Top teams eyed each other

Press, 27 April 1983, Page 37

Top teams eyed each other

The top four teams in the fourteenth grade were all competing, by coincidence, at Burnside Park last Saturday morning. Cashmere-Wanderers had forced itself into a commanding 2-0 lead at half-time in its match against Burndale with goals from Alum Evans and the ever-dangerous Kelly Tonkin. However, Cashmere was put under stern pressure after the interval, with Simon Trethowan and David Maguire coming close to scoring for Burndale. Cashmere’s - goalkeeper, Andre Kamo, was in top form, pulling off some acrobatic saves. A further late goal by Evans increased Cashmere’s lead, and made the result certain. Burndale, though, can take some credit from the match and, after winning promotion last season, are causing some problems to the grade’s established sides with their attacking style. Shamrock, the fourteenth grade co-leaders, did not have things their own way against Nomads, but battled through to win, 3-2. Sasha Radujko picked up two goals for Shamrock. One came from the penalty spot and the other came when he curled a comer directly into the goal. The most spectacular goal, however, came from Jonathan Densem, whose overhead “bicycle" kick bore a slight resemblance to the deeds of the great Brazilian, Pele. Stephen Farrant, an attacking full-back, and Julian Bowden were always dangerous for Shamrock. Dean Read scored for Nomads from a free-kick and Craig Grimwood, coming on in the second -half, scored the other.' Kaiapoi trailed Western, 2-1,

at half-time in their fourteenth grade game, but a strong second half resurgence enabled it to win, 5-2 Steven Angow and Carl Sweeney scored Western’s first- half goals. Dean Austin had a fine match for Kaiapoi, however, scoring the first three goals, with Craig Walesly and Wayne Adams picking up the other goals. Although no goals were scored, there was plenty of excitement in the ninth grade game between Riccarton and Shamrock at Ray Blank Park. Chris Boulton and Justin O’Malley harried the Shamrock defence of Geoffrey Bell and Patrick Burns, who stood up to the job determinedly. Robert Skjellerup and Neil McLeod kept the Riccarton strikers supplied with plenty of ball which, with luck, could have resulted in a scoring spree. System dropped The Junior Football Association, at its recent meeting in Wellington, dropped the annual promotion ana relegation ofteams at the national tournament in August. The majority of associations felt that it placed undue pressure on both the coaches and the players, causing in many cases an emphasis on defensive play. A negative attitude at under age level is certainly not wanted and it is hoped the move will persuade coaches to adopt a more positive playing style. Competitions will also revert to a 12-team system, which will reintroduce the final, which has been missing for three years, during which a round-robin method has been adopted to find the winners.