SOCCER

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 131, 4 June 1932, Page 18

SOCCER

Py '"Vanguard" '

senior; form

THE COMPETITION

SWIFTS.PLAY;:WELL:

FIRST DIVISION,". ,': : ; • '..."'. ■'..'" .Goals. Clip.- - P. W. L.D.- F. AvPts. Jlarist .......... 7 6 — 1 30 "13 13 IHanipntL ........... 8 5 '2 .1 ,28. 17"11 retone .......... 7" 3. 3 1 13 :i7 7 Hospital ..'......- 6' 2 2"2 16-14- -6 Waterside- ........ J.. 2.! 3' %■ 22 .20 .' b' Lower Hutt ...... 7', 2 -4 -1 • 9 19 5 Swifts. s'l'■ '2 2• 10 13 4 Sealouu' .;......-.■. 7 1.. :6 0 14 29 -'2 . Good progress' has 'been made by the Wellington Football ".Association with their, championship^'this.'seasonV. As was expected,.Marist and Diamond: are drawing away from'the other' teams, and it appears as though the, premier title will rest with either of these'clul>s.' The form displayed by senior teams has been up to expectations,1 arid in'some cases excellent. The: inclusion jpf. Swifts' and Lower Hutt in. the competition has made matters interesting. .'Swifts.hav ; e been playing/well, and if-they.continue to produce :tho '. form:"they- have been showing should occupy a.;goad,;:positipn in the championships table■ at-trie end of tho season. •■ • : •.-..- t .'.;.■ The meeting of Diamond and Swifts last week was historic,, in. that it. was eighteen J-ears since these clubs had met in senior ;football. The:display given by Swifts :'waa meritorious,; and their idraw i with Diamflnd : ; was\ well earned. Diamond -started -.well, and. it appeared as .though.: : they; would: win easily. At half time ;they:had, a ; lead of 2-1,- but Swifts, whose play improved in the second half,: equalised. .After Diamond had . again ■ scored,-. Swifts netted, but' the goal- was ..disallowed through "offside play.- . 'Withvonjy.a fe;w minutes' play remaining • Swiftsvdeter-. mined to equalise.. ..In. the last minute of-tho game they, netted,.from, a. corner, staving off. defeat by the narrowest of margins. The- Hn-was'.- well deserved; and.proved popular.'. ~. '' ' .'.. Petone Improve, !■>••;-,. \ On their home ground,;- Petorie- registered a two^ goal 'victory- over •;Waterside,' in : a game -which .was hard arid strenuous rather- than; brilliant. The ground, though dry. and 'fast; t .proved exceedingly treacherous^ and'ithe bounce of the ball frequently ibeat the players, in fact- if was by suehsa ball: that -Melville was beaten .when iPeton«> opened tho scoring. On'play, howev.er/thegoal was ■ fully merited;. ■ < :•;■.. ; ■ It was fully: expected that .'Waterside would make the pace hbt.for'the :home team, but as time went--on, iti was evident that Petorie -were' .putting .up a determined resistance, < :and'.more ;;than' holding their, ovrn. 'The-halve'srstuck to their .task, well; and-kept .the.ball ahead. As a'.lirie^they,-were v.a?shade ahead of their opponents, while Boe registered' one': ot his-beat'performances with the Petone'. team.': So■ successfully did Brown and";Ha'inea: co-operatewith" each 'other and -the : men'/dn.' front -:6£ them, that the -'Waterside forwards (seldom got■ on; closet tdrms.'with McVean,and'were -forced to' long-distance shooting. The Petone- front.rank, tthoughinot yet up to ;the, standard^ past years, showed -improved: play, and- combined^to better advantage than "the" visitors: -.' Waterside lost, tho ,game;'through iiiot being able to press home the advantage gained by winning, the:"toss. In addition there;was-the tenacity, arid.keen tackling, of .the-home'defence.1, little lault .could .be -found with. th> 'visiting half-backs upon whom,the,' bulk .of v'the work fell. :Boltonand-Pearsoniwe're: a dependable: pair;, of ;backs,.""th,e :foriner showing up. more , consistently.' Forward, Watersiders,- werenot'-a.,happy family: Longbottom. wa;. tho ' pick of tho bunch, while MeLeod was. the only one who looked like-scoring. Indecision, or timidity, kept the others from playing,their usual game., ','.-"..' . . Marist's-Winning'Way! . ''= :•'■■• • ■ Marist nor-Hospital ".were-at their best when fthey; met-'at -tho Hospital grounds ;last Saturday, " but the match, in' ; spite': 'of. this was .. fast - from- ;start -to -finish and- it always-held .the- interests of the' largest' crowd -of spectators that have assembledion^thejgro'nnd this Reason. ; MaTisb were,-nearer'their little.difficnlty;i n -wirining>byt.3 goals t0,1,-their :only fault; b^ing;: a -tendency, to wild shooting, hospital we're"a disorganised'team, from-the-star,t,-'due to n«eOaying been, made in. the half and. forward' lines. •'- ~- The changes were, so obviously; unsuitable that■ after -a; few minutes-of -'play-an-other change wasmade,:but'ev=en' then there were men "out -of .-.their^. msual position-and the i team 'never-seemed to settle down to its usual play the goalkeeper-and the-'ba'cksibeW'the only, exceptions: to this. ' A«usual ure^ of such.a. meeting^ between two nrst-class-teams, was the-timidity displayed ■by each - for: the '-SfcrsV.portion of the game.-' When ; . Hospital scored then-one and only. goah(the first, of the .match) this .vanished:- and-<,to .the end the 'game .was ;■ keenly -.contested, i For ■ Marist, ;.Turkington'sTgoalkeepmg -. was absolutely: reliable; and particularly, favourable comment was:passed. on .the-accurate: way -in -which*; he punched the: ball, out ■ 'wh,en ,in difficulties. No fault could .be found with Jvelly and Laracy, the "full-backs: They played a sterling-, game. The halves were good, but as,usual the wing men were; overshadowed by-,the-attractive play,ofßird,,in.the centre.. Hia'calmness m.robbing opponents of the ball or m resisting their .attentions, and,his cool judgment in passing were a treat to watch. Marshall, the) centre, was the outstanding, forward, but he gained first-class support from, the rest of the five. Barton was playing erratically. His cornet-kicking in particular was weak. Marshment spoilt many" a promising movement by shooting instead of passing. - His shooting could be excused if it were. accurate, but last: week it was anything but. that. ' Ell could'not beblamed. for Hospital's defeat. He played his usual.safe game except for the goal he let in from' Barton. But that did not affect the match. Mills and Thompson had much more^ work, than usual and they did it very well. Thompson was miskicking slight-' ly but Mills played a faultless game. B. Jeffery was. the.best half, his speed' hoing of great value in view of the disorganisation of the front line. Lambert was not a "great success at the left half. Individually, the forwards seemed bright, enough, ,but as a line they failed to get going: . Marshall looked after the right wing most effi-1 ciently, and the Wood brothers'were good at centre and .inside left, while C. Jeffery and Simon were not passengers. There was nothing wrong with them except that they would not or could not. couiibine: ' ' ' ' ■ ' Hutt's Hard Luck.-, V Ilutt lost to Seatoiin on 'the Basin , Beserve last Saturday," but the loss was Oust-theu^hard.luek. ..-Fiveitimes.-:they

found 'the netand only' two goals werel allowed them though::two of the other occasions when' they netted seemed legitimate enough. S6.it was that the team, which was the'more dangerous, and, which, did most of the" attacking,] lost the.match. In the early stages of the, game, despite the fact that Seatoun had the advantage of the wind and that for 20, minutes at the end q( the first spell they were playing a. team of ten men (Bentley, the Hutt goalie being off the field.receiving attention for an injured hand) Seatoun could not do : better than finish two goals. down.:. Yet in the second spell SeatoUn scored three times and kept themselves clear of: any addition to their opponents' That was .remarkable, - but tbe explanation was threefold; first,* the. wind moderated somewhat in the second half, second, Hutt did not receive, the-benefit 'of :the goals they scored, and-third, -Seato/un undoubtedly finished like "a; fitter'side. :The winners; had -hot ;tlie polish of their adversaries, but they, seemed to sta-y.-better..::lt ds possible that.their repeated failure to break thr.ough disheartened Hutt; for--in the eariy.part of the final half they..were, tearing the der fence to ribbons/and. bombarding Stone so frequently .that it was impossible to keep; count of; the '•■ shots.,, The' Hutt attack was a finished and dangerous instrument, the Seatoun thrust was almost entirely Diekenson who. had the way opened for -him'by JtaeKenzie a couple of times, and onee^ cleared the- path: f or' that-hard-working inside left.' But Hutt were' inclined to: altogether -tbq much to Nicolle's wing, a'faet which was quickly noticed and which'simplified .the work -of the Seatoun ..defence.' In addition it ■ was -bad -tactics • when the: forwards had worked in close, arid the. real job should have been- done by the 'inside men. ! It was 'through this | that fast-moving and well-ealeulated-at-tacks often went astray. 'Besides'this there "was. not always the pace there Should^ have been,in the Hutt attack. • .-; In .the Hutt. team. Gardner was the outstanding, man of a ; pair of .really excellent full-backs, while the. half-back line showed itself 'clever, and resourceful, McDougall playing, up well. ' The forwards went ..well, Brown .proving; a good' man' in all 'departments; and Batchelor reyeajing ■such, ability that' it was. a pity he was -not'given more chances.. : The Seatbuh.; team, underwent another re-arrangement,- and -it seemed to-havo reachedsomething like stability atthe end. of the match. A new centreforwafd Jwas' tried'out,-, but ;IHck:ehson finished in hisold. position land Certainly deserved to iplay there: for'he was in great form. Mackenzie was doing unobtrusive .bnt:. sound ■ work' all through and. his heady .'play. was Avhat saved1 the game. Garrod and WHsim both showed up,;the former being.the'be.tter. fiir was' back in' his old place and did well, and . the half-back Jine seemed about' right., K : S&t6un" willTtfy,' out this team again, it should .get better results ■ than hitherto. ■. ;• .' A Disputed Goal. \ • ■ ' . ■ . Supporters of-the- Arsepal: • Football Club will be more. than ; everrconvbe'ed that Newcastle United's 'equali'sihg goal ;in the Cup -Finalvshould' not ikve ;been allowed,wh?n they..see the Jaovietone News film-of:the■ Wembley match mrthexinemas-(statesthe' <Man-chester-Guardian");.. .-■=■■ : . : --. : 'The film, (writes a pressman who saw it yesterday) seems to make it, clear that the ball was more';th.ana4obt. over the goal: line when Boyd centred it for Allen to _ score:- By a clever' device the: 'film is-, stopped-'f or' several' seconds just.at-the. point-when 'Boyd. is ■ abput^ to .centre the,,ball, ~T,his .enables >ple,tatofs>t'6 assure tKeniselves "that "the' ball :was. well .over the:--white ■line.-v r The referee can "also be ;:seen"about midway betw&en the ■Ai)senaT's: goal; and the 'centre lin'eV running towards -the goal. The-linesman) cannot 'be -seen-dn the picture at all. ■ ■••- ' "Mr. : :W: P.: Harper, : '.the■•referee,.gave a:reportex,his-version::of thoVdisputed goal incident..: *f.I gay« the.goal-irirac-: cordance-<with-- the rules? apd: regulations of; the iFootbali: iAisqciation,'^' :.hei said. "It: was definitely;'a goaL"'Mr. .Har, per has not seen the-filnv of ?thematch, : arid<wKenit;was.suggested ;'to ihimttfat the.'ball- was ;out ,of .play. when*- Boyd centred it,; he-'replied:-I^. :. ' : : , ■; ■■''/The" ball was-"definitely :in -play. "I was,so. {certain that-1 the'jgoal 'w"aß -good that I did; not ;-even -consider - it--neces--Bary to consult;- thelinesman, and "I am still-just a's certain. I; was, of-course, well -up with- the play, arid'-was -in-a position to -incident- -clearlyi W!iate-v>^ =the film "may.- appear\to -show will not-make^ me .alter-my' opinion;" •Mr. Cunningham;' manager of-"rthe Newcastle'team,ista'ted'last night'that Boyd- never touched-the ' ball. "The player' that centred:; the' ball'for Allen to score'the'equaliser was Richardson," he; said. "The- referee was in > good position to seethe;moyemeht and was obviously conVinced;.that-the ball iwas in play, and:that is • good' enough;" Allen also-said-that itiwas Richardson who .made; the pass. ; lt From my ■pqsition•" I. could 'not Isee^wheth'er it had gone 'out of iplaj; or not,'''h'e'1 added.-