ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19691, 18 July 1927, Page 13

ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL.

CHATHAM OOP BEMI-FIHAIB.

THISTLE AND PONSONBY. CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES. The return of the Thistle team was the feature of the Auckland Football Association's matches on Saturday afternoon. By its easy defeat of North Shore in the Chatham Cup semi-final, Thistle showed that its absence from the competitions Che previous week had by no means impaired its play. The other semi-final, between Ponsonby and Onehunga, was won by Ponsonby after a good game at Victoria Park, which was used instead of Blandford Park to give the latter ground a rest. Two championship games were also played. Detailed results are as follows: — CHAMPIONSHIP. Navy Depot, 3, v. Y.M.C.A.", 3. Northcote, 1, v. Tramways, 1. CHATHAM CUP. Ponsonby, 4, v. Onehunga, 3. Thistle, *2, v. North Shore, 0. THISTLE'S SUPERIORITY. Tho Chatham Cup semi-final between Thistle and North Shore, the two leading teams in the club competition, gave Ihistle the chance to prove its complete superiority in team-work. The team could have increased its winning margin had it made a serious effort to do so in the second half. In contrast. North Shore tried its best all through, but the forwards seemed powerless and failed lamentably wben chances occurred. Shooting with any degree of accuracy would have netted the losers at least two goals. After smart footwork in midfield Hislop shot just above the North Shore goal. North Shore gained temporarily from a free kick and Smith manoeuvred for a pretty opening, which saw Jay cross-kick and Zoull jump high to save. Thistle conceded a corner, but Dickson found neutral territory by sound defence. In North Shore's quarter Gerrard again sent his opponents back, but the inside forwards were too far back to smother Reid's saving punt. Christie's play at centre-half was very impressive and he _ was timing his powerful drop shots beautifully. J.Stewart, too. was " shooting" well and narrowly failed, Lipacombe just getting his fingers to the leather as it soared toward the top of the net. Thistle then exploited the " triangle " method of attack on the right wing. Carter, Dunsmorc and Cumming participating. Cumniing eluded his opponents with diver footwork and cross-kicked from near the corner. D. Stewart, out-side-left, shot, but the ball was smothered. J. Stewart was in position and had little difficulty in finding the net. Smith was hurt, but soon returned. Cleal and Woolley had an excellent chance just on half-time, but Jay headed Woolley's pass the wrong way. Thistle led by 1 goal to oat the interval.

Thistle's next goal was unexpected, Gerrard miskicking when Lipscombe was out of goal, the ball bouncing into the net. It was an unfortunate and costly mistake for the hard-working back, whose play in tha first half wa3 deserving of better reward. Immediately afterwards. when Thistle worked the right flank, Cumming sent across a great shot and Lipsr.ombe just managed to tip it behind. The understanding of the Thistle forwards and halves still kept the opposition busy. The North Shore forwards were very weak in front of goal. The most glaring example of this weakness in the front line was provided when Woolley missed and the ball rolled past the open goal at a leisurely pace. Moore came up at a great pace and j?hot wide a yard or two from the goal. North Shore's attack had now gone to pieces and it, remained so until the filial whistle signalled victory for Thistle by 2 goals to to 0.

PONSONBY BEATS ONEHUNGA. A splendid recovery when the odds were heavily against them brought Onehunga within a goal of Ponaonby in the second Chatham Cup semi-final. The game was not remarblo for the standard of- football, but it was always interesting. Ponsonby opened the scoring when Innes placed a good corner and Hunter sent the ball past Hallett. Weak shooting by the Onehunga forwards saved the Ponsonby goal twice when the defence had been caught napping. The play of Innes and Ahern was a source of trouble for Onehunga and Ponsonby's second goal was the result of a pass from Innes to Ahern, who scored from easy range. A minute later Mooney put Ponsonby 3 up with a beautiful shot from almost halfway. The shot caught the wind and swerved past Hallett, who had_ plenty of time to anticipate it. TJp to this s'tage the advantage was mainly with Ponsonby. Onehunga then rallied with great success. Reid and Knott combined and Mellor passed to C'heeseman whose shot struck the bar and bounced back into play. Mellor was at hand and scored. More long shots by Mooney failed Innes then drove at the har and "Wright scored from the rebound. Onehunga's second goal was scored by Cheeseman after Watts had just pre\-iou*=ly blocked a penalty shot taken by Knott. The half-time scores were:—Ponsonby, 4; Onehunga. 2. In the second half the only goal was scored by Onehunga. who attacked at once. Onehunga maintained the pressure, and Mellor f scored Onphunga's third goal off Cotton's pass. Excitement prevailed as Hallet performed some spectacular goalkeeping. The game ended with the scores:— Ponsonby, 4; Onehunga, 3. NORTHCOTE AND TRAMWAYS. The fact that no goals had been secured at half-time made the second half of the match between Tramways and Northcote very keen and interesting. Northcote took tho lead and it seemed that Tramways would be beaten, until a goal near the call of time settled the issue. There were some sharp exchangee at the start and the ball moved about the field without either side gaining much advantage. Tramways was put on the attack by Spencer, but his hard shot, was cleared by Lyon. Lewis also failed with a good effort. At halftime there was no Bcore. The first goal was soored soon after the commencement of the second spell. Hart sending Wellbourne away to goal for Ncrthcote. Spencer was still & worry for the Northcote defence, but he could not pass Lyon. A oounter by Northcote resulted in Hart goaling. only to be ruled off-side. Flashes of play of the brilliant order pleased the spectators, and Batty and Lyon were prominent in spectacular goalkeeping. Spencer, who was keeping well on the ball, was then awarded a penalty in the penalty area and made no error with the resultant free-kick. Both teams continued to plav well but neither could ecore attain and the Tesult was a draw, one all. ANOTHER DRAWN CONTEST. A drawn game was also played between Y.M.C.A. and Navy Depot at Devonport. In the first half Dine opened with a goal for the Navy, and Y.M.C.A. drew level with a goal by Humphreys, who scored from a corner. At half-time, however, the Navy led by a- goal, Webb finding the net. The Navy was on tho offensive early in the second spell but the defence was sound. Much to his disgust Miles handled in his own penalty area and Humphreys ©aualised for Y.M.C.A. Miles then moved up into the forward line. Dine replacing him at fullback. The next goal in a game which was hard fought throughout, was ga : xec-l by Humphreys—his third success. The Navy cime back in determined fashion and Black scored when Miles had made a splendid opening. The Navy's chance of victory was lost when Miles drove a penalty against Bach straight at the _ Y.M.C.A. goalkeeper, and the match ended in a draw, 3 all. REPRESENTATIVE PROBABLES. The following players, chosen to train for representative honours, are requested to attend at Blandford Park to-morrow evening:—Batty, Lyon, Gerrard. Reid. Miles. Carter, Tinkler, Jones, Christie, Innes, Cumming, Mooney, Hislop, Spencer. The North Auckland Association recommends tho following players for selection in the Auckland team to play the Canadians on July 30: —J. Rodgers (centrehalf), D. Patrick (outside-left,), T. Caldwell (outsideright). JUNIOR COMPETITIONS Following are the results of Saturday's junior matches:— . . Second Grade.—Kiwi, 1, v. Takanim, 1; Metropolitan, 8, v. Tamaki, 3; Birkenhead, 4, v. North Shore, 0. Third Grade. —North Shore, 5, v. Y.M.C.A., 1; Ponsonby B, 2,v. Y.M.C.A., 2: Metropolitan, 3, v. Birkenhead, 1: New Lynn, 6, v. Swanson, 2; Eden, 4, v. Blockhouse, 2. ~ ■ Fourth Grade. —Comrades, 0, v. Burnley, 0; Belmont, 2. v. North Shore, 0; Y.M.C.A. A, 3, v. Thistle, 0: W.Y.M.1., 2, v. Tamaki, 2: W.Y.M.I. B, 7. v. Comrades, C. 0. Sixth Grade.—Comrades, 4, v. Y.M.C.A A. 0: Y.M.C.A. B. 2. v. Metropolitan. 1; All Saints'. 3. v. W.Y.M.1., 2. Seventh Grade.—Y.M.C.A. B. 5, v. No*thI cote, 1. ; Secondary Schools.—St. Stephen's, 5„ v. t Technical C. 0; Technical A, 3. v. Mount Albert, 0: Carlton. 5, v. Northcote. 1. CANADA V. NEW ZEALAND.

The Canadian representative team will play its fourth test match against New Zealand at Carlaw Park on Saturday afternoon. Each team has a win and a draw to its credit, and this fact greatly adds to the interest of the contest. Grandstand booking arrangements are advertised.

CANADA & POVERTY BA% VISITORS WIN BY 6 GOALS TO & [by telegbaph.—press association.] GISBORNE, Sunday. The best football programme ever played before the public of Poverty Buy was staged yesterday, when the Canadian Soccer toam met Poverty Bay, and, as a curtainraiser, the Maori All Blacks Kugby team played a district team. The visitors in each case were successful, the Canadians winning very easily by 6 goals to 0, and the Maoris by 28 points to 18. The weather was fine and the attendance was between 4000 and 5000.

Canada's brilliant combination and excellent ball control gave the visitors a very easy victory. The home team was entirely outclassed in every department and rarely looked like scoring. In the first half Canada scored five goals, the scorers being Davidson (2) Gibson, Monaghan and Brolly. in the second spell the visitors eased off. Monaghan being the only scorer. Roots (back) and Howarth and Hill (forwards) were the best of the home team. A feature of the game was the accurate headwork of the Canadians, the ball sometimes passing among four and five men, and evoking enthusiastic applause. FOURTH TEST MATCH. PLAYERS FROM OTAGO. [BY TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] DUNEDIN. Sunday. Otago players selected to represent New Zealand in the fourth Soccer test at Auckland next Saturday will not leave Dunedin until to-morrow. ~ Tho selectors requested that all the players should be in Auckland by Monday for training, but the departure of Anderson, Cooper, Hooper and McCormack was deferred, as their clubs. Seacliffe and Northern, met in competition yesterday. The four players are fit and in training, and local selectors did not consider their presence necessary so early in Auckland. FIXTURE AT HAMILTON. APPOINTMENT OF REFEREE. [DY TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT.] HAMILTON, Sunday. Mr. James Baillie, of Hamilton, has been appointed referee for the Soccer match between Canada and South Auckland, at Hamilton next Wednesday. HAMILTON DISTRICT MATCHES. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] HAMILTON, Saturday. In a match between Frankton Railways and Rotowaro, on the latter's ground, the home side was a little too good for the visitors. Rotowaro won by 2 goals to 0. Claudelands Rovers and Glen Massey fought a determined match, and drew, one goal each. The schools match between Whitiora and Hamilton East ended in a draw of two goals each. CONTESTS IN THE SOUTH. [BY TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON. Sunday. Soccer' matches played at Wellington yesterday resulted:—Thistle, 3, v. Marist. 3; Diamonds. 2, v. Y.M.C.A.. 1; Seatoun, 2, v. Hospital, 1; Brooklyn. 4. v. Institute. 1. CHRISTCHURCH. Sunday. Results of Soccer matches at Christchurch yesterday are as follows:—Western, 2, v. Technical Old Boys. 0: Nomads. 5, v. Thistle, 0. DUNEDIN. Sunday. In a Soccer match at Dunedin yesterday. Northern. 5 goals, defeated Seacliff, 3.