Important soccer rounds

Press, 24 April 1980, Page 32

Important soccer rounds

A most important two rounds of Rothmans Soccer League matches over Anzac week-end await Christchurch’s two clubs in the competition, Trans Tours United and Rangers. But for .each club, the week-end is important for differing reasons. For United, the two games, against Stop Out at Queen Elizabeth II Park tomorrow and away to Gisborne City on Sunday, are crucial for it to stay close to the one team ahead of it on the points table, Manurewa.

For Rangers, which face

Mount Wellington in Auckland tomorrow and meet Hamilton at Rangers Park on Sunday, two defeats will leave them with an uphill battle for the rest of the competition.

Sadly, the format of the league,, with the bottom three teams being relegated, is harsh on those clubs which make a poor start to the season and time is running out for Rangers unless if can show an improvement in the next few weeks.

United is likely to have an unchanged team against Stop Out, although its midfield

player, lan Marshall, who broke a cheekbone earlier this month, has been in training and might be considered.

There are no injuries in either the United or Rangers squad and the Rangers coach (Mr lan Marshall) said his team is eagerly looking forward to its first league match in Auckland. He would not be drawn on the likely composition of his side for tomorrow but he must be tempted to make some alterations after the unimpressive display of his team against Wellington Diamond United last Sunday.

Other matches in the league tomorrow are: Dunedin City v. Gisborne City at Dunedin, Hamilton v. Newmans Nelson United at Hamilton, Wellington Diamond United v. Manurewa at Wellington and Hanimex — North Shore v. Blockhouse Bay.

The full round of matches for Sunday is: Blockhouse Bay v. Dunedin City, Manurewa v. Stop Out, W.D.U. v. Mount Wellington, Newmans Nelson United v. HanimexNorth Shore, Rangers v. Hamilton and Gisborne City v, Trans Tours United.