Auckland buried by quick break

Press, 4 June 1988, Page 88

Auckland buried by quick break

By

KEVIN TUTTY

Auckland learned how attack can turn quickly to defence on an artificial surface in the second round of the A.N.Z. Bank Champions Invitation women’s hockey tournament at Porritt Park last evening.

Twenty minutes into its vital match with Canterbury — won by Canterbury 1-0 — the score was 0-0 and. Auckland, for the first time, was exerting sustained pressure on the Canterbury goal. In the space of two minutes it had forced four penaltycorners and there were signs of panic in the Canterbury defence. But Auckland’s fourth penalty-corner was cleared from the top of Canterbury’s circle to Kate Trolove waiting on the Canterbury right wing 20 metres inside the Auckland half.

She slipped her marker, lost control of the- ball momentarily, but then made a beeline for the Auckland circle with the Auckland defence in tatters.

Waiting in the centre of the circle was the leftwing, Lisa Sutherland. Trolove spied the lone Canterbury figure and her cross was spot on, and Sutherland scored one of the most important goals of her career with a clean trap and quick hit. In the space of 10 seconds the game had changed and ' Canterbury had scored the only goal.

Canterbury and Otago are now the only teams with two wins after two days of the tournament.

Canterbury should have had the game in safe keeping before the twenty-first minute. It had a slight edge in the midfield and its forwards looked more dangerous on attack but they found the Auckland defenders a highly tenacious bunch. While Canterbury was not able to score field goals it was able to force penalty-corners and throughout the game it had 12 compared to Auckland’s five. The usually effective combination, with Mary Clinton striking, did not click and layoff passes also failed to produce dividends.

Chris Arthur ran her heart out for Canterbury, linking, back-tackling and accelerating into gaps and Mary Clinton and Isobel Thomson provided a soothing calm in the Canterbury defence when there were hints of panic. Two scoring sprees in each half helped Otago to a 7-2 win against Waikato. Three goals in seven minutes in the first half, and three goals in eight minutes in the second

half, secured Otago’s win. North Shore and Hawke’s Bay had a 1-1 draw and North Shore won a penalty-stroke competition, 5-4, at the end of the match.

The strokes may be used to determine placings at the end of the tournament if teams are level on points and goal difference.

Hawke’s Bay dominated the midfield but wasted a wealth of possession with basic errors. Results:

Otago 7 (Cindy Smith 4, Brigid Inder 2, Tina Bell), Waikato 2 (Pauline Hendriske, Maxine Hendriske). Half-time: 4-1. Hawke’s Bay 1 (Rachel Downs), North Shore 1 (Rebecca Abbott). Halftime: 0-0. Canterbury 1 (Lisa Sutherland), Auckland 0. Half-time: 0-0.

© The Wellington-Can-terbury clash at the PostBank Champions men’s hockey tournament yesterday set some of the country’s finest players headlong against each other and resulted in an explosive quick-fire hardrunning game and a 3-2 victory to Canterbury, reports a special correspondent.

Canterbury, composed and purposeful after its

huge win over Northland and careful training yesterday morning, had its first goal after 15 minutes from a penalty-corner by Chris Leslie. A tussle in front of the goal resulted in a penalty-stroke and Canterbury’s second goal. The hardworking Wellington side was rewarded shortly before half-time with its first goal by Chris Johnson. The Wellington captain, Peter Miskimmin, scored a brilliant goal from barely inside the circle to add Wellington’s second goal after the home team controlled the first stages of the second half. Canterbury had a shot to match when David Penfold took the initiative and sent in a rocket of a goal. The Canterbury coach, Ewen Holstein, said he was pleased with the win although it had been closer than he would have wished. Results:

Auckland 2 (P. Daji 2) Northland 0. H-T: 2-0. President’s XI 3 (D. COllins, M. Siemonek, P. Williams), Manawatu 1 (S. Willocks). HT: 2-1. Canterbury 3 (C. Leslie, M. Tynan, D. Penfold) Wellington 2 (C. Johnson, P. Miskimmin). H-T: 2-1.