Canty hockey sides struggle for wins

Press, 1 September 1980, Page 3

Canty hockey sides struggle for wins

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KEVIN TUTTY

After desperate struggles noth Canterbury teams emerged with wins in their opening games at the Newman’sAdidas national men’s hockey tournament in Auckland, yesterday. In the Challenge Shield Section Canterbury A scored ifter three minutes, but it .vas not until five minutes Yom full-time, when lit scored is second goal, that the game .vas-safe.

• Its doughty challenger was its southern neighbour, South Canterbury, which with just a trifle of luck could have equalised several times in the second-half. _ Canterbury B was a goal down against Tauranga in the India Plate (third section) but eventually.won 2-1 after two' penalty strokes were saved.

Only a month ago South Canterbury was humbled 12-0 by . Canterbury at Porritt Park', but yesterday it was a vastly improved side on defence. The player of the match was South Canterbury’s 17-year-old goal keeper,' lan Woodley. A New Zealand junior representative he made several brilliant saves in the second half.

For’the first six minutes of the second-half Canterbury was camped inside its half and conceded four penalty-corn-ers and two corners. One of these Ross Ambler, the Canterbury left-back, had to save on the goal-line. After that period of pressure Canterbury slowly edged its way out of defence to gain dominance in mid-field again but the forwards seve-

i ral times lost the ball to jneat tackles by the South •Canterbury defence in which i Lawrence and Neville Rawjstorn, and Trevor Stanbury | were outstanding. ’ Both Canterbury’s goals icame from penalty-corners ' struck by Ross Ambler. The l first of the match, after three 1 minutes, was converted, but Canterbury received 10 more before he scored from another. Two of those 10 entered the goal and were disallowed although one appeared perfectly. legitimate. The goals at Hobson Park have 45cm backboards and umpires (have been instructed to allow any penalty-corner that strikes the boards. One ofAmbler’s disallowed shots; struck the board but the urn-; pire, Bruce Niinmo, still rul-j ed the shot dangerous. I . There tvas considerable dis-; sentiori at last year’s national i tournament over what con-’ stituted a dangerous shot at; goal and it seems the same’ problems will occur again' this year, unless the umpires: become more consistent with’ their rulings. . I South Canterbury, to its! credit,, never faltered in a; hectic game ,that moved; quickly from one end of the; field to the other. i Unfortunately South Can-| terbury’s attack was not as I cohesive as ’Canterbury’s and there lay the difference between the sides. Balvant Bhana and George Carnoutsos had the small crowd gasping with their skilful dribbling, and their passing was also of a high standard. Steve Ambler, after

)!a fit of trapping horrors in lithe first-half, settled to make i (good progress down the -(right-wing in the second-half. i Canterbury B looked letharvgic against Tauranga and it >|was only after the latter !lscored mid-way through the i(first - half that the B team : I began to pass the play with si authority. •i It equalised 10 minutes ‘later when Ross Thompson, II at centre - forward, sent a i;superb pass to the right■jwing lan Hill just inside the >, circle. Hill scored with a ijnicely angled shot. i| In the second - half Canter•ibury received two penalty- .' strokes. The first, taken by ’jChris Tye, and the secund ’.'by lan Hill were both saved ■|by Nigel Gregory in the Taur•langa goal. i Rich made amends after ■ 63mins. He pounced on a free ’hit from Dick Pettit, just iniside the circle, and scored 'with a hard shot across the ’goal-keeper. ' A month ago Nelson he'd! (Wellington to a 3-all draw in! 'a representative fixture, but; j the side from the capital wasi ’too strung yesterday winning ;4-l. Nelson scored its goal(through Wayne Hessell miniutes from the end. < | In the India Plate section! [West Coast led 2-0 for ai igood part of its game against Wellington B but the latter equalised late in the match. Auckland, playing at threequarter pace, had no bother beating Wanganui in pool A of the Challenge Shield 8-nil. Its neat accurate passing had the Wanganui defence struggling constantly.