ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 25 June 1945, Page 2

ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL

AIR FORCE TEAMS MEET Air Force “Whites” beat Air Force “Blues” by one goal to nil in an Association football match played at Victory Square on Saturday. The ground was rather slippery and the ball heavy. The teams were:— Whites: Leslie, McGowan, McGrory, Allen, Sykes, Rowlands, Mcllroy, Fisher, Wilson, Kroupa, Gifford. Blues: Kenny, Illesley, McKay, Tuffery, Stevens, Phillips, Knowles, McNeish, Marsh, Martin, McWhannell. Blues kicked off and made a raid on Whites’ goal. McGrory relieved with a big kick, for Stevens to send forward to Marsh, but his shot went wide. Even play followed for a period until Sykes set his forwarcV. off. Closing in on the goal, Mcllroy passed to Wilson, who beat Kenny with a short range shot. Whites kept up the pressure, Rowlands and Sykes placing the ball with rood judgment, but Kenny proved a very capable goalkeeper. At the other end Leslie cleared everything that came his way, but the heavy ball prevented any fast accurate shots. Both sides attacked in turn, but the forwards lost opportunities by not shooting more often. An even game ended with the score. Air Force Whites 1, Air Force Blues 0. Mr G. J. Mackie was the referee. AIR FORCE DEFEAT NELSON UNITED In an Association football match at Victory Square on Saturday, an Air Force team defeated Nelson United by 6 goals to 1. The teams were:— Air Force: Swinbourne, Bell, Martin, Shave, Hopkinson, Smith, Shore, Macfarlane, White, Smith, Mummery. Nelson United: Dear, Albrecht, Downes, Campbell, Barnett, Sexton, Knight, Ferguson. Du Feu, Clarke, Willis. United lost the services of Albrecht, who had to retire due to a back injury. This considerably weakened United’s defence, but Campbell demonstrated his versatility by dropping back and filling the full-back position with credit. Air Force carried play to United’s goal, but their forwards often fell into the offside tiap set by Campbell and Downes. WhUe, however, finally converted a loose bail to put Air Force 1 up. Close on halftime Mummery scored with a nice ground shot to make the score 2-nil for Air Force.

United re-arranged their team after the interval, Sexton going into goal and Dear moving to left-half. The whole tempo of the game improved and exchanges were fast, with United doing most of the attacking In a hot attack on the Air Force goal Du Feu chased across from Willis over to the right and neatly turned it through from an acute angle to open United’s account. Even play followed, United pressing hard for the equaliser, but although they had several near misses they failed to penetrate the strong Air Force defence again. Air Force with youth on their side had the better of the closing exchanges and further goals by White and Macfarlane settled the issue. For Air Force Hopkinson, Shave and Mummery played well, the latter’s crosses from the left wing being particularly dangerous. For United Campbell, Downes and Barnett worked hard to save the game, whilst Willis, Du Feu and Ferguson played good football in the forward line and were unlucky at times not to add to their score. Mr W. Richards refereed the game.