HOCKEY

Southland Times, Issue 19345, 10 September 1924, Page 6

HOCKEY

INTER-ISLAND MATCH NORTH JUST DEFEATS SOUTH (Our Special Reporter.) NELSON, September 9. With eight reps, of Southland province in the South Island team, it says much for them that the North Island team, drawn from several strong teams, only just man* aged to gain the decision in the interIsland match to-day. Miss Burt played a brilliant full back game, time after time in the first spell especially, stemming off the strong onslaughts of the opposing forwards, and transferring play to the opposite end of the field. Misses Clark, Ashley and H. Horner made a splendid trio, repeatedly gaining applause for their fast and clever work.

Misses A. Hei, F. Hill and Mrs MacDonald were the pick pf the northerners. After even play for five minutes, Miss Hei (North) took the ball to the circle, her shot being splendidly taken on the stick by the South goalkeeper (Miss Thompson), but off the rebound Miss Hill, coming up fast sent to the net. North 1, South 0.

North were again pressing, and a shot sent in by Miss Hei went wide. A splendid save by Miss Burt removed the danger to the South line and play was taken to the North circle, where Miss G. Newery was prominent in clearing on three occasions. South were soon hard at it in defending, several shots either being cleared or going wide. Particularly good work for the South was put in by Miss Burt, a hit sent the ball to the South forwards, Miss Clark getting in some clever fine work, followed by Miss Horner making a tricky scoop pass inside the circle, and allowing Miss Maude to equalise. North 1, South 1. Immediately after the bully, North got to the South circle, where, after Miss Burt had cleared well, Miss Hei camp through, putting North in the lead again. North 2, South 1. Good passing between Misses Horner, Aitken and Clark aroused intense excitement, as quick work was taking place in the circle, but North got out of a difficult situation by the aid of Miss Swinburn, who took play to the opposite 25, Miss Hei carrying on to the circle until Miss Burt, who was playing a rattling game, sent her forwards away, Miss Clark taking the ball to the circle, where she fell over an opponent’s stick. North gained an advantage from the corner, Miss Hei breaking away once more with the ball, and a few seconds later just missing a shot. After a pretty individual effort from a corner, Miss Booth sent in a simple one which should have been easily stopped by two or three southerners. North 3, South 1. The score was unchanged at half time. In the second spell Miss Booth (North) retired owing to cramp, Miss Rasmussen taking her place. South immediately attacked, Miss Young just missing the ball on the edge of the goal mouth, and later Mrs MacDonald cleared well away. Miss Rasmussen taking the ball to midfield. A miss by Miss Newey let Miss Clark through to the circle, where Miss Robinson cleared, and from a corner Misses Hei and Hill took play to Southern territory, where after a goal had been sent in by a player who was offside, the ensuing free hit came back to the South circle, only to be transferred to the opposite one, where a combined passing movement by Misses Clark, Aitken and Ashley saw the lastnamed send in a shot, which missed its objective. Play was fast and exciting, neither side claiming much advantage. A hard hit by Miss Burt came to Miss Horner, who, after cleverly beating the opposition, passed to Miss Ashley, who sent in a hard shot to the net. The ball hit the goalkeeper, went straight up in the air, and fell again on top of the net. It was a fine piece of play by the Southland reps, which earned much applause from the spectators. South if anything, were getting the worst of any luck these was in the game, and twice in succession the North goalie took two shots in a kneeling position, but the next second Miss Horner took a pass and sent in a beauty. North 3, South 2.

With ten minutes to go, excitement ran high, as repeated South attacks were beaten off by the solid opposition. The pace continued a cracker, a high standard of clean open play being seen. North got to the circle, where, after several exciting moments Miss Clark raced to the other end of the field, where her shot was just cleared off. The ball then went to the South circle, Miss Wayte clearing to Miss Clark, and North conceding a corner. Another South onrush was cleared by Miss Robinson. South were having all the best of the game now and well deserved an equalising shot, but Mrs Hoppi cleared well up field and the game shortly after ended with the Northerners defending. MEN’S MATCH. MANAWATU DEFEAT AUCKLAND JUNIORS. PALMERSTON N., September 9. The Auckland junior hockey representatives, winners of the Zanol Shield at the Christchurch tourney, bspke their journey home this afternoon to meet the Manawatu seniors. The visitors were no match for the home side, which won by five goals to nil.