Canterbury poised for hockey victory

Press, 4 June 1984, Page 24

Canterbury poised for hockey victory

From

KEVIN TUTTY,

in

Palmerston North Canterbury virtually assured itself of winning the quadrangular hockey tournament when it beat Wellington, 1-0, at Fitzherbert Park, yesterday. It has to beat Otago this morning to win the competition. ’ Canterbury has two wins from two games. On Saturday it beat the host team, Manawatu, 3-0, and Wellington beat Otago, 5-0. In a second match yesterday Manawatu beat Otago, 1-0. Wellington and Canterbury are the two strongest teams and yesterday's match was always going to be the tournament decider. It was a struggle for Canterbury, however. It scored after 21 min of the first half, after a period of dominance and swift passing among the forwards. The second half was dominated by Wellington, and Canterbury spent the majority of the time inside its own half defending frequent rttacks. That Welling-

ton was unable to score was testimony to the outstanding work of the Canterbury defence. Time after time it broke down Wellington attacks with cool tackling, and its clearing from the circle under pressure was faultless. After a couple of attacks in the first few minutes by Canterbury, Wellington took charge and for the next 15min had Canterbury backpeddling. It forced four penalty corners before Canterbury had its period on attack, during which it forced four penalty corners in smin. From the third Robin Wilson scored the only goal. The ball was played to Wilson as a variation. His initial shot was blocked by a defender, but the ball fell in front of Wilson and his second attempt sneaked into the corner of the net. After the interval Canterbury could not find the same combination and fluency that it had in the first half. The forwards did not attack with the tsame

purpose, but the Wellington forwards found it difficult to penetrate the Canterbury defence. Wellington did force six penalty corners to Canterbury's three, but Don Davis, in the Canterbury goal, had to save only one of them. Peter Miskimmin, the Wellington centre forward, and its most potent attacker, was well controlled by the Canterbury centrehalf, Wilson. He was given no latitude to attack through the centre and was forced to use the flanks when his effectiveness was reduced. The other Canterbury defenders played competently. David Penfold, at left-half, played with increased maturity and effectively injected himself into the attack at times. Greg Pierce did some excellent covering work at right-half and varied his passing. Mark Tynan, at right-back, played superbly in deep defence. He seldom missed a tackle, used stick

work to beat opponents, and passed accurately. Andy Innes, at left-back, tackled neatly and his swiftness to the loose ball in and near the circle saved his side in a couple of dangerous situations. The forwards played with verve for a period of lOmin in the first half, led by George Carnoutsos at centre-forward. Pym Borren, on the right wing, grew in confidence although closely marked by Rus Bhikha and lan Riach, on the left wing, was Canterbury’s best attacking weapon after Carnoutsos. John Radovonich and Chris Leslie, the inside forwards, both played their defensive roles well. On Saturday Canterbury was in danger of losing a point or even two points in the first 60min against Manawatu. The attack had no penetration and 25min of the second half had elapsed before Carnoutsos scored. Even then the lead was not safe..* There was tentative

tackling and passing in defence, and Manawatu was making sufficient attacks to make life uncomfortable. Canterbury scored twice in the last 3min, from a penalty stroke by Leslie and a field goal by Carnoutsos. ® Two losses have halted Canterbury’s chance of winning the A.N.Z. Bank national under-21 women’s hockey title at Manawaroa Park, Palmerston North. Otago and Northland, each with three wins, will meet this morning in the final. Canterbury had a bad start to the tournament on Saturday morning. It lost, 04, to Northland and was four goals down at halftime. Three were scored in the first 15min. All the Northland goals came from right flank attacks and strong crosses. Canterbury had more possession in the second half but could not convert it into goals. In its second game on Saturday Canterbury played with more control against

Wairarapa and the forwards, were able to consistently break the opposition defence. A 4-1 win gave Canterbury a faint hope of winning the title, provided another side could beat Northland, and that Canterbury won all its remaining games. Wairarapa almost caused the needed upset against Northland. The northern side scored in the last 2min yesterday morning for a 2-2 draw. Canterbury played its best hockey against Otago yesterday afternoon and led 1-0 at the interval. Otago reversed the dominance early in the second half and the Canterbury defence did not play with the same coolness. Otago scored lOmin into the second half but Canterbury fought back to equal terms midway through the half. But Otago made a couple of quick attacks, forced a penalty corner with smin left and scored from a resulting melee.