Hands were shaking — Turner

Press, 21 December 1981, Page 1

Hands were shaking — Turner

NZPA staff correspondent Riyadh

The New Zealand striker, Brian Turner, has admitted that his hands were shaking as he put down the ball before shooting home the penalty which kept alive New Zealand’s hopes of reaching the 1982 World Cup finals in Spain. v With the New Zealanders up 4-0,. it fell to Turner, aged 32, to goal the penalty that would mean New Zealand had drawn level with China on goal difference and earned a replay to decide the last berth in Spain.

“It’s funny,” he said, after the match, “but I remember thinking about three months ago that ! would be responsi-

ble for taking the penalty that got us to the finals.” Turner, who has missed just one of 35 penalty shots for New Zealand, said he had concentrated solely on mak-

ing sure he did not miss this time.

His task was made harder by the fact that there was a delay while Steve Wooddin, who had been elbowed by the Saudi goal-keeper, Salim Marwan, was attended to. “It is nice just to go up and hit it. By the time I got up there my hand was shaking as I put the ball on the penalty spot. “I did not hit it all that well but the goalie went the wrong way, and that was that,” he said. Unfortunately for Turner, he may not be eligible for New Zealand’s replay with China because he was shown a yellow card yesterday for hacking a Saudi player off the ball.

Turner was given another caution in the first of New Zealand’s 14 World Cup matches against Australia at Auckland. The second card means an automatic one-match suspension under F.I.F.A. rules but New Zealand’s World Cup director, Mr Charlie Dempsey, said he would appeal on Turner’s behalf.

“We have played a lot of World Cup matches and I hope they will agree not to take yellow cards into account for the replay,” he said.

The New Zealand midfielder, Grant Turner, who was suspended for yesterdav’s match, will definitely be available for the replay. Match report, back page