty-stroke late in the first-half not hit the bottom edge of the crossbar and bounced infield.

Hawke’s Bay equalised just a minute after Wellington’s Alan Mclntyre had scored the first goal. Peter Miskimmin scored the second after a superb through pass. Mclntyre scored Wellington’s third goal, after which the Bay made some valiant attempts to equalise. Shane Hiha narrowed the gap with

five minutes left, but Wellington kept the ball well clear of its circle in the final minutes.

South Canterbury made a good start in its campaign to remain in the Challenge Shield section. It was a goal down against Wanganui but fought back to 1-all by halftime. Early in the secondhalf South Canterbury took the lead, 2-1, and although Wanganui equalised, the southern side scored with 10 minutes left.

In the Rothmans Cup section Nelson had a runaway 7-0 win against the New Zealand army, and the West Coast kept its chances of a place in the semi-finals alive with a 1-all draw against Hamilton.

In pool B of the same section Ashburton lost its first match to Taranaki by a single goal, in a dour battle. Marlborough, the host team, started with a 3-0 win against Poverty Bay in the India plate section. The weather yesterday was much improved, and the grounds were drying well after Sunday’s heavy rain, but it is unlikely Horton Park will be used until tomorrow.

Canterbury has the bye in its pool today.