HOCKEY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17794, 30 May 1921, Page 9

HOCKEY.

I THE SENIOR COMPETITION. i

MOUNT EDEX A STILL UNBEATEN. The Auckland Hockey Association's championship grade matches were advanced a further stage at Komuera and Victoria Park on , Saturday afternoon. Although weather conditions were not good, a fair number of enthusiasts attended at the Komuera grounds to see the Mount Eden A-Somer-ville match. After a ciosely contested first half, la.->t year's champions had much the best of the- second spell, eventually winning by 5 goals to 1. Areta deteated Mount Eden H by 4 goals to 3. after an even contest. 'J. he Eh. Lukc's-Edendale match resulted in a draw, each s;dt> scoring - goals. At Victoria Park. University won from North Shore by 3 goais to 2. The play was somewhat marred by rain setting just before the change over: nevertheless, on the whole, it was a improvement on previous matches th:s season. The positions of the teams are:—Mount Eden A, 8 points; Areta, 6; University. 6: St. Luke's. 4; : Somerville. 3; Edendale. 2i, North Shore, 2; Mount Eden B. 0.

MOUNT EDEN A V. SO.MERA ILLE. From the opening bully, Soruerville pressed, and the lorwarda, using the shortpassing method, invaded Eden's territory, at the twenty-five. Joans, with a nicely-placed hit, sent h.s own van to the attack, and M. Alexander- sending en a. nice centre to hi 3 brother, the latter shot, but Cooper saved cleverly. The ensuing play was much in tavour of Mount Eden, and their torwards severely tested the opposition. A. Alexander led a rush into tue Somerville circle, but his shot went over the crossbar. Somerv.lles vanguard was now conspicuous, and fine play by the Watt brothers put them on the offensive. clever stick work by McLeod alone keeping them out. Another good rush reached the circle, and H. Watts gavo "sticks'' at the crucial moment, bringing Mount Eden much needed relief. A judicious piece of forward piay by Somerville beat the defence, but a v.iid hit by C. Watts missed the objective. Keeping up the pressure the Mount Eden ba-ck3 were sorely tried, and two corners against them in quick' succession were fruitless. A sortie by the Mount Edc-n van. with D. and A. Alexander prominent, was well stopped at the twenty-five by Munroe, who hit back to midfield. The Somerville forwards were putting much vigour into the.r work, and repeatedly pierced their opponents' defence, but Horspool was very safe, and cleared his goal on each occasion. Good combination by Newsham and 11. Watts saw play go to the Eden end and from a good centre E. Wa/tts scored with a clean shot. This reverse caused the Mount Eden van '-o make strenuous efforts, and the whole line, working splendidly, reached the Somerville circle. Here, George stopped brilliantly, and sent play to the centre with a big hit. Eden's forwards returned to the attack, the bal going from Rankin to A. Alexander, and on to D. Alexander, who scored. The spell ended: Eden A. 1; Somerville, 1. A series of quick attacks by the Mount Eden forwards marked the opening phases of the second spell. A. Alexander reached the circle, but slipped in the act of shooting and the ball went wide. Another determined Mount Eden attack went right through the opposition, and a hard shot from Little found the goal. With rain falling incessantly the players found it exceedingly hard lo maintain a foothold, and many opportunities were lost. After a series of long hits Mount Eden's van reached the opposing circle, and Rankin scored Mount Eden's third goal. The Mount Eden forwards were playing with great dash, and were over-running their opponents. The ball quickly went from Little to Alexander and on to Rankin, and the lastnamed made no mistake with his shot. The Somerville team tried hard to stem the tide and the forwards made several strong efforts to break through the Mount Eden defence, but the good work of Johns. McLeod. and jarman kept them from the circle. Wheeler started bis forwards away in a. great rash. Rankin beat the half-backs, and sent, on to M. Alexander, who raced to the circle, and, from a hot scramble scored. Ploy was in Somerville's twenty-five when the final whistle went. Mount Eden A. . . . . . . . . 5 Somerville • • ■ ■ • • . ■ 1 Mr. J. B. Steele was reierec

ST. LUKE'S V. EDENDALE.

A rush by the St. Luke's van was nipped in the bud by Emery, who found the sideline at halfway. Nicely executed movements, with all the forwards participating, were indulged in by St. Luke's, who threaded.their way through the Edendale defence, and a good shot from Garrard's stick found the net. Much give-and-take play followed, until Paice and Sparkes broke through the St. Luke's defence, and reaching the circle, the former scored. Repeated efforts were Tepulsod. The soe'l ended with the scores: — St. Luke's ) : Edendale 1. St. Luke's attacked strongly upou resuming, but Sparkes intercepted at a critical juncture and transferred play to the other end. A lot of desultory hitting was indulged in by the backs, and piay was very even till Mead and Garrard broke away at the centre and reached the Edendale circle. Fellowes hitting over bis own iroai line. Rich scored from the resultant corner. This reverse brought the Edend?le van down on the opposing goal in earnest, and though Steele and Rowe stemmed the onslaughts for a time the Edendale forwards were not to be denied. and from a wild scramble in the circle Woolford found the net. St. Luke's forward line were repeatedly on the offensive, but over-eagerness spoiled matters in the circle, and the final whistle went without any alteration in the score. St. Lukes 2 Edendale . . 2 Mr. R. Avery was referee

MT. EDEN B V. ARETA Areta were first away, and bomcrs and Moginie carried play to the Eden twentyfive, till stopping progress with a speculator. A further rush wae taken advantage of by Somers. whose shot opened up the score for Areta. A sortie, by the Eden van was shortlived, Harland intercepting and hitting on to Moginie, who invaded the circle and added Areta's second goal. Mount Eden now came through with a nicely worked forward movement, and the ball going from HendTy to Munn. the latter made no mistake. Keeping the upper band, the Mount Eden forwards combined well and from a rush. Malcolm threaded hie way into the circle and evened up the scores. Not to be denied, the. Mount Eden van again invaded their opponent's circle, and after a lot of scrambling tho ball went out to Hendry and he scored. Just before half-time the Areta forwards rallied, and Brinsden put the hall into the net Areta 3: Mount Eden B 3. The play from the bully was of a fairly even nature, and short rushes by the forwards were nullified by good back play. Mount Eden *ried attacking vigorously, but i bard hitting resulted in the ball goinp- over I the goal line. A nice piece of work by | Areta's forwards saw play taken to Eden's end. and Somers found the net. Roth sides j made strenuous efforts to add to their totals, but the defensive work of the bark divisions was too strong, and a closely contested game ended in Areta's favour. Areta 4 Mount Edeu B 3 Mr. P. Nicholson was referee

UNIVERSITY V. NORTH SHORE

University started quickly from the bully with Grice and Scherer prominent, but Wilson stopped progress. The North Shore forwards went away on a good passing rush which reached University's twenty-five but Sloman hit clear. North Shore were making matters very lively for University and several rushes were stemmed in the nick of time by Speight and Sloman. Keeping the opposing side in their own twenty-five for a considerable time, the North Shore van finally got through and Cooper scored i a clever goal. The University vanguard j now made strenuous efforts to make up the i ieeway. but the defence was very sound. Wilson and Prater repeatedly proving i stumbling blocks. Play was in North Shore's j twenty-five at half-time: North Shore. 1; University, 0. Several sorties by the North Shore Cor--1 wards were spoiled through the attackers ; not being able to maintain a foothold on I the slippery ground. Grice, for University. cleverly intercepted and hit to Scherer. who went clean through North Shore's defence and netted the ball. A whirlwind attack by North Shore went tbrough_ to the circle. but Fawcett cleared. The North Shore for--1 wards returned and again Fawcett was I called upon to clear. Grice rushed play to , North Shore's end and a quick pass to Scherer and back again to Grice saw the latter find the goal. University were now having much the better of matters, and Grice again found the goal after making an opening. The North Shore forwards broke away from the bully, and penned University in their twenty-five. From a rush the ball went from Frater to Cooper, who shot with the desired result The whistle went shortly afterwards: University . . . . . 3 North Shore . . 1 Mr. J. J. Ellison was referee THE JUNIOR MATCHES. Second Grade.—University. ' 2 goals (Brown), beat St. Luke's. 1; Mount Eden. i (Edson, Thompson], drew with Areta, 2 (Tate). Third Grade.—Wesley College. 7 (Lewis 3. . Lowe. Briniblecombe, Anderson. Sarenke). ! beat University. 2 (Bindon); North Shore. S (Foster 4. Reid '2. Emirali 2). beat St. Luke's. 1 (Carlyle): Mount Eden, 5 (Waters 3, Waugh, Bowden), beat Devonport Methodist, 4 (Harris 3. Clist 1); Epiphany. 2 Hewitt. Flyger), beat Gordon, 0. Fourth Grade.— North Shore. I (Hynds). drew with Somerville. 1. (Taylor) : Mount Eden. 12. beat St. Luke's, 0; St. Alban's. 2 i (Saunders. Rainer), beat University. 1 ! (Hopewell). Fifth Grade.—St. Luke's. 3 (Don. Ray, Williams), beat Epiphany, 1 (Howard). Ladies' _ Matches.—Rewa A. 11 (Misses Ross 5. Vollemare 3. Rankin 3), beat Rewa B. 0 TAURANG A COMPETITION. IBV TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] TAURANG A. Saturday. In the Innes Cup hockey competition. Rovers defeated Kiwis by S goals to 2.