First loss for Selwyn

Press, 3 August 1981, Page 21

First loss for Selwyn

Selwyn-Hillmorton had its first loss of the season in the Christchurch senior men's hockey championship on Saturday. Its nearest challenger. High School Old Boys, also lost and with it any chance of reducing Selwyn's lead.

Selwyn faltered against a Harewood side that gave easily its best display of the season. The match was probably the best senior one of the season, the forwards in both sides giving a skilful display on a heavy ground. Selwyn still has a three-point lead arid, with a game in hand, is in a sound position. It needs four points from its last four games to secure the title.

High School Old Boys had its chances against Woolston but found the mud and the Woolston defence at the Polo Grounds too much to overcome. Woolston had few scoring opportunities but made the most of them.

Sydenham-Cashmere beat Redcliffs. a team that seems demoralised at the moment. University reached fourth place with a comfortable 7-0 win against a hapless Pegasus. Results and scorers: Harewood 5 (I. Hill 2. I. Riach. C. Leslie, P. Hayde). SelwynHillmorton _4 (G. Barrett 2. R. Walker. G. ’Carnoutsos).

Woolston 2 (G. Belcher. M. Wood). High School Old Boys 1 (M. Kidd). Sydenham-Cashmere 2 (P. Gardiner. J. Carnoutsos). Redcliffs 1 (C. Prutton). University 7 (J. Woods 2. R. Fowler 2. W. Shillito. N. Edmundson. B. Carter). Pegasus

High scoring

The Selwyn-Harewood match wax remarkable for several rea-nns: the high score, the pace at which the game was played, and the fact that Selwyn conceded more than twice as'many goals in this match as it had in 11 previous championship matches this season.

Without doubt the outstanding feature was the pace of the match. The skill displayed by

both forward lines was also commendable.

Harewood's opening salvo shocked Selwyn. First Pat Hayde pounded in a penalty corner, followed soon after by a Chris Leslie rebound from another corner. and then a weaving run by lan Riach down the left-wing ended with Riach scoring. Selwyn showed its mettle by fighting back. Its inside forward trio of George Carnoutsos. Richard Schoeman. and Mark Burtt made space to launch attacks and their crisp inter-passing had the Harewood defence groping. Rob Walker pulled back a goal and then Greg Barnett scored Selwyn's second from a penalty corner.

Just before half-time Harewood moved to a two-goal lead again when lan Hill snapped in a rebound. For the first time this season Harewood produced a 79-minute performance and its effort was well rewarded. Balvant Bhana led by example at inside-right, dribbling hard. He had good support from his other forwards. In Dick Pettit's absence — he is a policeman who has missed the last two club matches because of the Springbok tour — Andy Innes played a mature game at centre-half for Harewood. distributing the ball intelligently. His counterpart. Robin Wilson, was also a key figure, establishing attacks swiftly for Selwvn.

Tony Jury and Greg Barrett, in the Selwyn defence, and lan Steel and Greg Cowles for Harewood. were determined defenders. coping well under pressure. Late goal A goal by John Carnoutsos. a younger brother of the New Zealand and Canterbury representative. George, gave Sydenham a late win against Redcliffs on a difficult surface at the Polo Grounds. It was Carnoutsos's first goal in senior hockey and it was well taken. The Redcliffs defence allowed the ball to roll towards the goalline. The Redcliffs goal-keeper. Keith Barr, appeared to have the ball covered but Carnoutsos rushed in and swatted the ball around Barr before he could kick the ball clear.

Sydenham took an early lead in the match when Paul Gardiner scored after a good move down the left flank. Gardiner was Sydenham's most penetrating forward. Redcliffs scored from a pen-

ally corner by Chris Prutton mid-way through the first-half but had very few other opportunities. Thc'Munt brothers, Lee and Richard, on the Redcliffs leftflank, worked hard to break the Sydenham defence but had little luck. A lack of urgency was evident among the rest of the forwards. Ross Ambler and Bryan Ayson were capable defenders for Sydenham, reading the play well arid intercepting many stray passes. Chances lost

Old Boys lost a grand chance to keep themselves in the hunt for the championship when they failed to take their opportunities against Woolston. The first 20 minutes belonged to Old Boys. They forced a series of penalty comers, and Kerry Thomas, the most dangerous Old Boys forward, made two solo breaks that were stopped just short of the circle. Later, a shot from Thomas flew over the crossbar.

Woolston. using its rightflank, fought back in the later stages of the first half and Graeme Belcher scored from a goalmouth scramble.

Mid-way through the second half Maurice Kidd collected a clearance at the top of the Woolston circle and scored with a solid shot.

Old Boys continued to have

slightly the better of the match. Woolston had only two penalty corners in the second half. From the last, a few minutes from fulltime. a penalty stroke was awarded after Dave Stuthridge. the Old Boys goal-keeper, had infringed. To the delight of the Woolston team. Malcolm Wood converted it. Easy win University has improved as the season has progressed and on Saturday Pegasus struck it in a determined mood. University dominated the first half, scoring four goals against a team that had to spend much time on deep defence.

Pegasus rarely broke out of its 25m area and when it did the attacks were quickly halted by the University defence.

Warwick Shillito. Neil Edmundson, and Matt Slack combined well to force the Pegasus defence into retreat. A number of penalty corners were forced and two of these were converted directly by John Woods.

After the interval, University relaxed its pressure a little and there was more determination in the Pegasus defence. Rob Wilson and Jeff McEwen made few errors but their efforts to put their forwards on attack were often frustrated by poor positioning and trapping by the forwards.

0. POINTS: P W D L F A Pt Selwvn 12 9 9 1 31 9 20 H.S.O.B 13 8 1 4 20 12 17 Harewood 13 7 *’ 4 25 19 16 University 12 6 3 3 20 8 15 Sydenham 12 5 4 3 19 12 14 Wools'.on 13 ;> 4 4 15 14 14 Kedclilfs 12 4 3 15 12 11 Linwood 12 2 0 10 13 37 4 Pegasus 13 0 1 12 5 40 1