Leading teams fight for wins

Press, 29 June 1987, Page 24

Leading teams fight for wins

Burnside I and Woolston, the two leading teams in the senior women’s hockey championship, both had to fight to secure wins against feisty opponents at Porritt Park yesterday. Burnside I eventually overcame Selwyn 3-2 and in the next game Woolston had to fight to beat a revitalised Harewood team 3-2. Carlton maintained close contact in third place when it beat Burnside II 4-1 on Saturday morning, and Pegasus had its best result of the season when it lost to Hornby 1-2 in an even game. The points table is:

Burnside 3, Selwyn 2. Selwyn started at a brisk rate against Bumside and had the competition leader back pedalling for the first 10 minutes. Only once in that time did Bumside reach the Selwyn 25m area but. at the other end it had to call on all its defensive resources to hold the frisky' Selwyn forwards at bay. After, 10 minutes Selwyn received a penalty-corner and Gill Kane delighted her team-mates by scoring from the shot.

Unfortunately Selwyn did not maintain the pressure.

Players allowed themselves to be harrassed off the ball and they gave Jane Earnshaw, probably the most dangerous forward in the Burnside team, too much room to manoeuvre and paid the price after 24 minutes when Earnshaw completed an attack. Six minutes later she gave Burnside the lead from a penalty-corner variation.

Nicky Sherriff had a grand chance to equalise just before half-time when she found herself in a one-on-one with the goal-keeper, but pushed the ball on to Sarah Keown’s pads.

Bumside took more control in the mid-field in- the second-half which enabled it to dictate play. Selwyn made too many unforced errors although its deep defence was admirable with Geneva Kara, Rosemary Gardner and Trudy Paynter all playing especially well. Burnside took a commanding lead early in the secondhalf when Kate Trolove beat the defence to a loose ball, and with a desperate dive struck the ball past the defence.

Sherriff regained a ’ little prestige for Selwyn in the dying minutes when she completed a good right flank move.

Woolston 3, Harewood 2. This was the most entertaining game of the week-end. Harewood, buoyed by a boisterous contingent of supporter, played well above the level it

had slumped to in previous weeks and could have been considered unfortunate not to take a point from the game. The winning goal, a pen-alty-stroke, was of very doubtful validity. A Woolston player appeared to be obstructed in front of the goal but recovered the ball, and had a shot at the goal which was saved but was then awarded a penalty-stroke after being given the advantage. This was only one of a number of mystifying decisions in the match. Woolston scored first after nine minutes when Andrea Neil swept in across from the right. Harewood from that point began to lift the pace of its game and it was rewarded for some strong attacking when the right-wing Ginny Rogers broke free and beat the goal-keeper in a one-on-one at the top of the circle. Just four minutes later Leah Grafton scored from a penalty-corner for Harewood after a Woolston defender deflected the ball into the net.

Woolston maintained a period of pressure as the half wore on and Lynette Andrews was a saviour for Harewood. Twice in as many seconds shots at goal were fired at her but she stopped both on the goal-line. But less than 10 seconds from the interval there was nothing . the defence could do to stop a Maia Lewis deflection.

Until the penalty-stroke was awarded mid-way

through the second-half Harewood had maintained parity with Woolston but that setback knocked the sting from the Harewood side. Woolston had several other chances after that but good goal-keeping by Elaine Jensen kept the score down. Harewood made a couple of strong attacks late in the game but Shane Collins, who had an outstanding game on defence, cleared the Woolston circle.

HORNBY 2, PEGASUS 1. Pegasus showed much more cohesion and teamwork than has been evident for most of the season and there was very little between it and Homby. Hornby scored two goals in similar fashion. They came from right flank attacks and crosses into the goal-mouth where Marina Russell glided the ball into the net.

Pegasus, playing three forwards well advanced, was able to put pressure on the Hornby defence a number of times and but for the excellent covering of Jenny Turner, the Hornby centrehalf, her team might have been in desperate trouble. Several times she appeared to whip the ball away from attackers outside and inside the circle.

Robyn Watson, at left-half was the pick of the Pegasus defenders, tying up the Hornby right flank attack, while the forwards worked hard but lacked the ability to put together enough passes to

frequently stretch the Hornby defence. CARLTON 4, BURNSIDE 111 Carlton’s win was never in doubt, but there were occasions when Burnside II pressured it sufficiently to indicate a vulnerability on defence. But, in the final analysis, the speedy, ' bettercontrolled attacks of Carlton, and its experience in tight situations was an important factor in its win. While its four-forward formation limited the areas in which it was able to attack, it nevertheless found it was able to produce movements in sufficient space to stretch the Bumside II defence. In those attacks, Shirley Haig played a dominant role, while Vicki Inch and Sue Edmundson made breaks the Bumside II defence always found threatening. Mary Devine in mid-field, and Hayley Read had good games in their areas, carrying good workloads and moving the ball accurately to the forwards.

The Burnside II defenders, Tracy Jowers and Andrea Piesse, worked hard to contain the Carlton forwards. Their good positioning on occasions was a boon. In the Bumside II forward line Sharon Bell was the greatest danger. She covered vast areas from centre-for-ward and worked closely with both wings. The inside right, Julia Allen, also combined with her, in some of the best moves.

P W D L F A Pts Burnsd. I 11 10 0 1 47 12 20 Woolst. 11 8 2 1 58 10 18 Carlton 11 7 3 1 31 10 17 Selwyn 11 5 2 4 22 13 12 Harewd 11 4 1 6 19 16 9 Hornby 11 3 1 7 11 43 7 Burnsd. II 11 2 1 8 9 31 5 Pegas. 11 0 0 11 3 65 0