SOCCER EXHIBITION

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 263, 3 August 1936, Page 11

SOCCER EXHIBITION

Australian Tourists’ Final Game WRETCHED CONDITIONS In the final match of their New Zealand tour the Australian Soccer players on Saturday took part in an exhibition match with a number of Wellington colts. The teams consisted of six Australians and five Wellington players a-side, and the evenness of the contest was indicated by the score, four goals each. The Wellington members had been selected as those most likely to benefit from playing with the unbeaten tourists and no doubt they did, but it was unfortunate that a muddy ground and driving showers of hail and sleet and a few flakes of snow made accurate and spectacular movements impossible. Foothold was precarious, and tackler and tackled often slid for yards on the slippery surface. The attendance was easily the smallest seen at the Basin Reserve this season. Both teams played extraordinarily well under .the circumstances, and evidence was not lacking that with more favourable conditions the exhibition would have been an exhilarating one. As it was, however, the game was little more than a fiasco, and was calleci off half an hour before full time. The teams were :—

Evans’s team (black) : J. 11. S. McNabb (Australia) ; J. B. Evans (Australia), captain, A. Forrest (Australia). N. Gates (Technical O.B.), R. Boyee (Institute), J. Osborne (Australia); A. Halley (Lower Hutt), R. Sutherland (Institute O.B.), R. Janes (Waterside), A. White (Australia), J. Donaldson (Australia).

Cameron’s team (white) : P. Turkington (Marist): R. Connell (Petone), A. Mackay (Australia); R. H. Bryant (Australia), D. A. Love (Australia), L. Nicol (Diamond), J. Wilkinson (Australia), A. Cameron (Australia), captain; G. H. Smith (Australia), K. Yeoman (Seatoun), M. Quirke (Marist). Whites kicked off against a stiff southerly, but play remained near midfield for some time until Blacks, aided by the wind, set up a hot attack. Yeoman was prominent in defence for the Whites, but later went up into the forwards. Mackay replacing him. Turkington was not making much headway with his clearances against the wind and later resorted to throwing the ball when in difficulties. Play had been in progress for a quarter of' an hour when, from 25 yards out, Donaldson sent in a shot which Turkington, anchored in the mud, failed to stop by the narrowest of margins. Blacks 1, Whites 0.

The advantage of the wind was becoming more marked, and it was not long before Whites scored from a corner with a sharply-angled shot from close range. Blacks 2, Whites 0. Connell held up the Black attacks repeatedly and Mackay headed away from goal a shot by Sutherland. Janes received from Boyee and passed to Sutherland, who at his second attempt sent the ball into the net. Blacks 3, Whites 0. Half-time was called after 40 minutes’ play, and the teams continued without a break. Immediately, Smith shot through the defence and scored before the Black defence had settled down. Blacks 3, Whites 1.

Gates and Osborne held up the White forwards, and a good movement by Halley and White was converted into a score by Janes with a hard drive. Blacks 4. Whites 1.

Heavy sleet showers did not seem to discourage the players, and Smith led a successful White attack which caught McNabb in two minds. Blacks 4, Whites 2. Kick and rush tactics were the order of the day, but the game was not so uneven as in the first spell. After 20 minutes’ play, Smith scored again from pointblank range. Blacks 4, Whites 3. The same player was responsible for the equalising goal when he shot through the defence to score with a high lob in the corner of the net. Whites 4. Blacks 4. Conditions showing no signs of improvement, the referee, Mr. J. Duncan, called the game off a few minutes later. There had been no further score. MATCHES AT AUCKLAND By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, August 2. Soccer matches played at Auckland yesterday resulted as follows:—Ponsonby 2, drew with North Shore 2; Comrades 5, beat Metro College 4.