FOOTBALL.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 78, 4 April 1910, Page 3

FOOTBALL.

BENEFIT MATCH. Oriental (11) v. Poneke (0). The first football match of the year at Athletic Park on Saturday afternoon, when Oriental met Poneke for their annual benefit game, drew quite a considerable crowd of spectators. It was estimated that fully 1500 people watched the play, which under the circumstances was dibtinctly interesting. The weathflr was more like a cricket day than an afternoon for football, and those players who had not kept in something like condition during the »ummer, felt their exertions very much. They were glad when half-time came, and Ktill gladder when the whistle went for "no-side." Oriental won the match by 11 pointy to nil. The play, however, was far more evert than the scoie nhowed, and the fact that Matheson was responsible for all the Oriental points showed that it was rather a one-man victory for* Oriental. Neither side had the crack teams of last year, but the fact of many prominent players) being absent gave* scope for new blood, and new blood on the whole did well. Two appearances were notable. Fergusson, of St. James, 1909, was playing with Poneke, attracting much attention from the crowd. On the Oriental side was Prendeville, late of Victoria College, who played a fine defensive game as wing three-quarter, and would seem to justify a permanent inclusion in the Poneke senior team. F. Roberts waa present on the field, not as a player with Oriental, but as referee. The play throughout was very open and fast, giving Oriental a chance to show their superiority in the rearguard. Matheson was in fine form on the wing. In the first spell >he finished a neat passing ru»h by outpacing the full-back and swinging right round and scoring between the posts. The try was easily converted. After resumption he scored again twice — once near the corner flag, and again by a clever diagonal "cut-in." between the posts. Neither try was converted. Poneke had hard lines once or twice, Walshe particularly battling hard to get over, but the Poneke attack lacked cohesion and sting, and the Oriental defence wai remarkably sound for a mntch so early in the season. The fine form displayed by Gardiner nnd'Flanagan was a bright snot in the Poneke defeat. The proceeds of the match go in aid of the clubs' gymnasium fund. SOUTHERN (4) v. LOWER HUTT (3). Southern went out to the Lower Hutt on Saturday to try the mettle of the newly-affiliated Hutt Club. The game was far from brilliant, being mostly an exhibition of the art of "bullocking." One of the Southern players met with illluck at the very outset of the season and had to be carried to the railway station on a stretcher. One of the local team got a nasty cut in the temple.