Auckland Rout Country 11 Goals to 2

Northern Advocate, 26 June 1939, Page 12

Auckland Rout Country 11 Goals to 2

Hockey

A fitting conclusion to the Country Week tournament was the annual representative matches between two teams selected from the country visitors and the Auckland senior and junior representatives. In the senior match Auckland had too much finesse for the visitors and ran up the big tally of 11 goals to 2. A feature of the game was the fighting spirit displayed by the country representatives right up till the final whistle.

The curtain-raiser, in which citj’ and country drew, 1 goal each, did not come up to expectations, individual effort being more prominent than team work. The teams were:— Country A: Franklin, Katavich, Bellingham, Rodgers, Ashton, Heyward, Phillips, Bint, Grimmer, Stevens. N. Wyatt. Auckland: Anderson, Jones. Clarke, Harriott, Robertson, Watson, Armstrong, Rowe. Roughton. L. Wyatt, Greenbank. Auckland defended the western goal, with the sun behind them. Play opened sensationally, Phillips rushing down the right to send in a nice centre. Bint had a shot, which Anderson took on his pads, but Grimmer followed in fast to collect from the rebound and scored in the first two minutes of play.—Country A 1. Auckland 0. A sharp sortie saw ends change quickly, and the Auckland forwards swarmed into the goal-mouth, where a penalty bully was awarded against Franklin for sitting on the ball. Roughton had little difficulty in converting.—Country A 1, Auckland 1. Rowe next sent Armstrong away down the right. His centre was deflected by Rowe to Roughton, who scored with a reverse shot. —Auckland 2, Country A 1. Auckland continued to attack and after several clever movements forced Country to concede a penalty corner, Watson made no mistake. —Auckland 3, Country A 1. Country next initiated a couple of sharp attacks, but Auckland were soon back, forcing two corners. Rowe, from the resulting play, made no mistake from a shot close in.—Auckland 4, Country A 1. Back to Country's quarter came Auckland’s vanguard, for Armstrong to score from well out. —Auckland 5, Country A 1.

The Secund Spell

With ends changed, the Country forwards attacked strongly to gain the circle, where Grimmer hooked the bail back to have a reverse shot when Stevens was waiting in a handy position and spoilt a good chance. From play in Auckland’s half. Greenbank made a brilliant run to weave his way through the defence and score. —Auckland 6, Country A 1. A moment later Auckland's forwards were again in the circle, and Wyatt added another goal from the circle edge.—-Auckland 7, Country A 1. Country now livened up to launch a series of attacks down the right, Phillips sending across a beautiful centre, which the insides missed. Greenbank then made for the circle, the ball crossing to Armstrong, who scored from an acute angle. A few minutes later Roughton added another

goal, and Rowe ran through the defence to score. Soon afterwards Wyatt scored. —Auckland 11. Country A 1. In the closing stages Country rallied, and a shock attack saw Bint gain the circle to net. Fighting back hard, Country forced two corners in quick succession, but the defence held. Auckland 11 Country A 2