HOCKEY West Coast Outclassed By Australian Team

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 August 1948, Page 3

HOCKEY West Coast Outclassed By Australian Team

With superior combination right throughout the team, and displaying better stickwork and positional play, the Australian men’s hockey • team, which is at present- touring New Zealand, defeated the West Coast representative team in a match played at the Recreation Ground, Greymouth, yesterday by nine goals to nil. From the outset the visiting team dominated the match.

In spite of recent heavy rains the ground was in fair order, but was very slow in patches where sand had been spread. The match was witnessed by one of the largest crowds assembled at the Recreation ground and was estimated at approximately 1100. Coast Team Nonplussed After the Australians’ display against Buller on Wednesday, a match which it won by only two goals to one, the West Coast team was expected to take the visiting team to a fairly close game, but the Australians played a vastly superior game. The manner in which all players trapped the ball while still travelling at full speed at times left, the Coast team almost nonplussed, as did their exploitation of the long pass and quick interception. In comparison, the West Coast players did not appear happy in the conditions and time and again failed to take the ball cleanly or to mark their man. The fact that they were playing against an international team apparently had its effect on more than one of the players. An outstanding feature of the Australians play was the manner in which the full-backs repeatedly by-passed their half-backs to send long or through passes up to the forwards who were always ready to receive and exploit such manoeuvres. Perhaps the best of some outstanding displays was that of the Australian skipper, C. M. Morley, who played a masterly game at inside left instead of in his usual position of centre-half. Especially in the second spell he repeatedly led his forwards in some devastating attacks on the West Coast goal-line. B. Salisbury, at centre, was always with Morley in his attacking movements and gave a brilliant exhibitoin. of stickwork and ball control, while on the wings D. Wise (left) and A. Schultze showed dash and determina- j tion in all of their work. The in.side, | right, I. Dick, played excellently in the first spell but he did not receive so many opportunities in the second. Australian Full-backs At centre-half, H. Josiffe directed play well and distributed the ball well to his forwards, while he was also a tower of strength on defence. P. Kennedy, right half, showed outstanding ability with the push shot, plus great pace and dash in all his work. Both Siggs and Southwood, as full-backs, displayed perfect understanding of each other’s play. Not a great deal was seen of E. Johnson in goal .for the the Australians but on the few occasions on which he was called upon to defend he showed himself as a keeper of ability. The pick of the West Coast forward line was again A. Boustridge at inside left and he came through a hard day’s work with flying colours. With the centre-forward, S. Hill, he combined well at times but neither possessed the. ability or stickwork to penetrate the solid Australian defence. At times both made some good solo runs down the field and both were unlucky not to have their efforts rewarded with goals. Crowding Tendency All the West Coast forwards displayed a tendency to crowd into the centre instead of keeping in their right positions. On the right wing K. Kendon went well at times but he was caught out of position on too many occasions to be a potential source of danger. Neither Clarke nor Williams played above their club form and both were at fault in not marking their man. Although he covered a lot of ground on defence, J. Hurren, the West Coast centre-half, did not play up to his usual standard and was often caught out of position. His tendency to attempt to play the entire half-line by himself did not pay dividends against such an experienced team as the Australians and his efforts were in the main wasted. K. Ward played as well as was expected on the right half, but was far too slow in going back to tackle his man. This on more than one occasion allowed the Australian left winger an almost clear run'down the side-line. On the other half Archer again failed to go into his man and on more than one occasion permitted the Australian forwards to go through with little or no opposition. In comparison to the Australian defence, neither J. Ranger nor - D. Nimmo came up to expectations and, although both made some good individual saves, they lacked combination and did not set up a concerted defence. Their main fault was in not watching where they were placing their clearing shots, while on a number of occasions Ranger was playing much too far upfield and was forced to cover extra ground in trying to cover-de-fend. The majority of shots that beat A. Eatwell, in goal, would have beaten the majority of keepers. In the first spell the Australian team was awarded five penalty corners to one awarded the Coast team, while in. the second half three penalty corners were awarded West Coast and

only two'to the Australian team. Goals were scored for the Australians by C. M. Morley (3), Bi Salisbury (2), I. Dick, A. Schultze, D. Wise and H. Josiffe. , The teams were as follows:— Australia (green and gold).—E. Johnson; D. Siggs, E. Southwood; B. McNamara, H. Josiffe, P. Kennedy; D. Wise C. M. Morley (captain), B. Salisbury, I. Dick, A. Schultze. West Coast (red and white).—A. Eatwell; J. Ranger, D. Nimmo; E. Archer, J. Hurren, K. Ward; G. Williams, A. Boustridge, S. Hill, P. Clarke (captain), K. H. Kendon. The umpires were Messrs W. Grammar and F. Bearne, both of Christchurch. Scoring Movements

Australia scored after about four minutes of play. Eatwell saved well from a shot at goal by one of the visiting forwards, but Morley, following in fast caught the ball on the rebound and’gave Eatwell no chance. Australia's second goal came after 20 minutes of play when Schultze took play well into the Coast 25 and centred nicely. Eatwell saved well but he had no chance with Schultze’s second attempt. r „ Coast defended stoutly for the remainder of the first spell. The Australians scored their third goal after about 25 minutes. Eatwell was drawn out of goal and Ranger was called upon to save, but Josiffe easily beat the defence. About a minute before half-time. Australia increased its lead with yet another goal when Morley and Salisbury combined well to work the defence out of position for Morley to notch his second goal. The half-time score was. Australia 4, West Coast nil. Second Spell

On the resumption of play in the second spell Australia again went into the attack and completely overwhelmed the Coast defence to score three goals in as many minutes. Wise scored the first which was perhaps the most spectacular of the match. From a penalty corner Morley stopped the ball with his hand for Wise to flick the ball high over the heads of the defenders to goal. The second goal came immediately afterwards when Wise and Salisbury combined brilliantly for the latter to score with a back-hander. Wise and Salisbury were again to the fore when they scored the visitor’s seventh goal in a matter of seconds.

For a period Coast took up the attack but the forwai'ds were unable to penetrate the solid defence of the Australians. Australia further increased its lead when Morley went away on his own and beat Eatwell with a comparatively easy shot. Australia 8, West Coast nil.

West Coast then had a period of attacking and Australia was hard pressed to prevent a goal and conceded several penalty corners in doing so. Australia's ninth and final goal came after about 30 minutes of play in the second spell. Morley led his forwards into the Coast half and passed to Salisbury, who, on being challenged by Hurren, sent a short pass out to Dick who had no trouble in finding the net from a long way cut. Australia 9, West Coast nil.