SOCCER

Evening Star, Issue 23048, 29 August 1938, Page 5

SOCCER

POSITIONS OF TEAMS. Following are the present positions of the teams in the-Fletcher Cup competition :

OTAGO VICTORY ENGLISH SOCCER TROPHY ANNEXED [Fh United Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, August 27. . Canterbury met Otago in the challenge for the F.A. Trophy to-day. The first score came from Hall and Sootier, who drew the goalie and sent across to the, right. Graggs bore in and drove to the net. Canterbury 1, Otago 0. Canterbury had a long spell on the defensive, and Otago evened when Skinner beat two men and sent in a great drive to the net. Half-time:- ■ Canterbury 1 Otago ...' ... 1 ■ Shortly after the opening of the second spell the Otago forwards bustled the backs and goalie, and Rogers bundled,-the ball through, Canterbury battled ’hard for the equalising goal. Graggs, crossed, and Souter’s header went over the bar, Steven and Skinner showed their speed repeatedly, and caused the Canterbury defence much worry. Canterbury were extremely, lucky to save from a melee in front,of their goal. •_ Canterbury nearly scored when Wilson’s dropping shot hit the crossbar. Skinner missed a goal when he had an open shot. Souter came very near to scoring twice. Just before time Wilson sent in a, header, the goalie just saving. Final score:— Otago ... 2 Canterbury ... ... ... ... 1 NOTES ON THE PLAY [Special to thb ‘ Star.’} CHRISTCHURCH, August 27. Despite the rough ground, conditions, and greasy ball, due to the light drizz.c, the first half was productive of much good football, Canterbury relying on driving’ the leather ahead and fast following up. Otago frequently displayed good combination, but -took some time to recover from thedoss of the first goal scored by Craggs, Canterbury’s right winger, with a last ground shot after eight minutes’ pmy. The game speeded .up more, and a series of Otago attacks culminated in Skinner sooring a brilliant equalising goal. Twenty, minutes later both defences were standing up well to the shock tactics, and the half-time scoring was a fair indication of the play. Sutherland at centre half was an outstanding figure for Otago. . . The greasy ball was giving most of the players trouble, but Otago continued to show the best control, and against a rock-like defence in Taylor, Ruddiman, and Sutherland, Canterbury found it difficult to get within real striking distance of Hall. The Canterbury forwards were finishing poorly, while the Otago forwards were always dangerous. Both goals ran very narrow escapes, but Otago were more often out of luck. After Rogers put Otago in the lead after five minutes’ play, the game became faster than ever, but Canterbury’s determined spasmodic onslaughts were marred by faulty placements. The Otago halves seldom lost their grip, and Otago thoroughly deserved their victory. Their footwork and brilliant carpet passing on occasions were the deciding factors, having Canterbury often demoralised.

NORTHERN AGAIN VICTORY WITH THE WIND Mornington had a royal chancy of pushing home a second spell oefeat against Northern with the -advantage ,of a high wind, when four goals down, but they failed 3-2 through lack of enterprise among th eforwards.. North* ern should have been well ahead over the opening period—their shooting was extremely poor—but Mornington were the more impressive combination. The opposite was true in the second spell. Tbe teams were:— Mornington.—H. Agnew; Simpson, Harrison; M'Quarrie, W. Agnew, Murphy; Sainsbury, L. Agnew, Fleming, Cope, Fraser. Northern.—Warren ; Latimer, Anderson; Wallace, Buchanan, Sutheriand; M'Farlane, Gordon, Young, Bmtenshaw, Reynolds.

Ball control was made difficult by a high wind sweeping from end to end: Northern elected to take advantage or this, though they had the sun in their faces. Keeping the ball on the carpet was the natural tactics on the day, allied to short passing, but early exchanges did not bring any outstanding examples. As was only to be expected, Northern opened the scoring, after haying pressecl for some minutes. M'Farlane, who had roamed over from the wing, placed easily to the corner from a handy position. Northern 1, Mornington 0. W. Agnew sent Sainsbury array commendably; for the outside right to swing a cross rather too far: Fraser kicked over. Northern players were not, distinguishing themselves either in fooiball brains or goal kicking—instead of borabardng the custodian with longrange shots with the wind, they persisted for the most part in trying to work close, while their shooting was not a feature. Only one goal resulted » from over 20 minutes of play—it should have been many more. Comparatively little work was given the Mornington ’keeper, while Reynolds and Young missed golden opportunities by hitting

too softly. Under tho circumstances Mornington were more than holding their own.

A lucky goal now came Northern’s way. When Wallace tried one of tho few good long shots of the spell, Fullback Harrison attempted to head out, but the wind carried the bounce past H. Agnew. Northern 2, Mornington U.

A few moments later Northern were over again, when M’Farlaue sent over a nice cross from the right after Agnew had cleared a corner well. Reynolds closed in, and when Agnew dived to smother he hooked the ball over him into the net. Northern 3, Mornington

Mornington looked dangerous for a spell when Murphy let Cope and Fraser away. Working up well on the left Cope tried a long shot, and it was not far away. Play stayed in the Northern territory for a spell, but soon went back. It was a spell that reflected much credit on the Mornington defence, against which the opposing van showed in poor light. Much now hinged upon the ability of the losing side to play as good football over the closing period

Sutherland resumed his accustomed place at right full-back for Northern when play resumed. L. Agnew had a long siieculator that flew past, then Northern attacked strongly. Sutherland swung a" fine cross to Reynolds, but he pushed past. The Mornington forwards were hanging too far hack and hampering their halves from working properly, whilst placing them too far away for effective shooting. The .wind was more spasmodic and not as strong now, but Mornington did not impress even with its assistance. Northern had improved, and went close from a free kick, Young heading past. Up came the wind again, but try as they might, the Mornington forwards could not keep possession long enough to shoot. Murphy placed a long shot to goal, and the bounce nearly beat Warren, but he tipped over. Finally, Fleming barged Warren over the line in possession when Sainsbury sent over a good cross. About a quarter of_ an hour remained. Northern 3, Mornington 1.

Mornington seemed nearer their objective when Cope bounced a lucky goal from a Northern defender after Sainsbury had sent over another of. his nice crosses, but they did not add further; Northern ... 3 Mornington ... 2 Mr T. Stanley controlled the game. MORE SCORING CHANGES HILL TOO CLASSY FOR TECH. There was such a high wind at Prospect Park that attractive football was out of the question, the side having its aid possessing. a great advantage. Maori Hill used it much befter than Technical Old Boys, and, besides, played a more skilful game, initiating most of the attacks. Had more opportunities been accepted, Technical would have been soundly trounced. The teams:— Maori Hill.—Holden, Mills, Bayne, Romeril, Trewern, Morris, Gilchrist, Wadsworth, Henderson, Dalziel, Balk. Technical. —Torrance, Bennett, Pilling, C. Smith, Groves, Lawrence, O’Malley, Sutherland,' Chapman, Patton, Freeman. Having the strong advantage of the wind behind them, Maori Hill, though depleted in strength through the absence of three membere, had the better of proceedings in the first spell. Technical played with thrust, but, as was the case all the match, they could not finish off their movements when within striking distance. Wadsworth netted to give Hill the lead 10 minutes after the opening, and Chapman equalised after a sweeping attack and good positional play by Technical. This was halfway through the session. Next, Hill’s clever centre-forward (Chapman) soared, Hill having a 2-1 lead at the end of this half. Again Henderson netted, this time from a penalty 5 minutes after the resumption, and he shot brilliantly for a lovely goal when the game was halfspent. Technical tried hard to reduce the lead, the goalie being called on to save frequently. However, the shooting lacked sting, and often direction. Near the end there were also some wild placements by Hill. Final:—

Maori Hill 4 Technical Old Boye ... ... 1 Mr J. Sands was referee. ROSLYN-WAKARI TOO GOOD CAVERSHAM LACKED POLISH In a game wherein accurate shooting was but of the question owing to the high wind, Roslyn-Wakari defeated Caversham by 3 goals to 0. What at one period looked like a dangerous attacking movement was turned into dogged defence through heavy gusts the next. The teams were:— Roslyn-Wakari.—Bennett, Ramage, Ness, Smyth, Welham, M'Callion, Ramsay, Wilson, Chisholm, Rutherford, M'Gregor. Caversham. Wills. M'Govern, M'Lean, Truesdale, O’Neill, Paul, Todd, Williams. Taylor, Reid, Meiklejohn. There was little to-choose between the two teams, the winners, however, being more adept at taking advantage of any opportunity that arose. They opened a score with M'Gregor netting cleanly. Some 10 minutes later Meiklojohn, from a corner, evened the scores. In the second spell,Wakari from a penalty doubled their tally with a shot that Wills had no hope of clearing and a little later a clever corner 'kick resulted in another goal, the game finishing 3-1 in favour of Roslyn-Wakari. Caversham was playing a junior in Paul. He shows pace and clever anticipation. With a little more experience he should make his mark in the game. SEACLIFF WIN BY DEFAULT Owing to High School Old Boys being unable to field a team Seacliff won bv default. SECOND GRADE. Caversham 1, H. 5.0.8. 0. Technical 0.8. 4, Northern 2. THIRD GRADE. Caversham 2, Mornington 0. FOURTH GRADE. Caversham 0, Northern 0.

NEW ZEALAND SCHOOLBOYS NEW SOUTH WALES OUTPLAYED SYDNEY, August 28. The New Zealand schoolboys outplayed New South Wales at Soccer to win by 2 goals to 0. The visitors gave a bright display on a firm turf. The New Zealand team was:—Davey, Doddy, Taylor, M'Lcan, M'Kenaie, Richardson, Singer, Clarke, Yeoman, Irvine, Christopherson. Yeoman scored both goals. New Zealand received no free kicks, and were penalised frequently for off-side play by Yeoman. Yeoman collapsed, and left the field for attention after the first goal. 10 minutes after half-time. He headed into the net, and was punched on the nose by the goalie in attempting to punch clear. Blood streamed from his nose, but he soon returned to the field. Yeoman scored the second goal after a brilliant, tricky run by Christopherson and a perfect centre. Several times in the second half New South Wales seemed certain to score, hut they were prevented by sound play. Davey and Singer were confident in their ball control. It was hard to find fault with the team in any respect. Boddy, with powerful kicks, often saved. The New Zealand managers are satisfied with the exhibition. Two heavy backs are not available owing to sickness. INDIAN TEAM BEATEN SYDNEY, August 28. New South Wales defeated the Indian Soccer team by 6 goals to 4. IN OTHER CENTRES AUCKLAND. Mount Albert 1, Ponsonby 0. North Shore 3, Thistle 1. Abels 3, Suburbs 2. Y.M.C.A, 6, Weho College 2. Comrades 4, Ouehunga 2. WELLINGTON. —First A Division Championship.— Waterside 3, Petone 1. Seatouii 4, Technical Old Boys 0. —Auld Memorial Cup.— Marist 7, Scottish Wanderers 0.

o to to ■d c> a CM to CS w ft a S O £ o id rt M P "a o O 1 t3 g, 5 Maori Hill . .. 12 9 2 1 43 16 19 Seacliff . 13 •8 4 1 36 28 17 Mosgiel . 9 8 1 0 55 7 16 Northern . 12 5 4 3 32 23 13 Mornington 14 6 7 1 38 38 13 Eoslyn21 30 12 Wakari .. . 13 5 6 2 H.S.O.B. .. ..13 3 ■7 3 27 40 9 Caversham 13 3 8 2 19 48 8 Technical . 13 2 10 1 17 58 5