H.S.O.B. takes equal second in sen. men’s hockey title

Press, 25 August 1980, Page 19

H.S.O.B. takes equal second in sen. men’s hockey title

High School Old Boys, thanks to a surprise loss by Selwyn-Hillmorton to Syden-ham-Cashmere, filled equal second place in the senior men’s hockey championship that finished on Saturday. Sydenham and Selwyn played an early game on Saturday, so Old Boys took the field knowing a win would secure second place with Selwyn. It sealed the fate of its game virtually in the first five minutes with two goals and with certainty by the interval when it was ahead 4-0 against Pegasus. Redcliffs managed a scoreless draw against Linwood United and the point was enough to give it fourth place, a point ahead of Sy-denham-Cashmere with Harewood a point further back in sixth place. In the otner game on Saturday, Harewood which faltered in the second round of the championship, beat Woolston. Results and scorers were High School Old Boys 5 (K. Thomas 3, M. Leighs 2), Pegasus 0. Sydenham-Cashmere 1 (P. Gardiner), Selwyn-Hill-morton 0. Redcliffs 0, Linwood 0. Harewood 1 (L. Greenfield), Woolston 0.

POOR GROUND

Selwyn’s-greatest failing was the inability of its forwards to play as a unit. George Camoutsos was his usual swift and elusive self at centre-forward, but apart from Mark Burtt at inside-left, he received little support from the other forwards. Some of the urgency was taken from both forward lines by the necessity to concentrate more than usual on their trapping because of the bumpy ground. One end was cut and the other uncut and it was difficult to understand why this, the top game of the day, was played on probably the worst ground at Porritt Park. On a better ground both teams would have given an improved display. Steve Ambler was the most constructive Sydenham forward on attack but his close control suf-

fered because of the ground. He combined well with Ross Thompson on the right-wing, and at centre-forward Pat Barry eagerly accepted passes but lacked the control to beat the Selwyn defence. The Sydenham defence was well organised, the cover managing to hold the Selwyn attack when several times it looked as though it would break through. Some of Ross Ambler's passing was lax although his tackling and trapping helped Sydenham out of some tricky situations. In the Selwyn defence Robin Wilson gave his forwards every opportunity to attack and Craig Burtt allowed the Sydenham right-flank little room to manoeuvre once inside the Selwyn 25m area. Paul Gardiner scored the only goal lOmin into the second-half. CLOSE ENCOUNTER One lapse early in the second-half cost Woolston the chance of a draw with Harewood, although the latter side did enough attacking and had enough near misses to deserve its win. The Harewood forwards, as they have done so many times this season, at times showed their potential but not consistently enough to turn its attacks into goals. Balvant Bhana was a at inside-right for Harefine instigator of attacks wood, and lan Riach made some weaving runs through the centre-field but tended to dribble too far. In the Harewood defence lan Steel and Andy Innes played competently making few trapping errors on a difficult ground and passing the ball thoughtfully.

Don McKenzie was again the most constructive forward in the Woolston team at inside-left. He moved forward swiftly but unfortunately often lacked support from the other forwards when he. had to pass. Steve Barrow picked up sufficient ball at centre-half for Woolston to ensure that his forwards were not starved of possession. QUICK GOALS A goal by Kerry Thomas in the first minute and another by Mark Leighs two minutes later gave Old Boys a lead it never looked like relinquishing. Pegasus was badly off form. The trapping by a large majority of the team was below the standard expected of a senior side and it was always on the back foot. Leighs and Thomas each capitalised on weak clearances by Pegasus later in the first-half to take the score to 4-0 at half-time. But easily the best player in the Pegasus side was its goalkeeper, Dave Robins. He made several fine saves, with hands and pads, his agility often allowing him to beat the opposition to rebounds. Thomas added a penaltycorner late in the game to make the score 5-0. In the first-half Thomas was the best Old Boys player, dribbling with speed and control that had the Pegasus defence wavering.

Jeff Gibson was given •plenty of time to establish attacks from centre-half for Old Boys. In the Pegasus defence Peter Cox and Jeff McEwen were untiring in their efforts to halt the constant flow of attacks. STRANGE MIXTURE The Linwood-Redcliffs match was a strange mixture. At times there were obvious attempts by both teams to play constructive hockey but at others the match degenerated into a series of long hits and basic errors. Redcliffs looked the more dangerous side on attack mainly because it used the full width of the field to put pressure on the Linwood defence. But time and again the Redcliffs trapping and passing failed it, when the Linwood defence looked stranded. Often it was the ground which beat the player. Several times the game threatened to get out of control as players sought to take out their frustration at the bumpy ground on each other. Greg Barrett and John Whitford worked like terriers in the Linwood defence, moving swiftly to halt Redcliffs forwards and covering each other skilfully. Darryl Small started many likely looking attacks for Linwood but all failed. Brendan Beaumont was the most eager Redcliffs forward and combined well with Murray Johnston on occasions. Neil Coster was the best defender completing the basics with few errors, and his passing was mostly accurate. ■

The final points table is: P W D L F A Pts Univerity 16 12 2 2'51.13 26 H.S.O.B. 16 8 4 4 27 15 20 Selwyn 16 8 4 4 24 17 20 Redcllffs 16 6 6 4 17 13 18 Sydenham 16 6 5 5 17 17 17 Harewood 16 7 2 7 20 26 16 Woolston 16 5 4 7 10 17 14 Pegasus 16 3 3 10 13 40 9 Linwood 16 1 2 13 8 30 4