Y.M.C.A. Fails Again

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1011, 30 June 1930, Page 6

Y.M.C.A. Fails Again

TRAMS RECOVER FORM

Thistle Down to Ponies

THE Soccer championship was resumed on Saturday wheu the second round was started in line weather on improved grounds. Y.M.C.A. again fell away by failing to score, and shared the points with Celtic at Devonport in a goalless draw. Thistle could not maintain its cup-tie fora and Ponsonby won 3—l. the same score being in favour of Trams against Manurewn at Walker Park. Onehunga showed its best form of the season at home by defeating Corinthians easily with five goals to nil. Shore took the lean in the If grade championship by defeating Philomel 4 —o.

As anticipated, the preliminary game at headquarters between the unbeaten leaders in the B cha.. pionship provided an attractive display of lively and enterprising Soccer. The presence of Philomel brought along a large and vociferous contingent of servicemen, and Shore had a shrill following of juveniles to urge it on. Shore was without Gerrard, who was recovering from a cold, but the attack was strengthened by the presence of Don Webl centre-forward, after a long spell out of the game. The game was fast from start to finish and compared more than favourably with the senior A game which followed as the main feature of the day. The young Shore van was too fast and tricky for the “Phillies’ ” backs, and with clever team work between the inside men scored two goals in each half. Bush leading the attack in good style with a well-de-served hat trick. The Shore halves tackled too strongly to give the naval thrust much chance, and fed their own firing line with good directional work. Luke battled hard to stem the nippy Shore attackers, but found them too much of a handful at times. Too much whistle and faulty offside decisions spoilt some lively work in the second spell, when the forwards frequently outpaced the referee, whose distant decisions were often dubious. THISTLE DISAPPOINTS Thistle missed the services of Ferguson and Kean in the defence, and the forwards suffered from lack of effective feeding. Ponsonby also chopped its players round a lot. and the combination did not benefit bv the experiment. Play was livelv enough at the outset, and Thistle had the better of matters in the first halfhour. Wilson made the Ponies up-

right shiver with a hard poster, but the Ponies’ reprisals lacked finish. Just before half-time. ?.IcLeay worked his passage through the centre, and was right clear of the backs when he elected to halt for a long shot to the crossbar instead of carrying on for a sure score. On the rebound the ball was sent like a flash to Thistle’s end. where Simm popped a dropping one to the goal-mouth, and Innes ran in to gi\ e Ponies a goal lead on the change - SCOTS TWO DOWN Thistle made a determined effort to even matters, but found Surtees a stumbling block, and another speedv dash along the line by Simm ended with a nice centre finding McMillan’s head for a neat scorer to the net. X. Gumming made some good openings which were wasted until Thistle secured a free near the penalty square, and right drove a hard one past SurIn the closing stages Simm, who was keeping well clear of any trouble s £. a ?P ed a long pass when vards offside, and ran the ball right through to the net unopposed, for Ponies third goal, and a three to one decision. Ponsonby owed its victory largely to the blight work of Innes and Simm on the wings, the latter’s discreet opportunism serving him well The , '; T iU S , def ence was a bit ragged, and TKi.L t j- escape disaster at times, thistle disappointed after its good showing in the Chatham and Falcon , G., knOCk G° l i tS ’ and t!le cough and tumble methods of the cup ties would seem to suit the Scots better than their old style. Norman Cummins was fie outstanding forward, with McLeay and \\ ilson showing good form in patches. UU” defence was unimpressive and wed the Pony wings far too much rope. YOUNG MEN DROP A POINT I oi tlio second Saturday in succes sion the Y.M.C.A. forwards failed to

| find the not, and its supporters were i surprised to find a point dropped in a j drawn match at Devonport. The j ground lias made u good reco very from the bald patches caused by the paspalum experiments, and was a treat to play on after the holding surface at headquarters. Kay was on the line giving his knee a rest for the big game with Wellington next week, and "that I steady stand-by. Clanaclian. partnered Whaley on the left. Celts had 1 ] secured the ex-Pony Locke as a full--1 back, and found him useful for some rugged defensive work. Y.M. had ail the advantage of play in the first i spell. Chalmers shining out in his old i style and sending some fine centres j across without delay—but without profit. The inside forwards were missi ing the target by inches, and Hall was > j in great form in clearing any straight stuff that reached him. ONEHUNGA HAS REVENGE The ground was hard, and conducive to fast football, when Corinthians met 1 Onehunga in their return match on 1 Saturday. Play was willing from the start, but Onehunga soon showed itself to be the superior team. Corinthians had plenty of dash, but its combination was weak, I with the result that. although it pressed for the larger part of the ; game, it was not able to make the j best use of its opportunities. The : homo side, on the other hand, came i to light with much more combination | than usual, and more than one of its : goals came as the direct result of neat i passing movements between the halves • and the forwards. By half-time Onehunga was three up and the result of the match was a foregone conclusion. During the second half Corinthians j applied still more pressure, but the Onehunga backs defended stoutly and its opponents were unable to score. At the same time Onehunga. by means of its deadly forward rushes, were enabled to add two goals to its already * big score. Throughout the game its success was due, in a large part, to the hard-work-ing halves, who missed no opportunity to feed their forwards. Rutherford, especially, worked hard, and Lowry played well at times. Woodhall was instrumental in stopping many rushes by a dangerous Corinthic left-wing. Of the forward line. Gill and Griffiths, the goal-getters, shone the most. Moon was a hard worker and Whimster played a sound game. On the opposing side. Woods, on the left-wing, was the most enterprising forward, but none of his centre.', were improved upon. The halves worked | hard but lacked polish. ' The match showed that Onehunga i has improved immensely and may yet j occupy a fair place in the grade if it ! continues to show this form. TRAMWAYS V. MANUREWA j Attack and counter-attack formed i the gist of the first spell. There was not an uninteresting moment, the j ball travelling from end to end with ; astonishing regularity. The Manui rewa men put a great deal more energy into their play than Trams, but the older team pegged quietly and effectually away. Combined play was indulged in to advantage by both teams, and it was ! their superiority in this department i that gave Trams victory. WILLING PLAY If some of the Manurewaites lacked science, they made up for it with sheer brawn. Many lively tussles ensued and at an early stage it looked as if things were going too far. when a little bad feeling crept it. but, by common consent as it were, the teams combined to give an interesting, fast and fair exhibition of the code. Manurewa's weakness most certainly lay up in the van. The backs were strong, although against Spencer, who was right on fo-m, they could not make much impression. The half line was good for the most part. “Jock” Corbett working like a Trojan at the centre berth, while speedy Spong on the right wing found it difficult to get in some of his sprints up the j line. SPENCER ON THE BALL The transporters’ centre-forward was ' in top-top form on Saturday. He never was a laggard after the ball, and he lived up to a fine reputation. He was : solidly backed up by the Tramway j pivot, Christie, who, although a little ; off form at the beginning, soon settled down usual far-sighted game. ■ Fyfie was taken aback somewhat at j being repeatedly pulled up by the rei feree, but he stuck gamely to his charge and muffled a number of dangerous movements. Davis (Trumh put in some good work in the front line, while his namesake in the ’Rewa ; team was none the less outstanding.