FOOTBALL. ASSOCIATION,

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 123, 25 May 1908, Page 4

FOOTBALL. ASSOCIATION,

SATURDAY'S MATCHES. In the driving rain on Saturday after- ' tioon, the various Association competitions were continued in the city, Mira_niar, Petone, and Porirua. Diamonds, the Senior League match, beat Swifts,' .-■IY.M.C.A. vanquished Thistle, Wander-. " * ters defeated ilovers, and Petone beat • ißamblers. . •Y.M.O.A. (10) v. THISTLE (0). Friday night's fire «yen affected foot-" tall.- Several Thistle players, in conse-i quence of the blaze, were unable to s tijrn out to New*own,Park. Substitutes came to the rescue, bmt even then the Scots- ; men could only muster up ten men. Lit* t tie wonder was. it that V.M.C.A. had an" jeasy win. With tha exception of half a ' dozen incursions into V.M.C.A terrir tory, Thisiile rwere defending the vjfhble ,game. By half time V.M.C.A. had *ci mistered six .goals, and 'subsequently j their task wan made easier by th^j re^ ] tirement of tf-lackwood, who had been h playing a ser» iceable game at left half. iliTliistle forwards liad little opportunity £of showing the ir worth j they were on the /defensive neairly all the time. Forbes ••was in good ( form at outside eight 'for rfy.M.C.A. Bopeatedly he evaded opposition and centred skilfully. W. Gibson .•sas centre forivard controlled the greasy aball "creditabjy, anct did most of the .^coring. - was little combination shown, butt, th is could hardly be expected on.!' such a d4.y. Rowan had the unenviable task df - goalkeeping for Thistle. 'He saved numerous hard shots, and coneideriiig the» tslippery 'ground, played a t good game. The V.M.C.A. goalkeeper 'had practicably nothing to do. He was entrusted wittb. one penalty ehotj . and scored amidst* rounds of laughter. The goals were ob tamed by the following :—: — *W: Gibson (4), 1 . T. Irvine, Forbes,' Moore, iTeraperiey, Chtepmarr, Jand 'Gofton. The gfetne was cohtirolled *by Hr. J. Paton. '• r.WANDEREI|2r .WANDEREI|2 (1$ y ., ROVERS (0). £Thes& '.'two teiVgis^met on Saturday af- , t&noon "f dl 1 "" the iirst time this season at , the Basin Reserve. There were 300 epec- , * tStors present, wihen the referee sounded . -»(J£ whistle for .the game to commence ■/ten minutes behind tlhe advertised time. , 'Ash won "the toEB, and elected to play i.-\sth the wind btelrind his men. The f^mo opened very tfast, each goal being l.vasited in quick ;3uicces.sion. Perks, for iiWanderers; ' • and ' " jO'Shea, for Rovers, j.payed, splendidly with their heads. ,UWhen 4he interval, arrived no goals had -l&en scored.; In^ the second spell the .»Wanderers- -appeal aVd to settle down to 'their task of faclhig the blinding rain, . ajjijd at once made. 1 strides for their opjj^nents' quarters, but' Davidson was palled up for inf Lit lging the offside rnle. . ,Tfre Covers next hi id a iturn of pressing, -asd Ir#n6 K had.,to jsav-e. several very sgwkward shots. Alfter 15 minutes' play, .TBavidson recsWd»» Judicious, pass from „ ]J£id, "and rating ap the wing, centred ' tfcautifully. Ash tompletefy beat the '• (Rovers', sustocfian, giving him .no chance • ; ,Thisrte.v!ers'e v . foe- the Rovers - , rfede the game -very exciting. The de1 fence of the Wattiderers, hiowever, prov- ' e*d equal to the many vigorous attacks made upon their • citadel!, , No further goals were scored, .which left, the Wanderers winners of. a*rwjßry!>iard contest by j I^goal to nil. | f ' DIAMONDS .{3TvVSWIFTS (0). • ' These teams met on tithletic Park, and alter a hard game the anatch resulted in favour of Diamonds. Swifts won the idss and defended the't^aste'rn gdal. Diamonds were first away,/ but a good kick ir>m Pye Snriih relieved, and Lowe got aVay on tho Swifts' ri(jht, but kept the "ball too long, an,d his centre wint be.•hind. With a. high crfces-wind iblpwing^ j play was chiefly confihedi.'to one wing and a good deal of time was wasted in - "throw-ins." Just on half-time, Diamonds, with a' good pas ping rush, broke • through the Swifts' defence, and H6th- . away receiving near the goal mouth, had no difficulty in beating jJsmies'on. , Dia«nonds 1, Swifts o. ' Attcsr half-time rain commenced to fall, and the wind increas4ed in force. Diamonds Tiad the best of 'the exchanges, and afteir about a quar--iter of s an hour's play, Reddy, with a good overhead kick, succeeded in get- . , ting the ball -past Jaanieson. Diamonds '^2, Swifts o.' Play continued in the Shifts- half, and, a shot from tho Dia.,^naonds' left xr^s jnst saved by Elson, the iball going to Pye Smith, who mrekicked, scoring a third for Diamonds. After this play slowed down considerably, and no further score was made. Diamonds iseemed to adapt themselves better'to the ..conditions, and played" more of an in'di'vidu^l game. Several times the backs aniskiclced badly, but were ,able to recover themselves, and prevent 1 the Swifts forwards from taking 'any advantage. jThe Swifts' backs were 4 good, but at tihies inclined to fall too far back on their dwnVgoal, enabßing the Ddamonds' [forwards to get up to a close range before shooting. Graves was the best half on the field, playing a hard game right through. Scott played a good game in the centre. He and Rogers were the hest of tho Swifts' forwards. The Diamonds, were out for a win, and oq the Way's play thoroughly deserved it. Mr. iW. Auld was referee. ' ;PETONE (3) v. RAMBLERS (2). The suburban team had a creditable fwin a,t Petone on Saturday., Anker drew first blood for Ramblers, scoring the only goal of the first half. Aided •by -the elements in the second half, Petone made several incursions int'or foreign quarters. Sparrow had an unsuccessful shot, but regaining the ball, safely piloted it between the posts. Ramblers, in turn, took the reins, and playing to some advantage, enabled Waters to register their second goal. Soon after this Ramblers were- caught napping, Sparrow scored and subsequently scored again, leaving Petono winners by, three goals to two. The game throughout the second spell •was as fast as ,it could possibly be, it being a series of ups and downs, in. ■which neither side had the upper, hand. Taking all things into consideration, Petone' displayed great form and improvement. For them Sparrow and Renai were •brilliant,, Hawkins, Taplin, Jones, and Joyce being very prominent. In his defence M'Kinnon, the goal-keeper, did splendid work. Among tho losers, who perhaps Weav s'tiperior in passing, Archer, Mouat, Saunders, and Jackson stood out above the rest. The Rev. Russell lefereed. ' ' ' SECOND DIVISION. Wanderers and St. John's^ A. playea at No. 3, Miramar South, iri rather disagreeable weather. St. John's had the advantage of a strong wind, and for a time ' play was confined to tho Wanderers' territory, but the backs relieved, and Wanderers, getting well up .the field, had a few good shots at goal. A good return by St. John's saw the Wanderers' 'goal in danger, but a free-kick relieved. St John's forwards were now hemming the Wanderers in their own arena, but could not pierce the defence. Battling against. the wind the Wander-ers--mad« little headv\ay, and half-time arrived with no score. The Wanderers, iwith theViiid, startwi briskly, and from close quarters Pickering scored a beautiiful goal. ' Wanderers were now having the best of matters, and were giving St. John's defence a' hot time. A good combined run by the- Wanderers forwards uavr Taylor score ihe second goal. <-- iWahderer.3 at this- period were all over

judgment might have added ten,- the score. The final result was — Wanderers" two goals, St. John's A. nil. Y.M.O.A. beat Rovers by three goals to one.. Kingwell (2) and Elford scored for the winners. Swifts defeated the Mental Hospital team by five goals to nil. M'Lean (2), 'Moffatt (2), jfPye-Smith were the scorers. OTHER MATCHES. % Swifts, in the second division of the "Junior League, won their match against P.etona by two goals to .one. .Overend scored one goal for the winners. The other resulted from a scramble in front of Petone' A goal. • The Y.M.C.A. -Petone third-class match was won by Petone by three goals to one. Wilkins, Wilson, and ■ Warne sec-red for the- winners. Curtis scored for Petone. Marist B. drew with Swifts, neither ■team scoring. ' Marist. A. beat Soijth -Wellington, by three goals to ail. O'Brien, Burke, ana 'Heady 'scored.