HOCKEY Cobden Remains Undefeated To Win Competition

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 May 1949, Page 8

HOCKEY Cobden Remains Undefeated To Win Competition

Although it has played drawn games on two occasions, Cobden remained the only undefeated team when the final series of matches in the West Coast Hockey Association’s opening oneround competition was played at the Recreation Ground on Saturday afternoon. Cobden participated in its second drawn match when it met Pacific, in a hard, and at times, willing encounter. The result of the match, however, gave Cobden the competition with a total of six points out of a possible eight. In tne other senior match, Greymouth proved too strong for Rangers and won by three goals to nil to be runner-up to Cobden. Then followed Cambridge, Rangers and Pacific in that order. The fifth series of matches in the women’s competition was also played, with Hokitika Rovers registering its fifth successive victory to be the leader, one point ahead of its club mate, Rangers. Results of Saturday's matches were:—

Men’s competition.—Cobden 1, Pacific 1; Greymouth 3, Rangers nil; Cam-

bridge a bye. Women’s competition.—Trinity 1, Runanga nil; Hokitika Rovers 3, United nil; Hokitika Rangers 3, St Columba 3; Blackball 4, Greymouth 1.

Cobden had its closest call to date this season when it drew with Pacific, one, all, after a scoreless second spell on Saturday. The match was marked throughout by hard and willing play with the result that neither team was able to combine effectively. Hard, Dour Struggle

From the outset, Pacific adopted bustling tactics and goaled within the first five minutes’ of play. The Cobden forwards retaliated, however, and evened the score shortly after. From then on the match resolved itself into a hard, dour struggle, with honours being about equal. Neither team impressed as being a well-functioning combination. The left-winger, A. Hines, scored for Pacific, wb il(1 S. Hill, centreforward, goaled for Cobden. From the start, it was evident that Greymouth was more than a match for Rangers, and with some good forward play had scored three goals at half time. The standard of the Greymouth forwards’- play deteriorated somewhat in the second spell, however, while a big improvement in the play of the Rangers backs prevented any addition to the score. J. Best Prominent

J. Best, who scored twice for the winners, was the leader of the Greymouth forwards and gave one of his best displays this season. He was wellsupported by K. Kendon and B. Newton, who scored the third goal. K. Ward, G. Swinburn and E. Tones were the best of the Greymouth defence. J. Walsh showed a lot of improvement as inside-right for Rangers while G. Watson and V. Goodall were other forwards to impress. R. Blyth and V. O’Brien were the best of the halves while G. Neame gave an improved display as full-back in the second spell.