PETER DAWSON CUP

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 21 August 1939, Page 8

PETER DAWSON CUP

WEST COAST RETAINS TROPHY

NELSON’S UNSUCCESSFUL CHALLENGE FOUR GOALS MARGIN In their challenge match against West Coast at Greymouth for the Peter Dawson Cup the Nelson Association Football representatives were beaten by four goals to nil on Saturday. On the run of the play, however, the scoring should have been more even and a twogoal margin in favour of West Coast would have been a good indication of the play. The match was played at Victoria Park in fine but overcast weather. The ground was in good order on one side, but on the other it was very slippery and players found difficulty in turning sharply. Described by the West Coast selector, Mr R. J. Armstrong, and a number of other officials, as the cleanest game they had ever seen, there was only one force kick in the. whole match, apart from two or three offside infringements. The West Coast players were generally more experienced and displayed superior combination. As six of the Coast players were from one club team and five from another, it was to be expected that they would have a good understanding of each other’s play. Territorially. Nelson had quite a good share of the game, but the Coast backs were particularly sure and the West Coast goalkeeper was not called upon to save many particularly difficult shots. The teams were as follows:

WEST COAST Goalkeeper: Closs. Full-backs: Lee, Barnard Half-backs: Tennant, Bowman (captain), Watson. Forwards: Ewan, Cameron, Armstrong, Scott, Coutts. NELSON Goalkeeper: M Cuthbert. Full-backs: H. Mansell, J. Cuthbert. Half-backs: C. Albrecht, O. Du Feu, A. Hurst (captain). Forwards: G. Mead, J. Du Feu, R Twort, T. Durie. A. Da Vanso. West Coast attacked from the kickoff and the Nelson backs were called upon to save from a number of strong movements down the right wing. Cuthbert successfully broke up two attacks and a passing movement by the Nelson forwards took play to the West Coast end, where J. Du Feu forced a corner The kick was well cleared by Lee and Nelson were once again on the defence. A fast run on the left wing by Coutts led to the opening goal when he lobbed the ball over Mansell’s head to Armstrong. who darted through and beat Cuthbert with a powerful drive. West Coast 1, Nelson 0. West Coast continued to attack and had Nelson pinned in their own goalmouth for about ten minutes. Bowman was playing a very steady game at centre-half and consistently broke up Nelson movements before they were properly under way. The Nelson fullbacks were working very hard and gave the opposing forwards little chance until Mansell mis-timed a kick when attempting to clear a cross from Ewan on West Coast’s right wing and sent the ball wide of Cuthbert into his own goal. West Coast 2. Nelson 0. • Ater this goal Nelson began to hold their opponents and made a number of raids on the West Coast goal. The defence, however, was very strong and slight hesitation by the Nelson forwards in shooting gave the backs an opportunity to clear. Towards the end of the spell Nelson more than held their own territorially, but were unable to press home their advantage.

SECOND HALF Play continued to be fast and open with few hold ups in the second half, the ball travelled quickly from end to end. The Nelson half line was functioning well, Hurst in particular working very hard, although West Coast were concentrating on their left flank, where Watson. Scott and Coutts were a strong combination. Albrecht was forced to play very deep and he was repeatedly responsible for breaking up likely scoring movements by this trio. A change was made in the Nelson forward line after half-time, Da Vanso going to inside left and Durie to left wing. This fnqve seemed to suit both players. Da Vanso putting more dash into his play than Durie had done. His main fault was that after playing on the wing he forgot that he had another man outside him and centred when he could have opened up the game. West Coast’s third goal was scored by Armstrong with an overhead fly-kick which found Cuthbert out of position and the ball entered the net over his head. This was rather an unfortunate goal, as Albrecht was in a position to save, but left it for the goalie. West Coast 3. Nelson 0. Cuthbert. however, made amends for this laps® with a number of good saves shortly after. Nelson went closer to scoring at this stage than at any time during the match’and were in the West Coast goal-mouth on a number of occasions. Twort had a drive from well out, but Closs saved cleanly and cleared. Shortly after this Mead had an angle shot from the right and the ball drifted over the bar. J. Du Feu was • unfortunate when he made a good open- 1 ing only to lose his feet in the mud. I The final goal of the match was scored when Armstrong brought his tally for the day up to three. It resulted from a passing movement by the Coast forwards. Armstrong finishing up with a shot which gave Cuthbert no chance WEST COAST 4 NELSON 0 Play continued to be very even until the end of the game, with West Coast holding a slight advantage owing to their better combination. The referee was Mr C Hogg. SOUTH ISLAND CHATHAM CUP FINAL [United Press Association] CHRISTCHURCH. 20th August. The South Island final for the Chatham Cup resulted: Western, Canterbury, 4, Mosgiel, Otago, 3.