Leading teams unfazed

Press, 28 July 1986, Page 29

Leading teams unfazed

Poor field surfaces did nothing to hamper the progress of the two leading teams, Liquorland Harewood and Selwyn, in the Noel teeming senior men’s hockey competition on Saturday.

Both sides had sound wins on difficult grounds, but teams in two lower-level matches failed to make the most of excellent surfaces. Harewood’s win over University was at least as convincing as its 3-1 score suggests. Selwyn scored a 4-0 win over the lowly-placed Rangiora, and it was fully worth the total also. Both matches were played on difficult surfaces that made skilful hockey an achievement. Wormaid Pegasus overcame a one-goal half-time deficit to beat Kent Prler Redcliffs, 2-1, on the excellent Barnett Park surface. Although the grounds became more difficult as the match progressed, neither team did it justice in the displays they gave.

Daniel Visser Sydenham had a lack-lustre draw with Woolston, neither team being able to score on an excellent Sydenham Park field. But the point served to hoist it one place to seventh and above Linwood, which has been labouring in the second round, gaining only two points so far.

Linwood’s 1-2 loss to High School Old Boys was against the run of play and due to its own defensive errors. Points table

HAREWOOD 3 (C. Leslie), UNIVERSITY 1 (M. Tynan) With the prospect that a win would bring it just within reach of Harewood, University put up a sterling fight in the first half and the period ended scoreless.

Continuing a battling approach, University took the lead in the second half with a

penalty corner goal. That was sufficient to sting Harewood into frenzied activity. It ended with Chris Leslie scoring another hat-trick of pen-alty-comer goals. In the early stages, ' the Harewood halves, David Penfold and Mike Skilton, gave a good supply of ball to the forwards, with Skilton also getting a chance at goal, which most of his front line had been unable to achieve.

As the match progressed, the Harewood forwards became more assertive, Leslie giving a lively performance and the other inside forward, Balvant Bhana, once, again providing thoughtful service for his line, of whom Ross Thompson also had good moments. Warwick Shillito led the University forward line ably for at time, while Andrew Dove had an improved match. The centre half, Greg Pierce, was a close supporter of his forwards and contrived a number of useful passes. Among the defenders, Garry Hodder held the Harewood forwards captive for extended periods, while the goalkeeper, David Stuthridge, kept the forwards at bay when they seemed about to extend their lead.

SELWYN 4 (R. Wilson 2, D. Clements, M. Beatson), RANGIORA 0

A Barrington Park field that provided a surface as varied as the patchwork paddocks of the Canterbury Plains, found Selwyn wanting when attempting to move the ball on to attack. A succession of passes went directly to grateful Rangiora players. Nevertheless, Selwyn applied sufficient pressure to score two goals by half-time. The second half brought two more goals, but there was no comparison between it and the first. Once Selwyn started throwing passes from a less mobile base, it attacked more effectively, and at times late in the match, was soundly outplaying the Rangiora defence.

Instrumental In this rejuvenation was the inside left, Mark Burtt. He led the forward line by excellent example in the manner in

which he worked to acquire the ball, found space and set up goal-scoring opportunities for others. Jon Carnoutsos, at centre forward, dribbled sensibly and passed well at times, while Paul Wyke, on the right wing, threw some useful passes into the circle, but saw too little of the ball.

Rangiora also experienced great difficulty with the field, and never overcame the constraints it imposed. Nevertheless, there were signs of some development as it mounted attacks from deep defence. Its defenders came under sustained pressure. Martin Amos and Richard Hardy withstood it best, and delivered some useful passes to their forwards. John Woods, at centre half, was industrious, working hard to underpin his defence.

PEGASUS 2 (D. Grundy, J. Radovonich), REDCLIFFS 1 (R, Munt)

An important middle-order match, with Pegasus starting three points clear of Redcliffs, proved to be close.

Redcliffs had the upper hand in the first half, its close marking disrupting the Pegasus attacking power. But after leading through to the second half, Redcliffs could not sustain the tight rein, and once its players began to give Pegasus too much room, the pressure went on its own defence.

Pegasus made two vital strikes on the Redcliffs goal and these won the match.

In the Pegasus attack, John Radovonich and David Grundy were denied their usual latitude, but at times were able to use their speed to the loose ball to pressure the Redcliffs defence seriously. Tim Harvey was the best of the Pegasus halves, giving close support and good passes, while Jeff McEwen, at left back, tied down the Redcliffs right side effectively. For Redcliffs, Murray Marks had an improved game, while Richard and Lee Munt helped him mount some of the better attacks. The young Mark Gowans turned in a mature performance at centre half, and behind him

Hamish McGregor was sound in tackling and in distribution.

HIGH SCHOOL OLD BOYS 2 (P. Crisp, G. Edlin), LINWOOD 1 (C. Dickson) In a duel of great contrasts, Linwood attacked more often than Old Boys would care to reflect upon, but in the final analysis the latter made the most of two rare upfield excursions to take the match. Linwood’s failure to dispatch the ball adequately from its defences also spelled disaster.

The first half was scoreless, and the second a frenzied flurry by comparison.

After numerous fruitless attacks, Linwood let Old Boys score first. After equalising, its indiscretion in seeking the advantage let Old Boys make a quick break and the resulting penalty corner was successful.

Among the Old Boys forwards, Phil Crisp and Guy Edlin showed enterprise and took advantage of Linwood’s anxiety to press home the territorial advantage it had enjoyed. The defensive work for Old Boys was left almost entirely to the goalkeeper, Rob Pentecost. He took on the might of the Linwood line almost single-handed at times and played a large part in his team’s win.

For Linwood, Scott Hobson carried a big workload at centre half, on both defence and attack. Charlie Dickson made some good progress on the right wing and he also found good infield space on occasions. SYDENHAM 0, WOOLSTON 0 Both teams started with spirited attacks that promised much, but came to nothing. A number of quick breaks made good progress in midfield, but they inevitably broke down when pressure came on from tackling defenders.

The initial promise departed as players began to make more errors and the match became increasingly haphazard. The cleanest chance came for Sydenham shortly before half-time, when the Woolston

goalkeeper, Gary Copsey, kicked the stick out of a Sydenham forwards’ hands. He made amends for this indiscretion by saving the strokke, but was aided by a shot that barely tested his reflexes.

In the Sydenham forward line, Athol Forrest tried to impose some level of control on his team’s attacks, but poor service to him meant he started too often at a disadvantage. Behind him, Dick Speirs was the soundest defender, covering ‘ well and giving some good passes. In Woolston’s defence, Greg Rhodes was the epitome of coolness, covering from flank to flank, while John Austin, at centre half, showed a commendable willingness to give close support to his forwards.

P W D L F A Pt Harewood 14 12 3 0 49 8 27 Selwyn 14 12 2 1 40 15 26 University 14 9 3 3 29 14 21 Pegasus 14 9 1 5 35 16 19 Redcliffs 14 4 6 5 14 24 14 H.S.O.B. 14 5 3 7 21 23 13 Sydenham 14 4 2 9 9 27 10 Linwood 14 3 3 9 12 27 9 Wooiston 14 2 2 11 5 32 6 Rangiora 14 2 1 12 8 34 5