Selwyn in last eight of men's titles

Press, 11 July 1983, Page 31

Selwyn in last eight of men's titles

By

KEVIN TUTTY

Selwyn reached the quarterfinals of the H. W. Smith Trophy national inter-club hockey competition yesterday with a 2-0 win against Sydenham at Wigram. Selwyn is being touted as a probable finalist for the second time in three years, but it will have to play measurably better in its next two games if it is to achieve that target.

Against Sydenham its play was well below the standard expected of the Christchurch competition leader. The forwards in particular were mediocre, paying little attention to the fundamentals and lacking imagination in the initiation of attacks.

The ground at Wigram was soft and holding but free of water. The nature of the ground required players to take a little more time controlling the ball before attempting passes, but the forwards in both sides neglected to do this.

Selwyn, by virtue of being able to" show more cohesion in some of its attacks, had the advantage.

George Carnoutsos gave Selwyn the lead after 12 minutes when he pushed a penalty-corner through the legs of a Sydenham defender. Robin Wilson, the Selwyn centre-half, controlled the midfield, and through Carnoutsos and Mark Burtt established some promising attacks. But the majority were destroyed by the gritty Sydenham defence in which Bryan Ayson, Ross Ambler and Dick Spiers were prominent.

Sydenham received a roasting from its coach, Bryan Reid, at the interval and it produced a more determined effort from his side in the opening stages of the secondhalf.

There was more punch in the forwards and several times in the first few minutes they had the Selwyn defence caught off-guard but lacked the control to make the final break in the defence.

Selwyn slowly fought back on to level terms and after 14 minutes Carnoutsos virtually put the result beyond doubt with his second goal. The level of play deteriorated further in the last quarter

with a large number of long passes going astray. Selwyn will play another Christchurch side Reddiffs, in the quarter-finals. Yesterday at Logan Park in Dunedin, and on a water-logged ground, Redcliffs beat United of Dunedin on penalty-strokes after the scores were level 5-5 at the end of ordinary time.

The score was remarkable in the conditions. Both circles and much of the field was under water, rain fell steadily throughout the match, and there was a cold wind accompanying the rain. Rather than play extra time and risk of some players having to retire with exposure, the teams agreed to go immediately to penalty-strokes. Redcliffs scored from four of their first five attempts and United missed their first two attempts. The half-time score was 3-2 to Redcliffs and United missed a grand chance to clinch the game in the second-half when it missed two penalty-strokes in ordinary time. Bruce Loader in the Redcliffs goal played a large role in his side’s success.