ONE-SIDED HOCKEY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 419, 30 July 1928, Page 6

ONE-SIDED HOCKEY

CHALLENGE SHIELD MATCH WAIKATO EASILY BEATEN BY AUCKL\ND In a match that can only br disappointingly one-sided. Auckl - soundly defeated Waikato at on Saturday for the Mew Challenge Shield. The shield hast*in the keeping of Auckland for th, last season and Waikato made a. t> for the trophy in the first match of the season.

The home side was victorious by \ goals to 2. Auckland’s forwards, wnrt. ing in splendid harmony throughout dominated the play. At half-time thr scoreboard showed 4 — l, and at th* final whistle the figures were doubled. This indicates that the shield holders played, consistently good hockey. EVERY FORWARD SCORED An unusual feature of the game was that each of Auckland’s five forwards succeeded in securing one or morv goals. Up till the last three minute* Clive Watts was the only one who h»c failed to register. Then a corner wr«e: .against Waikato and Clive drove a good shot past the goalie's lt«s. There is no mystery about Auckland’s thumping win. The five forwards were, all things considered, the best that could have been chosen oiz: of a large bunch of likely candidate?. Up against these the Waikato quinte: were not in the same street. FINE TEAM WORK Auckland’s vanguard moved as m* man and thought as one mind with an understanding and anticipation thr. seemed almost uncanny. On the other hand. Waikato depended more on individual effort to gt. the ball into the circle. There wer* occasions of concerted movements, bn; by comparison with the work of their opponents, these were relatively few. Another glaring weakness was tb* hesitancy and lack of enterprise it. the circle. Numerous possible goal, were wasted through absence of tha. finesse that stamped the shieldholders as superior goal-getters. Of the visitors’ forwards, G. Finch was probably the hardest worker, though he was not in the limeligbi. Bradley, left wing, showed up effectively now anti then, and his goal wa> a commendable piece of stickwork. B. Spiers, outside right, about whose head in times past a halo has unaccountably been placed, gave an exhibition that at best was the performance e: a fair average winger. He certaiab made one spectacular run, but threw away what a first-class man wouk almost certainly have turned into a goal. If he cut out a bit of his “grandstanding,” he might give an improved account of himself. SOLID HALVES All three halves, O. Finch, L. .Spier* and Goodwin, toiled bravely in the lac: of heavy odds. Spiers was perhaps Che best of the trio. Waikato was forttnato in the possession of a sterling *left fullback in Ewan. He took upor. himself the lion’s share of the defence and gave a convincing exhibition el cool and heady clearing. If it had not been for this man one would shudoer at the probable score against the challengers. In view of the amount of work he was called upon to execute it could faithfully be said that he was the best back on the field. His associate. Allen, was much less in the picture, but nevertheless wielded a useful stick.

A good deal was expected, perhaps too much, of the veteran goalie, Fletcher, ex-All Black and formerly without a peer in New Zealand hockey as a custodian. On Saturday he had a thankless job and for a large part of the match was the target of five hot

shots. Fletcher brought off sonje spectacular saves, thus giving * glimpse of his former craftsmanship. But he was well and truly beaten by the “tricky, pokey twiddley” sort* of wrist work of which Eric and CUve Watts and Anthony are capable exponents. So long as Fletcher could the ball coming from the circle he was right. But he was not always allowed to see it. It is superfluous to comment at any length on the merits of the Auckland eleven. The team wa-s the same to a man that flogged th*country representatives not long ago What was said then in these columns will suffice for Saturday’s game. To lay the cream on lavishly is desirable nor necessary. The sphere of thrust on Saturday wa* on the left portion of the forward !»*• from Eric Watts to Philpotts. whi" the right section had much 1e» 10 do. Rarely has Philpotts been in better form. Steele was outstancingly good in the halves. Gamin' and Williams left nothing to ** sired in the fullback department Highfield. with the pads on. while !*- a top-notch goalie, was satisfactory-^ A pleasing feature of the eneoun_ was the remarkable restraint in use of the whistle. In this re*P* the game was a model one OTAHUHU v. ARETA Otahuhu beat Areta in a h ne » *•*.' game on Saturday afternoon hV 1 *T. to nil. The play, on the good, but at times speed de * en ”!L,. into wildness and play becanon u essarily rough, especially among Areta forwards. Otahuhu faster of the two teams and IH ® 8 - some very good passing. h r eaJ<3 ” times clean through the Areta a F. Gardiner, on the Otahuhu _ •played a very sound game, gins, at centre, did some ?°°°, wAreta’s defence was fairly ?o u a little more finesse and play among the forwards wo prove the play. Hughes, gave a good display. All through the game the re whistle was going mucb titfquently. Both teams were liruiw sticks too much and the offwas continually broken. y relied more on passing and throat powers of bullocking its the enemy's defence, it misM won the game.