Hockey Selwyn closer to senior title

Press, 27 July 1981, Page 19

Hockey Selwyn closer to senior title

Selwyn-Hillmorton tightened its grip on the senior men’s hockey chafnpionship a little further with a 4-1 win over Pegasus on Saturday and maintained its three"point lead. High School Old Boys, Selwyn’s closest challenger, had a similar win — 4-1 against Linwood United, but has still to have the bye. Old Boys will be rueing the loss of form in the first round when it lost three successive games, two of which it should have'won.

’Selwyn does have some tough teams to dispose of in its last five games, but it continues to play as a well drilled unit and it would take a drastic loss of form to lose the championship from its present position. Woolston. which has become a giant killer in the last few seasons, caused a surprise on Saturday by beating Redcliffs 1-0 in the dying minutes. Woolston deserved its success because it was much quicker to the ball and more constructive when mounting attacks.

Harewood was a much more disciplined side against Sydenham-Cashmere and was rewarded with a 2-0 win. but it has lost any chance of winning the title and will

probably have to be content with third. Results and scorers were:— Harewood 2 (C. Leslie, I. Riach), Sydenham-Cashmere 0. Woolston 1 (G. Rhodes), Redcliffs 0. High School Old Boys 4 (G. Deakins 2. K. Thomas. G. Armstrong),. Linwood 1 (G. Orpwood). Selwyn-Hillmorton 4 (G. Carnoutsos 2, R. Schoeman, D. Clements). Pegasns 1 (R. Turner). SELWYN DOMINANT Selwyn dominated all aspects of the game against Pegasus. It attacked from the first minute and that was the pattern for the remainder of the game. On only a few occasions did Pegasus break out of its half and inside the Selwyn 25m area. From one of these breakouts mid-way through the second-half Pegasus forced its only penalty-corner of the game and Roger Turner with a strong shot beat the defence.

The game was 10 minutes old before Richard Schoeman scored the first goal for Selwyn after several attacks were cleared by the defence. Mark Burtt dribbled along the back-line from the left and flicked a neat pass back and across the goal for Schoeman to steer the ball in.

In spite of concerted attacks Selwyn found the Pegasus defence tenacious and the next goal did not come until five minutes from halftime. It was from a penaltystroke by George Carnoutsos after Dave Robbins, the Pegasus goal-keeper fell on the ball.

The second-half goals for Selwyn were scored by Carnoutsos and David Clements who capitalised on partially cleared shots in front of the Pegasus goal.

Rob Wilson marshalled a pressured Pegasus defence well and received good support from Turner. Mark Burtt was the best of the Selwyn forwards, dribbling incisively and linking well with the other forwards and halves. Robin Wilson controlled the mid-field for

Selwyn, distributing the ball quickly and accurately. . TITLE CHANCE LOST

What slim chance Sydenham had of , winning the championship disappeared when it lost to a Harewood team that for once played near its best form and for a full 70 minutes.

The game started at a fast pace that reduced very little as it progressed. Under the conditions the game was played a little too quickly leading to many passing and trapping errors. Harewood scored both its goals in the first-half, the first when Chris Leslie swooped, on a loose ball in the circle, and the second when lan Riach had no trouble disposing of a rebouund that came to him from the goal-keepers pads. Sydenham tightened its defence in the second-half, but Riach. and the captain Balvant Bhana. found space readily and presented the Sydenhamm defence with continual problems. Ross Ambler and Bryan Ayson in the Sydenham defence maintained a good standard under pressure, while Steve Ambler and Ross Thompson in the Sydenham forward line dribbled with urgency but little effect. Thompson almost scored late in the game when a cross from the left was fired across the goal. His attempt to deflect the ball into the goal failed. The Harewood defence was well organised, the coyer defence halting many attacks ' when goals looked imminent. SCRAPPY PLAY Both Woolston and Redcliffs played their game at a pace that was too fast for the bumpy ground. Consequently the feature, of the game was the number of errors in both trapping and passing. Woolston took the-advan-tage because its : players were quicker to the loose, ball and to harrass. the Redcliffs forwards and halves when in possession.

Redcliffs dame close to scoring in the second-half when a shot from Lee Munt bobbled towards the goal and

almost over the pad of Gary Copsey in the Woolston goal. He got just enough pad to it to deflect it into the side of the goal. Wpoiston’s winning goal came only three minutes from full-time when Greg Rhodes put one of the few penalty-corners awarded during the game into the corner of the net.

High School Old Boys started with a flourish scoring three goals in 20 minutes and looking likely to reach double figures against Linwood. However Linwood improved its defence and Old Boys lost some of its steam and it could manage only one more goal in the remaining 50 minutes.

Kerry Thomas scored from a penalty-corner and the other two early goals were from rebounds "from corners.

One was scored by Greg Armstrong and the other by Geoff Deakins. Deakins scored the fourth goal after the interval, the best of the game. He dived to nudge a cross past the outstretched Linwood goalkeeper.

Linwood had as much of the play as Old Boys in the second-half and Grant Orpwood finally scored for his side with a "smart shot from the top of the circle, with the Old Boys defence in disarray. The points table is: HOCKEY TABLE

Selwvn P W D I, 0 F 27 A Pl 4 20 11 9 H.SO.B. 12 8 1 3 19 10 17 Harewood 12 6 J 4 2H 15 14 Pnsty 11 3 3 14 8 13 Sydenham 11 4 4 3 17 11 12 Woolston 12 4 4 1 13 13 12 Redcliffs 11 4 3 4 14 10 11 Linwood 12 0 0 Hl 13 37 4 Pegasus 12 0 • 1 11 :> 34 I