Hockey University gives Selwyn a shock

Press, 11 July 1983, Page 24

Hockey University gives Selwyn a shock

Selwyn had an unpleasant surprise in the first 35 minutes of its match in the Noel Leeming senior men’s hockey championship on Saturday. University has played well below its ability for much of the season, but in the first half at Porritt Oval on Saturday it matched the championship leader in all aspects of play, and the sides were drawn 2-2 at half-time.

Unfortunately University could not maintain the same standard in the second half and eventually lost 2-4. Perhaps the game will serve to show the University side that it can match the best in the competition if it performs the basic skills consistently for 70 minutes.

Even Selwyn, which is basking in the comfort of a sevenpoint lead, has not shown the required consistency of a champion. Too often, when the standard of other sides has been mediocre or worse, Selwyn has allowed its standard to slip. Harewood, now the only team with a chance of catching Selwyn, beat Redcliffs, 1-0. However its chances of closing the gap are exremely remote. It must hope that Selwyn loses four of a possible eight points in its remaining four games and Harewood must win all its games.

High School Old Boys maintained third position on the points table, but it dropped a point against Woolston in a scoreless draw, one of two on Saturday. Old Boys coasted for much of the game, and in the final 10 minutes when it attacked solidly it could not break the tenacious Woolston defence.

Sydenham and Linwood were the other sides to feature in a scoreless draw. For the second time in three weeks, Sydenham missed a penalty stroke that would have given it a win. Points table:

Sydenham 0,

Linwood 0

Both sides struggled dutifully to gain an advantage on a pitch that made life difficult for them. It had several muddy

patches on it and cut up badly during the game. Sydenham was the more positive side showing more cohesion and thoughtfulness on attack, but too many of its crucial passes were badly astray and good attacking opportunities were lost.

Linwood relied again largely on through passes to its centreforward Simon Willocks, but he was easily contained by the Sydenham full-backs, Bryan Ayson and Ross Ambler. Sydenham had a considerable amount of pressure on the Linwood defence in the dying stages of the match, and it was only two good saves by Mike Pettit which kept the goal intact. Earlier he had no great effort in saving a penaltystroke which barely reached the goal-line. Paul Gardiner mis-timed the push out of a muddy patch in the goalmouth. Sydenham looked competent in the build-up play of its forwards, but they did not score the goals to match that promise. In four second-round games, Sydenham has scored only one goal and that was from a penalty corner. High School Old Boys 0, Woolston 0 Old Boys was lethargic in its approach for a large portion of the game on a reasonable field at Porritt Park. It appeared to take Woolston lightly but quickly found that was a mistake. Woolston had more opportunities than Old Boys in both halves, but the Woolston forwards could not control the ball at vital times in the circle. It also lost some of its impetus when Don McKenzie left the field injured mid-way through the first half. Several penalty comers to Woolston in both halves proved of little value, and Old Boys, which had several late in the game, also failed to make use of theirs.

Only in the last 10 minutes did Old Boys attack with an authority. Geoff Deakins, who had roamed aimlessly in midfield for most of the game, made several of his typical controlled driving runs. On one of them he sent a neat pass across the face of the goal but three Old Boys forwards failed to control it.

Gavin Cumberpatch gave good support to Deakins, but he and the other forwards were hindered by sound defence by Steve Barrow and Graeme Belcher. Belcher’s trapping and clearing under pressure was

faultless in those final 10 minutes. Had it not been, Woolston would have found itself in some dicey situations. Selwyn 4, University 2 Selwyn: R. Schoeman 3, G. Carnoutsos. University. M. Tingey 2. University played probably its best hockey of the season in the first 35 minutes against the competition leader. Its fundamental skills were more polished than in previous games and its competence startled Selwyn. Selwyn scored the first goal through Richard Schoeman, his first of three in the game, all of them scored in typical opportunist fashion. But University quickly equalised through Mark Tingey. George Carnoutsos scored the second Selwyn goal, but again almost immediately Tingey kept University in the game by equalising. The cut and thrust of the first half, when both teams put together some exciting passing movements, disappeared after the interval and errors crept into the passing and trapping of both sides. Schoeman showed ability to find space behind opposing defences and Mark Burtt showed aggressive dribbling. In the University side, John Griffen played soundly on defence, but the most prominent player in the side was Mike Quirke in goal. He made a number of outstanding reflex saves in the second half. Harewood 1, Redcliffs 0 Harewood: P. Hayde. Harewood scored after only three minutes, and the side appeared to be in a goalscoring mood as it continued to pressure the Redcliffs defence for the first 15 minutes. However, the goals did not come and Harewood’s effort faltered as the game wore on. The contest became more even and Redcliffs, urged on by Peter Christensen at centrehalf, began to probe the Harewood defence. Lee and Richard Munt were the most effective Redcliffs forwards, but they were foiled by some steady defence, particularly the covering of David Penfold and Greg Cowles. lan Riach, again at centreforward for Harewood, made some weaving runs, but he lost some of his effectiveness when Balvant Bhana had to retire injured. Riach had been well fed with passes by Bhana.

P W D L F A Pt Sei. 12 11 1 0 38 10 23 Hare. 11 7 2 2 26 13 16 H.S.O.B. 12 5 4 3 13 12 14 Lin. 12 4 4 4 12 17 12 Univ. 11 4 3 4 15 15 11 Syd. 12 1 6 5 9 16 8 Peg. 11 2 3 6 8 13 7 Wool. 11 1 5 5 10 22 7 Red. 12 2 2 8 13 26 6