HOCKEY Senior Competition At Interesting Stage

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 May 1949, Page 4 (Supplement)

HOCKEY Senior Competition At Interesting Stage

The West Coast Hockey Association’s opening one-round senior competition was adavneed a stage further when the fourth series of matches was played on Saturday. With one match yet to be played, the competition has reached an interesting "stage and it would appear that three teams, Cobden, Greymouth and Rangers, have chances of winning or, at least, sharing the major honours. Cambridge, by its win over Greymouth, is second on the list with four points (one point behind the leader, Cob- j den), but is in the unfortunate position of having drawn the bye in the - final matches to be played tomorrow and caniiot improve its position.

The following table shows the relative positions of the various teams participating in the competition:— P. W. D. L. Pts

The highlight of Saturday’s matches was the improved form shown by the Cambridge eleven in defeating Grevmouth bv the only goal of the match. At times both teams played good hockey but Cambridge won mainly by its ability to grasp the chances that came its way. In the second spell especially, Cambridge was right on top.

Good Performance Outstanding player for Cambridge was. the right winger, E. Williams, who gave perhaps his best performance this season. He played good positional hockey and got away some clean centreing passes. He had an added advantage in that he was not closely marked by the opposing left half, but this laxity on the part of the Greymouth team did not detract from his performance.

Another -Cambridge to impress was the inside left, F. Malloy, while the left wing, Brown, and the centre forward, G. Williams, also played well. W. Fields was the most impressive of the half line. He gave his forwards good support and his defensive play was sound. R.- Mellett turned in a goed performance as full-back but again showed a tendency to obstruct when hard-pressed. Regular Player Missed I J. Best did all that was required of him in leading the Greymouth for--wards but it was obvious that the services of the regular centre-forward. K. Kendon, were missed. Other Greymouth forwards to impress were D. Bradley and B. Newton, with the former being the better of the pair. K. Ward was easily the best of a solid half line. His play on Saturday was right up to his best class and he should be a contender for representative honours again this season. N. Gardner gave a sound performance as full-back. While the whole of the Pacific team

showed a lot of improvement in its match against Rangers, it was in the forwards where it was most pro--nounced. The outstanding player was the right wing, G. Knapp, who gave, a polished, performance. His passing and stickwork was clean and sure and he frequently outpaced the defence. He was at all times well supported by N. Messenger and D. Knapp. Like Rangers, Pacific half line is weak but two sound full-backs in A. Knapp and G. Chapman compensated for any mistakes made by the halves. i Weak Half-line 1 The Rangers forwards were an even lot and it would be difficult to pick out "anyone for particular mention. On the right wing, G. Watson played well but he still has a lot to learn. J. Walsh

and P. Clarke combined well on several occasions, but, generally, Clarke was inclined to take too much on himself instead of using his other forwards to greater advantage. Rangers’ downfall was again in its half line where there was insufficient combination between the various players to support the forwards.

Cobden 3 2 1 - 5 Cambridge . 4 2 2 4 Greymouth .. 3 1 1 1 3 Rangers 3 1 1 ol Pacific 3 - 1 2 1