ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22354, 30 August 1934, Page 4

ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL

By Corner Kick. September 1. —F.A. Trophy fixture, Auckland v. Canterbury. CHINESE CUP The Chinese Cup match between Technical Old Boys and Seacliff, postponed last week on account of ground conditions, will now take place on Saturday at the Caledonian Ground, and with a fine day and a dry ground spectators should witness keen play. Though the Seacliff team will , not be taking part in the knock-out competition owing to some of its' players being out of town, it has an eye on winning the second honours of the season, ;and will be at full strength for Saturday’s game. Prior to the main game, the first round of the knock-out competition will be commenced, when Mornington and Mosgiel will met at 1.30. OTAGO JUNIORS v. SOUTHLAND Those hardy enthusiasts who braved the elements last Saturday for ‘ the return game between Otago Juniors and Southland were rewarded with an excellent exhibition of the game. To say that the conditions were wretched is but to put it mildly. The game demonstrated that, as with the seniors, Otago relies more on the individual capabilities of its players than on combined team work. Southland gave the juniors a lesson in combination that could well he followed. Of course, the southerners had the advantage of a very fine centre-half in Hobbs, who gave a splendid display, and was responsible for most of Southland’s movements, while on defence he was superb. It does not necessarily follow that because a team adopts the long-passing game it can dispense with combination, relying mainly on booting the ball up to the centre-forward for that man to do the rest. It is more than ever necessary that the two inside forwards should be well up to receive a pass from the centre-for-ward if lie is pressed or from the wing men when it is not practicable for them to put the ball right across the goal mouth. The three forwards and halfback jgime does not appeal to the writer, and tne Otago Juniors —and- the seniors for that matter —could not do better than copy the tactics adopted by Southland. A pleasing feature of the game was the physical condition of the ■ men of both teams, and the way the players stood up to the gruelling conditions with the pace on all the time must have afforded great pleasure to both selectors and trainers. It was a fine sporting gesture on the part of Alcorn in agreeing to play extra time with only 10 men, and the referee (Mr A. Riach) showed his enthusiasm for the game when he aceceded to the request of the captains to.continue. This fine spirit augurs well for a continuance of the contests for the Otago and Southland Association Cup that might ultimately create interest in both Invercargill and Dunedin rivalling that of the sister code. _ Certainly if future teams put up a display comparable with that of Saturday, the round ball code must certainly go ahead, and the wish of the president of the Otago Football Association when presenting the cup to Southland that it would not be long before Southland met a senior Otago representative side gratified. This was the first occasion that a cup was at stake between the provinces, and as the game ended in a draw—two goals each—both teams will hold the trophy for six months each. The outstanding player on the field was Hobbs, the Southland centre-half and captain. And a real captain he was. Never letting, up once throughout the game, his ’ball control and accurate passing to his forwards as well as sterling defence made his display one long to be remembered., With such anuionest toiler and- inspiring leader, it was little wonder that the rest-.of the team played well. An eye-opener for local supporters and officials was the exhibition given by the Southland right-wing- pair, Reddington and Dymock. Most of the play , went to this wing, and, it was only, the excellent goal keeping of Dickison that kept the tally down. The only fault.that could be found with the Southland forward line was a tendency by C. Pay at times to lie too far back. On two occasions early in the game chances were missed when the ball went across, the open goal-mouth. H. Pay, the Southland goalie, gave a fine display of safe handling, and his saving of a shot from Smith from the top corner of the net was a good effort. The honours on the Otago side must go to: Alcorn and . Dickison. The Northern centre-half repeated his display of the previous week, or rather improved upon it, for he invariably found his man with a pass and varied his play well. He also went close with long shots which Pay did well to clear. Dickison gave an outstanding display in goal, the manner in which he took the ball, whether in the air or on the ground—and they took a bit of holding on Saturday—stamping him as a custodian well up to senior standard. Excepting M'Dougall, there is not a goal-keeper in the senior competition who can handle a ground shot as he can. Both full-backs played good games, and Wilson, at lefthalf, did exceedingly well against such a fast and clever pair as Reddington and Dymock. His shot in the last minute of the game almost won the cup for his side. It would be hard to single out any forward, although Smith proved a game and clever right-wing, and the shot with which he completely deceived Pay- in the first minutes of the second half was a good one. Halliday started off very well, but often lacked support at ‘ the critical moment, while Wallace did many clever things and put in some. fine individual runs after Smith was carried off.

THE SCHOOLBOYS' TOURNAMENT The South Island Primary Schools’ tournament lost a great deal of interest by the non-participation of Westland. Canterbury sent down two fine combinations, the. Bantams again succeeding in holding, its unbeaten record for five seasons, while the heavy-weights created a surprise by defeating the Otago senior eleven. The outstanding forward on the Canterbury senior side was Warnock, in-side-left. He showed clever ball control and could give many seniors a lesson in trapping a ball on the Am. Virtue, on the right-wing, was one of the fastest boys on the field and was able to control the ball well and cross a ball without easing up. Noonan in goal gave a polished display and was mainly responsible for his side’s victory. .

The Otggo A team’s chief weakness was in goal, both, the goals scored by Canterbury being very easy ones. In this game Otago did not seem to be able to do anything right, even Sell, who is regarded by many to be a coming centre-forward, being right off form. It is a peculiar coincidence that in all grades of Soccer in Otago the teams resort to individualism rather than combined team work. It was apparent in the school boys. The outstanding boy for Otago was the diminutive right-back Bruhns; Time and again he hold up the Canterbury rushes, and on one occasion dribbled through to halfway to sOnd his forwards away. CANTERBURY v. AUCKLAND Canterbury is determined at all costs to put a well-trained side in the field against Auckland in an attempt to lift the English Trophy on Saturday. The selector (Mr B. 0. Priddis) has taken the non-appearance of the three Sutherland brothers at training as an indication that they are not prepared to travel, and has dropped them. It was a fearless step, but one that must b 6 applauded, because it is.far better to have a team that may be slightly inferior in football ability* but in the pink of condition rather than a side that may not be able to stand up to a solid 90 minutes’ play. A team cannot afford to carry any “passengers,” however good their reputation may be. Mr Priddis will not announce the actual positions until the conclusion of training, but the fact that he ordered the players out last Sunday (Saturday was too wet) shows that he intends that the team shall lack nothing on the score of condition. The team is as follows; M. Mitchell, J. Teichert, S. Cawtheray. M. Gordon, A, Gordon, W. Wilson, E. Graggs, G. Ellis. A. Trotter. G. Smith, W. Thomas, with A. M'MilJnn as reserve. ' The Auckland side differs very little from that which met Otago, Wright moving to his proper position at centrehalf in place of Chapman, and Grant taking the left-half berth. The changes should materially strengthen the northern team, and with Kay in great shooting form Canterbury will have a very hard task ahead of it. The Thistle, winger is the most prolific scorer in the northern city this season, and his figures for the seven games previously to the last two Saturdays are: 4,3, 3,2, 2,2, 2, and a total of 28 goals for the season.