ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22052, 7 September 1933, Page 4

ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL

By Corner-kick. t FLETCHER CUP COMPETITION Interest in the Fletcher Cup competition is now mainly confined to the three leading teams, Maori Hill, Mosgiel, and. Northern, and the first-named, as the result of Mosgiel’s defeat by Northern on Saturday, look to be the likely winners of the premiership. An abridged summary of the results of these clubs in the competition this year is as follows; —Maori Hill is the only undefeated team so far, having 28 cup points for 15 matches played, two being drawn, the record of goals being 45 for and 13 against. The drawn games were played with High School Old Boys and Northern. Mosgiel, which follow next on the table, have 26 points for 16 games, two being lost and two drawn. Their, goal record is 68 for and 17 against. Northern have 24 points to its credit, having also played 16 games, three being lost and two drawn. Their record of goals is 47 for and 27 against. The intention of the Match Committee was to play off the back games in which the three leading teams are concerned before completing the second round, but, as this would involve the standing down of the majority of the players, the Management Committee wisely decided at last Monday’s meeting to play as many games as possible on Saturday. Under this arrangement most of the clubs will complete the full number of games in the com-, petition, but with Maori Hill and Northern playing off a back game both Seacliff and Port are without opponents. These teams, however, will be given permission to play a match if desired. 1 The meeting between Maori Hill and Northern should prove a good drawing card on Saturday, and if the previous meeting between these clubs, when the play ended in a draw, is . any criterion, keen football should be witnessed. This match will have a distinct bearing on the premiership and the possibility of Northern again upsetting matters, as. it did the previous week against Mosgiel, is a likely contingency. LAST WEEK’S GAMES Following on the improved showing of the Mosgiel team in its last two or three matches, there were, perhaps, only a few that gave Northern any chance ot defeating the country team when they met on the Caledonian Ground last Saturday, but Northern’s remarkable tendency to upset calculations at times again asserted itself when the Black and Whites won by two goals.to one. ■ Northern so far this season hdve. taken three points from Mosgiel and one from Maori Hill, yet have gone down to much weaker combinations. In Saturday’s game Mosgiel were not at full strength, M‘Cloy and M*Lean both being absentees, and this upset the teams usual combination. Lindsay, who had not played for several weeks, turned out at right full-back, and Haldayne, from the juniors, filled the centre > -half position. The standard of play was not high, as the gusty wind which swept the ground from the harbour end curled the .ball in all directions arid made accurate control very difficult. On the play, Mosgiel were slightly .unlucky. They had a greater share of the play, and in the .first spell when playing with the wind missed scoring by inches, several shots striking the poets and rebounding clear. Coats, the Northern right-back, was particularly sound on defence, his timely clearances robbing Mosgiel of victory. He was well supported by Perry and Sutherland at half-back. Perry, in fact, played his best game of the season, being good alike on defence and opening up play to the forwards. The vanguard, however, did not display much cohesion, although both Anderson’s and Henderson's goals were, smartly taken. Montgomery, on the left-wing, judged the pace of the wind well, and many of his crosses caused the opposition anxious moments. Jones, in goal, was right on hie game, and in bringing off some worthy saves he had a big say in the success of the Black and Whites. ■ ~ ; Mosgiel’s one goal lead 4 at . the changeover was hardly sufficient, when having to face the breeze in the second, half, and a wise movement was made in . changing Porter to the centre-half position. His solid defence'had the effect of stiffening up the rearguard, where the apparent weakness was mostly in the full-back positions. Both Lindsay and Steven played too square, and their play had. its effect on M'Dougall, whose clearances were hot so sure as customary." Truesdale, at lefthalf, played well throughout, although at times he was inclined to kick too hard. Stenhouse was unfortunate in receiving ah injury which considerably affected his play in the second half. Of the Skinner and Davidson were an effective pair on the left-wing, both being out of luck with several fine shots’. Davidson’s field play showed good ball control, and he was' the means of making good openings for his Winger. Few scoring shots came the way of Porter, who failed to register on this occasion, which was' the first time he has missed since taking up the centreforward position. Whyte’s play at insideright suffered through lack of support from Gorrie, the winger failing to make use of his colleague’s play. At Prospect Park, Maori Mill showed to advantage against the less experienced Roslyn eleven, winning by four goals to one, but in view of the play the. score should not have shown such a margin. In the first place, the Roslyn captain made a tactical blunder in choosing to play against the strong wind and sun after wm- . ning the toss, and the poor display of the Roslyn goalie in the first half-hour of the game when he made no attempt to clear three of the goals scored accounted to some extent for the margin in the scores. For the winners Wills was sound in g0a1,., his saving being very clean. Taylor and Bayne, the full-backs,. were always reliable, and held the Whites fbrwards (well in hand during the play. Baird was the best half-back afield, defending well and putting his team often on attack. Dougal, who filled Brown s place at centre-half, was steady enough, but was inclined to kick too hard. Of the forwards M'Cormack was the best on the ground; he was shooting from every angle and started off all the scoring movements for Hill. His goal was a beauty. * Gordon was well watched, but must be given credit for the two goals he scored. Balk and Oliver made a good left-wing pair. The former played his usual clean game, and though not getting much of the ball in the second spell, his play was always effective. On the Roslyn side Clarke was disappointing in the first half, but saved many good shots in the second spell. Risiiage and Copland bore the brunt of the Hill’s attacks, and came through with credit. The former was in good form all through the game. The halves were weak as a line, but individually they put up a fairly good defence. Grey and Rutherford were the outstanding players of the vanguard, the first-named feeding the winger well. Rutherford made good use of the openings, and dropped over many fine crosses, but the centre-forward and right-wing were weak, losing scoring chances through lack of cohesion and not being in position. The first meeting between the clubs resulted •in a 2 —l victory for Maori Hill. The remaining matches of the round had.no bearing on the premiership. Mornington defeated Port for the second time this season, and improved its position on the table, being now seventh on the list. 1 Technical reversed its defeat by Seacliff in the first round and won by

three goals to two. High School Old Boys and Kaitangata again played a drawn game, neither side on this occasion scoring a goal. F.A. TROPHY According to an Auckland report, the Auckland Football Association has accepted a challenge the F.A. Trophy from Wellington, the match to be played next Saturday. It is understood that Canterbury has also a challenge in for the trophy. The result of the'. Welling-tbn-Auckland game will be awaited with interest in Dunedin, as of the 4 three teams seen here this season, Wellington appear ,to stand a good chance, although the. Auckland side is likely to be strengthened in three or four places, i.e., at rightwing, . centre-forward, left-half, and left full-back, Tt will be remembered that Wellington was successful on one occasion in taking the trophy away from Auckland in . 1931, the same year that Otago defeated Wellington. Auckland at the present time, has , three of the principal trophies in its possession, .these being the F.A. Trophy, the Chatham Cup, and Skerr.ett Cup. THE CHATHAM CUP Millerton -were an unlucky team to lose the Chatham Cup final to Ponsonby last Saturday (states the Wellington Evening Post), for it cannot be denied that they were a better team than the Aucklanders from a spectacular point,of view.. Ponsonby won because they were superior in the two match-winning essen-tials—goal-getting 'and goal-keeping. In midfield play the aggressive West Coasters had the best of everything, but their goalie was the weakest man 4 in their eleven and th.eir forwards! could' do anything but. shoot accurately, losing frequent scoring oppprtunities by shooting wide dr high. Ponsonby did hot get so much of the ball, but made better use of it when they did get it. The hero of the ,Ponsonby side,was the goal-keeper, Watson. He played a splendid* game, having plenty to do, but he would have had a more difficult task had he been facipg his own forwards. Haggett and Stewart were fair at full-back, but the speedy Millerton forwards caused them trouble at times. The halves were sound, but ho better than most of the Wellington First A Division half lines. The right-wingers, Ahern and Irincs, were the outstanding men in the forwards, and both Ponsonby’s goals came from them, Innes scoring one and Ahern and Innes making the opening for the centre-for-ward (Jepson) to score the other. These three men were the life of the Auckland forwards.

Unlike Ponsonby, whose game resembled that played by the local teams, Millerton had a style all their own. Instead of the short, low passes used here, they employed long high lobs which were obviously better suited to a wet ground than to the firm surface upon which last Saturday’s match was played. Nevertheless, Ponsonby found' the long, high passes very disconcerting at times, especially when the full-backs, passed directly to forwards over the heads of the halves. Taylor, the right-winger, and J, Blyth, the centreforward, were the stars of the Millerton side. Repeatedly they thrust their way through the Ponsonby defence, only to have their efforts, nullified by poor shooting. The rest of the forwards suffered from the same defect. They were enterprising, but they failed in front of goal. C. Orman and Pollock were good, but Cowan, on the left wing, was not up to the standard of his fellow forwards. The halves, T. Blyth, G. Orman, and Graham, were a forceful trio, and the Support they gave their forwards could not have been better. Miller and Longstaff played faultlessly in the full-back positions, but Smith, in goal, was weak, though nervousness probably hindered him. On the whole, the bustling never-say-die type of football played by Millerton, particularly by the forwards, is what the public want, and although Ponsonby won the Cun the sympathy of the crowd went largely to Millerton. ' '