Harewood saved

Press, 27 May 1985, Page 24

Harewood saved

For the second time in three games, Liquorland Harewood was saved from the ignominy of a draw in the Noel Leeming senior men’s hockey championship on Saturday when it was awarded a penalty stroke in the dying minutes of the game. Two weeks ago Harewood was awarded a late penalty stroke against Pegasus, enabling it to snatch a 4-3 win. On Saturday three minutes from the end of its match at Porritt Oval against High School Old Boys, Harewood was awarded a penalty stroke and Chris Leslie converted it to give Harewood a 3-2 win. By virtue of the stroke Harewood clung to its tenacious position at the head of the points table. It shares the lead with University which beat Selwyn 1-0 on Saturday. These teams will meet in the next round and the winner will have a distinct advantage as the championship progresses towards the second round. The two teams will not meet for three weeks however. There are no senior games for the next two weeks because of representative commitments. Selwyn, the only other team within touch of the two leaders, has now slipped a little further out of the race after its loss to University. It is three points behind the leaders.

High School Old Boys is seven points behind the leaders in fourth place. Because Pegasus had supplied seven players to the Canterbury colts’ teams playing at the national tournament in Wellington, its game against Linwood scheduled for Saturday was deferred. Rangiora produced the upset of the day. ft beat Kent Prier Redcliffs 2-1 in spite of the loser dominating possession and producing probably twice as many attacks as Rangiora. Rangiora’s determination and urgency were the vital factors however and the win was deserved on gumption alone. Daniel Visser Sydenham caused a mild surprise when it drew 1-1 with Woolston which last week had an upset win against High School Old Boys. Cut throat results in the' bottom half of the table have left several teams fighting out the bottom rungs of the championship ladder. THE POINTS TABLE IS:

HAREWOOD 3 (C. Leslie 2, P. Hayde), HIGH SCHOOL OLD BOYS 2 (S. Tilley, G. Edlin). Harewood's untarnished record for the season — six consecutive wins before Saturday — looked in danger as the second half against Old Boys progressed. Harewood looked anything but a champion team. It was lethargic

but seemed confident that it could hold a two goal lead it had built at the interval.

Even a goal two minutes after the interval by Simon Tilley failed to shake Harewood out of its lethargy. Only after Old Boys equalised with 15 minutes remaining did the severity of the situation sink in and immediately Harewood found a higher gear. Although it was still not top gear it was enough to salvage it from the jaws of a draw and the loss of a vital point. Harewood started well. It was a goal up after four minutes when Chris Leslie scored from a penalty comer variation and it extended the lead three minutes from the interval when Pat Hayde also scored from a penalty comer. In between times the game had been even, although Old Boys had produced a few more scoring opportunities without being able to convert them.

Old Boys attacked from the restart and from second phase penalty comer play Tilley scored a goal from the top of the circle. Old Boys continued to show more cohesion and imagination on attack and a second goal seemed inevitable. It eventually came after several mistraps by Harewood defenders which forced a hurried clearance from Ron Smith, the Harewood goalie, and its player of the match.

Guy Edlin, at the top of the circle, trapped the ball, fired it back and past the defence. Smith was called on to make a number of critical saves during the game. Harewood put all its efforts into a final 15 minute fling and it looked doomed until lan Riach, who had wandered in from the left wing looking for ball, latched on to a pass, burst into the circle and was brought down by Rob Pentecost, the Old Boys goal keeper. A penalty stroke was awarded and Leslie converted it, although Pentecost managed to get a glove to the ball.

The Old Boys effort was a coordinated one and Chris Tye at left half, Edlin and Rob Smith had excellent games. Andrew Teague, playing his first senior game, made some timely tackles at left back for Harewood.

UNIVERSITY 1 (M. Tynan), SELWYN 0.

University and Selwyn worked their way through a tightly structured match in which goals always looked likely to be a rare occurrence. So it proved with the winning goal, a penalty corner struck by University’s Mark Tynan. In the first half both teams tried to work the ball in short bursts. With tight marking and the frequent breaking down of movements, few attacks reached the circle and neither goal-keeper was tested to any degree. Selwyn attacked more often but the restructured University defence, necessary because of the May holidays and the national colts' tournament in Wellington, held well.

The second half found University attacking more often without looking any more likely to score than Selwyn. But then in the space of five minutes, all four of the match's penalty corners were awarded, and the last of them brought the University goal. Soon after, Selwyn brought on George Carnoutsos who had been sidelined with a tendon problem in his arm but he was unable to turn the tide of the match. Robin Wilson

at centre half, the left back, Craig Burtt, and the two left side forwards, Mark Burtt and David Clements, were the most impressive of the Selwyn players. University looked vaguely likely a reconstituted version of the great team of the 1970 s with Chris Maister at centre forward and John Christensen at inside left. They made their mark with Maister working well in the tight and Christensen on occasions taking on the Selwyn defence with dribbles, that in style if not in closeness, were reminiscent of his fine years. RANGIORA 2 (P. Downes, J. Woods), REDCLIFFS 1 (B. Stanley).

Seldom has a team had so much possession, and done so much attacking in a senior match yet failed to finish with at least a draw, as Redcliffs did.

Its players did more fiddling than Nero, and as a result some good attacking chances were lost. The Redcliffs build-up play was fine until it reached the Rangiora 25m area and then hurried and wayward passes spoilt all the earlier good work.

While Redcliffs continued to frustrate itself, the confidence of Rangiora grew and its sharp counter attacks caused panic in the Redcliffs defence. From one of these attacks a couple of minutes before half time Phil Downes found the ball at his feet in front of the Redcliffs goal and he quickly slipped it into the net. The second half was only a minute old when John Woods drove a second nail into the Redcliffs coffin with a penalty comer goal. Redcliffs continued to squander chances near the Rangiora circle but 15 minutes from the end it began to take more care with its passes and immediately it received a penalty stroke which Brent Stanley converted.

For the next 10 minutes Redcliffs swept on the Rangiora circle in waves. One shot was tipped round the goal and another was in the net but was disallowed because of an off-side. Several penalty comers were fruitless and the full time whistle prevented another being taken. Stanley was the most constructive Redcliffs forwards but too often overran the ball. Paul Bamford and Rob Wilson, the Redcliffs backs were its best defenders. Phil Downes and Ron Archer were eager workers in the Rangiora forward line and John Woods distributed the ball well at centrehalf. In the dying minutes when Rangiora was under extreme pres-

sure Peter Devlin, the goal-keeper, was outstanding. WOOLSTON 1 (G. Chalklen), SYDENHAM 1 (B. Cameron). Woolston’s Garrick Park provided a better playing surface than previously, but by consensus the players’ performances had deteriorated. Neither Woolston nor Sydenham came to terms with the requrements of the control necessary to outdo the other. Woolston scored from a penalty comer late in the first half, and Sydenham rarely looked like equalising. That it did was partly a result of a quickly taken free hit, and the fact that it should probably have been awarded a penalty corner. Many of the players thought that the breach from which the hit arose, had occurred in Woolston’s circle, but the umpire plumped for a free hit outside the circle.

Both teams indulged in big hitting, frequently to opponents’ sticks, and moved at a pace too fast for full control and which did not fool the respective defences. To Sydenham’s credit there were times when it worked the ball closely and although these occasions did not yield reward, they frequently looked promising.

P W D L F A Pt Harewood 7 7 0 0 27 5 14 University 7 7 0 0 16 1 14 Selwvn H.S.d.B. 7 5 1 1 17 4 11 7 2 3 2 8 7 7 Woolston 7 1 4 2 6 9 6 Redcliffs 7 1 2 4 3 11 4 Sydenham 7 1 2 4 3 13 4 Rangiora 7 2 0 5 5 17 4 Pegasus 6 1 0 5 4 8 2 Linwood 6 0 2 4 2 16 2