ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL GREYMOUTH DEFEATS BLACKBALLIN CLOSE-SCORING GAME

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 May 1949, Page 8

ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL GREYMOUTH DEFEATS BLACKBALLIN CLOSE-SCORING GAME

Thp Westland Football, Association’s competition for the Westland Cup was continued on Saturday when matches were nlaved at Greymouth, Cobden and Taylorville. Results were as o - 6, Blackball nil; Runanga ml, Taylor between Greymouth and Blackball at the Recreation ground produced a fast, even game in which the pace was on all the mouth appeared to have the advantage but the Blackball team was handicapped by the absence of several ot ns regular players. The teams were as follows:— Greymouth.-t-Perrin; Marshall, Larking; Wallwork, Henderson, Newton; Ladbrook, Pallet, Malpass, .Boyd, Dayne. ': „ , Blackball.—Lester; Morgan, Buchanan; Nuttall, McMahon, Norris; Hunter, McGougan, Haisty, Rarity,. Bell. Greymouth’s victory was secured after a hard struggle, and placed it in a challenging position, one point behind the unbeaten Runanga team. Blackball, however, with five fresh players in the team, had as much of the game as the winners. Play went on at a fast clip and the respective defences were on top throughout. The halflines on both sides gave their forwards a liberal supply of the ball. • Greymouth put Marshall centre forward in the second half, giving the line more thrust. Fifteen minutes from the end a smart piece of play between Boyd and Airey saw the latter get over a good centre for Marshall to score with a neat header. In the remaining minutes, Blackball made an all-out effort to equalise but shots by Nuttall, Norris and Haisty went wide. Cobden’s Comfortable Win Cobden defeated Reefton by five goals to two in a one-sided game played at Cobden Domain. Although Cobden was without the services of its regular ■ centre-forward, J. Roach, it possessed a better combination than the Reefton team. , , McLaren was the outstanding player in the ■Reefton team. He was well assisted by Foreman, Luke and Fuller, while Reid in goal made several good saves Kerr, Ewan, Malone, Cullen and Griffin played well for Cobden. The teams were as follows:— Reef ton.—Reid; Thompson, Fuller; Develin, Lord. Latham; Foreman, McLaren, Martin, Luke, Pimm. Cobden— McGibbon; Stone, Malone; Hickland, Cullen, Marley; Ewan, Griffin, Kerr, Hunter, Ramsay. Cobden attacked strongly from the kick-off, and after Reid had cleared a ground shot by Ewan, Marley scored with a long dropping shot. Cobden kept up the pressure but good defensive play by Thompson and Fuller kept the forwards out. From a 'corner kick by Ramsay shortly afterwards the ball went to Ewan who gave Reid no chance with a low hard shot. McLaren and Foreman were then associated in a good movement for Reefton but the latter’s attempt to score went high over the posts. A period of even play followed after half time and Martin, for Reefton, missed an open goal. Griffin scored the next goal for Cobden. His first shot bounced out of Reid’s hands back into play, but Griffin, following up, tapped the ball into the goal. Stone initiated the next Cobden movement and after beating several Reefton players passed to Griffin for the latter to score his second goal. Reefton rallied and a bright movement in which McLaren, Luke and Pimm were prominent resulted in McLaren scoring. Almost immediately a good solo effort by Ewan, the Cobden outside right, enabled him to score his second goal. Reefton missed several good opportunities of scoring but eventually McLaren secured and made no mistake. The final whistle went soon after with the score unchanged.