Hard-working Canterbury defeated

Press, 3 September 1984, Page 24

Hard-working Canterbury defeated

From

KEVIN TUTTY

in Gisborne

The Canterbury hockey team’s new recruits earned their stripes in the Challenge Shield final against Auckland at the Adidas national men’s hockey tournament on Saturday. However, their sterling efforts, along with those of the longer serving generals of the team, were not enough to prevent Auckland winning the game 2-1, and the shield for the second consecutive year. Canterbury came to the tournament without eight of its regular squad members and it would not have been a surprise if the side had not qualified for the semifinals. The new members of the team seized their opportunity to play for one of the premier hockey provinces, and each member of the team lifted his play dramatically during the week to !>ut Canterbury into the inal.

Unfortunately, after an initial 20 minutes where it matched Auckland, the pace of the game and the experience and drive of the Auckland team overcame the Canterbury enthusiasm and Auckland, with six Olympic players, took control and kept the Canterbury team pinned inside its own half for a good percentage of the second half.

Faced with the formidable strength of the Auckland forward line, which included Ramesh Patel, Arthur Parkin and Peter Daji, all New Zealand representatives, the Canterbury defence never buckled even under intense pressure. Inevitably though, Auckland’s superior firepower and work rate wore down the Canterbury effort. Canterbury started better than Auckland and in the first 20 minutes thrilled the large crowd with some electrifying passing movements that swept the length of the field with the ball switched from flank to flank.

Canterbury’s goal after 18 minutes was the result of one of those moves. It started after an Auckland

penalty-corner — one of nine it was awarded in the first half.

Canterbury gained a free hit. Rob Smith took it quickly and pushed the ball to lan Riach on the left wing. He switched the ball to Peter Tynan, who moved it on to Richard Schoeman before receiving a return pass at the top of the circle. His shot was blocked, but Schoeman following up flicked the ball into the goal.

For the first 25 minutes Auckland’s passing was frequently astray but the Canterbury goal was the signal for a tightening of all aspects of its play, including

tighter marking of the Canterbury forwards. It seemed inevitable that Auckland would score in spite of the tenacious defending of Canterbury and in particular an outstanding display of goal-keeping by Don Davis. He foiled everything that was thrown at him in the first half and one penalty-comer that got past him was saved on the goalline by Gary Hodder, the left-back. Auckland scored its equaliser just 30 seconds after the interval. The ball came loose to the top of the circle after an attack, and; the Auckland centre-half, Archibald, was on hand to

hammer the ball past a diving Davis. Richard Munt, who was rushing across to cover, deflected the ball but not sufficiently to turn it outside the net.

Canterbury continued to soak up the pressure that Auckland applied, but was frustrated in its attempts to establish counter-attacks. lan Riach, on the left wing, was marked out of the game and Schoeman and Pim Borren on the right wing were starved of ball. Auckland was denied its winning goal until the twenty-fourth minute of the half. Rob Bridgeford picked up a loose ball at the top of the circle, pushed it into the circle and struck the ball a fraction before Davis arrived to cover the shot. Archibald was a commanding figure in the Auckland team and the experience and work loads of Parkin and Patel were just as valuable. Archibald fed the forwards diligently, picked up a host of badly directed Canterbury passes and kept Shoeman well tied down in the second half. Patel back-tackled tirelessly but was still an effective attacker, and Hugh Compain at centre-forward ran himself to a standstill finding space in which to receive passes. Peter Daji, who started on the right wing, made some’ good dribbles in the first half, but usually carried the ball a little too far and was eventually robbed by the Canterbury defence.

A couple of lunges for deflection goals from crosses, his trademark, narrowly failed. All the Canterbury defenders played their best games of the week, in particular the two full-backs, Hodder and John Griffen. Their determination was admirable and their play frequently drew plaudits from the crowd.

Rob Smith, looking like a veteran of the Somme with stitches under his eye after being struck earlier in the week, and a bandaged knee from another injury, never flinched in his efforts in the unenviable task of marking Daji. A whack on the ankle added to his injuries during the game, but he was tackling and clea ’ng as determinedly in t e last five minutes as he 'ad done in the first five.

At centre-half, Greg Pierce covered and tackled splendidly, and while some of his passes could have been made a little more quickly, they were generally accurate and thoughtful. Richard Munt played probably his best game for Canterbury. At right half he gave Bridgeford, the Auckland left wing, few opportunities to attack, but frequently injected himself into the Canterbury attack when he found the right flank forwards blocked.

Borren, on the right wing, found progress difficult against Chris Brown, the Auckland left-half, but managed to free himself to make a couple of good runs in the second half.

Peter Tynan at insideright dribbled with fine control on several occasions in the first half, but after the interval was forced into a more defensive role to help relieve pressure on the Canterbury circle area. Schoeman’s speed posed problems for the Auckland defence, but a couple of good breaks were spoiled because he lacked the close stickwork to beat the final defender.

Leslie played some of his best attacking hockey in the first half. He showed close control while dribbling, but he too had to revert to defence in the second half.

. He spent a period behind the net in the first half after an over-vigorous tackle on Parkin. It was intriquing that a number of similar tackles from players on both sides failed to attract even a warning from the umpires. Riach made some brilliant runs down the left flank in the first half but saw little of the ball in the second half, but his form during the week was such that he should have no worries about a place in the

New' Zealand squad to be named in a few weeks. Auckland B won the Newmans Trophy when it beat Hamilton 4-1 in the final. Three goals in the first 15 ninutes ended any hopes Hamilton cherished of winning the trophy.

The India Plate was won ' by Wellington B, which beat Tauranga 3-0. . Canterbury B concluded the tournament with a 5-1 win against the West Coast to finish fifth in the Newmans Trophy. . i

It was ironic that the goals came on Saturday against the Coast. Earlier in the week the teams met in pool play and Canterbury, although it dominated the game, could only draw. That result prevented Canterbury B from taking a place in the semi-finals.

The team lost only its first game, against Hamil- : ton, and scored 21 goals and J conceded six. Other results: Challenge Shield Wanganui 2, South Canterbury 0; Hawkes Bay 2, Hutt ’ Valley 0; Northland 9, Wairarapa 1. Newmans Trophy Otago 3, Southland (r, Marlborough 4, Army 3; Nelson 2, < Taranaki 1; North Otago 6, 1 Horowhenua 0; Canterbury 85, . West Coast 1. India Plate North Shore 3, Rodney 1; Piako 4, Wairoa 2; Counties 5, Poverty Bay 2.