Hockey Sen. lead extended

Press, 4 July 1983, Page 24

Hockey Sen. lead extended

Selwyn extended its lead to seven points in the Noel Leeming senior men’s hockey championship on Saturday with a 3-0 win against Sydenham. Harewood, Selwyn’s closest rival, had a bye on Saturday, and so has a game in hand, but it still has a mammoth task ahead of it to overhaul the lead that Selwyn has built. High School Old Boys moved into third place when it beat Linwood 1-0. Linwood has slid rapidly down the points table in the last two weeks from second equal place to fifth. Pegasus played with greater maturity to beat the extremely inconsistent Redcliffs side and move into sixth place, while at flam, Woolston took a point off University by forcing a 1-1 draw. All teams were affected by the bitterly cold weather on Saturday, and as a result the standard of play suffered. There was not one game that measured up to the standard expected of senior teams. The points table is:

Selwyn 3, Sydenham 0 Selwyn: R. Schoeman 2, G. Carnoutsos. Selwyn was far from convincing against Sydenham and the score flattered it a little. There was also a hint of luck in Selwyn’s first goal. Richard Schoeman deflected a shot at goal from the top of the circle. The Sydenham defence claimed the ball had been struck outside the circle, but the umpire, Mr Murray Clark, ruled it was inside the circle. His task was not made any easier by markings that were almost obliterated. Schoeman, Mark Burtt and Kelvin Read were the best of

Selwyn’s forwards, often causing the Sydenham defence problems. Burtt in particular, relished being back at insideleft and looks determined to prove to the New Zealand selectors that he is still worthy of national representation. Sydenham had a period on attack in the second-half but several penalty-corners were fruitless. Ross Ambler had each shot blocked by the Selwyn defence. Ambler and Bryan Ayson were the best of the Sydenham defenders, while Craig Burtt and Robin Wilson held the Selwyn defence together. Pegasus 2, Redcliffs 1 Pegasus: J. Radovonich, I. Thomson. Redcliffs: R. Munt. Pegasus deserved its success against Redcliffs. Although much younger in years, the Pegasus side played with more intelligence in the conditions. They concentrated on maintaining possession and moving the ball carefully. Redcliffs by comparison tried to play a normal passing game which was almost impossible in the conditions and as a result they threw away a large amount of their possession. The real test for Pegasus came in the last 10 minutes when it had to fight to hold its lead. For a good deal of the time it was camped inside its own 25m area, but its defence was tenacious and Redcliffs did not look like scoring in that period. The umpires had to speak to players several times after mild flare ups. With a few minutes left, Peter Christensen (Redcliffs) and Darryl McEwen (Pegasus) were given temporary suspensions after a niggly incident. H. 5.0.8. 1 Linwood 0 H. 5.0.8.: J. Smith. Linwood did everything but equalise in the second half. A number of times they broke into the Old Boys circle, only to lose control and have the ball cleared away or miss

attempted shots at goal. Simon Wiilocks was the key figure in the Linwood attack, often picking up passes and bursting into the circle, but unfortunately he lacked support at vital times. Rob Smith and Maurice Kidd played soundly in the Old Boys defence and Simon Tilley gave good service to his forwards, but they lacked the control to use the ball effectively. An exception was Geoff Deakins at inside-right. The Linwood defence was again well organised and after its only goal, early in the match, Old Boys had few other excursions into the Linwood circle. The Linwood penalty-corner combination that usually works effectively failed on Saturday. Woolston 1, University 1 Woolston: D. McKenzie. University: M. Tingey. Woolston’s longer passing, although often to no player in particular, was effective in that it kept the University defence turning on the slippery Ham ground. Don McKenzie was a danger to the University defence with his strong dribbling, and it was McKenzie who forced the penalty-comer from which he scored his side’s first-half goal.

University improved its play marginally in the second half. Steve Ambley injected some enthusiasm into the attack, but unfortunately his enthusiasm did not rub off onto other members of the University attack.

Ambler was a key figure in the attack which led to the penalty comer from which University equalised. A rebound was not cleared quickly enough by the Woolston defence, and Mark Tingey slipped the ball past the hapless woolston defence.

Both defences played steadily but they had little pressure exerted on them by forward lines which lacked the ability to combine efficiently on attack.

P w D L F A Pt Sei. 11 10 1 0 34 8 21 Hare. 10 6 2 2 25 13 14 H.S.O.B. 11 5 3 3 13 12 13 Unsty. 10 4 3 3 13 11 11 Lin. 11 4 3 4 12 17 11 Peg. 11 2 3 6 8 13 7 Syd. 11 1 5 5 9 16 7 Red. 11 2 2 7 13 25 6 Wool 10 1 4 5 10 22 6