Good Women’s Hockey In Long Grass

Southland Times, Issue 24114, 1 May 1940, Page 10

Good Women’s Hockey In Long Grass

By

ROLL-IN

The second game of the first round of the Southland women’s hockey competition was played in stormy weather on long grass and this did not assist the players in any way at all. Considering the state of the ground, some splendid hockey was seen and some new players gave good exhibitions. Although defeated by 11 goals to nil, Technical’s game against Ex-High was quite good. For the first time in the writer’s knowledge Technical fielded a short team and this gap in such a young side was a disadvantage which assisted Ex-High to a great, extent. Technical players who read these notes must bear in mind that the teams opposed to them are composed of experienced players who have had years of extra playing and practice to make them what they are.

The long grass in the circle badly handicapped H. Withington, Technical goalkeeper, whose clearing shots were by no means strong enough. B. Greer and L. MacDermott, full-backs, have the same fault as the goalkeeper in that they do not hit hard enough in defence. The half line, D. Widdowson, J. McGregor and J. Brosnan, did not combine as well as it did last week, while its passes were weak and it did not place its shots to advantage. R. Watson, N. Peacock, P. Hemmings, and O. Hemmings were easily the best on the field for Technical. Several times they tried to break away, but the absence of the left winger spoiled their chances. Their lifting and combination could do with more practice.

Ex-High fielded a full team and was greatly superior to Technical. Two new members showed up to good advantage, H. Hansen (nee Johnston) and A. Anderson. H. Hansen in centrehalf position proved a heady player and made good use of her stick, finding openings in the defence to send her forwards away on attack. In the absence of F. Monk, who : s on holiday, H. Monk was in the goal and was not called on to do much work. E. Fox and L. Fraser gave a good exhibition of full-back play and were strong on defence. M. Ford and A. Anderson combined well with H. Hansen and ably assisted in attack as well as defence.

The Ex-High forwards, E. Livingston, M. Woods, L. Purvis, S. Monk and J. Wallace, combined well against Technical, but against Collegiate may not hold together as well. E. Livingstone is still inclined to miss too many passes. The second game, Collegiate v. Invercargill, was more even, although In-

vercargill, minus a goalkeeper, was beaten by seven goals to nil. M. Kelly and F. Foulston as full-backs for Invercargill were strong on defence, although they missed the support of the goalkeeper. The half-backs, H. San • dri, E. Edwards and M. Elliotte, were quite sound, although the defence missed B. Swale, who as centre half always plays a sound defensive as well as attacking game. The forwards were strengthened by M. Howie at centre forward. She is a strong versatile player, very sound on attack, and is playing her first games for five years. P. Hall, G. Tomlins, L. Cook and F. Watt are fair, but were helped considerably by M. Howie. These forwards will require more practice in passing and positional play. The Collegiate team was further strengthened by L. McDonald, of Dipton, a strong left wing player who will help town hockey considerably. A. Bateman was not called upon to defend her goal very much, while E. Blackie and I. Hunter played soundly

at full-backs and saved the goalkeeper a great deal of work. M. McLeod and O. Butler proved good on defence against Invercargill and were instrumental in sending their forwards on attack many times in succession.

N. Wylie, D. Gray, A. Shaw and L. McDonald proved a strong forward line on attack and a very strong defence will be required to these players from scoring goals. A full-back forward line will upset a good defence and Ex-High will require a solid defence next Saturday to keep Collegiate from scoring.