CENTRAL NOW IN STRONG POSITION

Southland Times, Issue 23499, 4 May 1938, Page 14

CENTRAL NOW IN STRONG POSITION

Unbeaten Hockey Teams Meet This Week

By

PAD

The second series of matches in the Southland Men’s Hockey Association’s competition ended with another win for Central and one for Collegiate. Central will meet Collegiate next Saturday. High School made an excellent showing against the experienced Central team when it put up a score of four goals against Central’s six, and the School players gave their opponents no peace. High School is to play Civil Service in the third series of matches, starting on Saturday. This

game should be a willing one, and Civil Service will have a hard job to keep the High School forwards out of the circle. Judging by the form shown by the two teams last Saturday the match will be very even. The High School players are fit and. keen to win.

The Collegiate team should have a hard fight against Central. These teams will virtually decide the winner of the competition between themselves, as Civil Service and High School can hardly hope to beat them when they

are playing at full strength. Yet Civil Service came close to upsetting Collegiate last Saturday. However, speculation at this early stage of the competition is somewhat idle. Each of the senior teams has a dash of new blood, and that new blood may decide the competition. The game should be bright and interesting and if the weather and the grounds allow fast play some good hockey should be seen. The Collegiate forward line is keeping together rather well and Central is always on the ball. Last Saturday in the match Collegiate v Civil Service the forward lines of both teams showed a tendency to dribble the ball too far down the line ; before centring. Many times during the game a wing and an inside forward took the ball away on their own and centred it when only a few yards from the back line. This practice gave the centre-forward no chance to capture the ball and decide where he was going to shoot it. Instead of a cool shot at goal in a certain spot, his hit was a hurried affair with neither precision nor direction. This practice of retaining the ball too long can make or mar a match, as it tires the centreforward with useless running for the goal. The ball should be passed in either to the inside or to the centreforward as the forward line approaches 1 the circle. This gives the centreforward a chance to make a clean shot, and gives him time to see where he will shoot.

When the ball is taken to the back line play, more often than not, results in a melee, and this allows the halves to come back to the assistance of the full-backs. With the halves, and two full-backs and the goalie ranged against him the opposing centre-forward has not much chance of a clear shot, but if the ball is centred at the proper time the score has a chance of increasing.