CUP TO WAIPA

Taranaki Daily News, 21 July 1933, Page 4

CUP TO WAIPA

TARANAKI LOSES HOCKEY TOURISTS’ DEFENCE SOLID GREAT* GAME AT WAITARA MARGIN. OF THREE TO ON.E In a game that for .strenuousness and at times sheer brilliance of*stick work has probably never been excelled in Taranaki, Waipa defeated Taranaki by three goals to one in a representative hockey challenge match foi’ the Nordon Cup at Waitara yesterday. In the early part of the game it was obvious, that Taranaki had not settled down, but the play on both sides improved as the game progressed, While Waipa worked hard for its win, however, a draw would have been a better indication of the merits of the teams. The Waipa defence was almost impenetrable, Hinton being outstanding, and Taranaki had the visiting team penned .in its own half for a large part of the second spell without being able to penetrate. The teams were:— Waipa: J. Spiers; R. Hinton, L. Spiers; R. Spiers, O. Finch, T. Macky; G. Finch, G. Wood, B. Spiers, L. Karl, E. Richardson. Taranaki: A. Bennett; C. Thompson, A. Ryan; R. Duncan, L. Page, V. Betts; S. Betts, G. Surgenor, J. Watson, R. Irwin, K. Pennington.. Mr.. H. Watts and the’Rev. J. Rybum •refereed. • STRENUOUS PACE EARLY. ' .Waipa attacked from the. bully, setting a strenuous pace. Two forward rushes in succession were effectively repelled. Wood ran up hard and centred, but his following hit was from outside the circle. Duncan was doing great work in breaking up Waipa rushes. Waipa was awarded a penalty corner but was unable to break through. Then S. Betts put .Taranaki on the attack by a good run to half-way and the home team. brightened as it settled down. Page was not up to his usual form and hit faultily several times, but thp team was holding its own well. Whenever Waipa was able to break away, Duncan was there : to stem the rush. A hard shot by Hinton Was carried on by G. Finch, but his run was checked abruptly by Ryan. The Waipa forwards were found ready when a good ,'centre was sent in by Richardson, and Duncan was hard pressed.- Wood broke away in a solo effort and with only one opponent to beat he seemed a probable scorer. Bennett saved.

Page secured, and by. a clever bit of stick work gained about twenty yards before passing to -.lrwin in Waipa’s twenty-five./ The. pass was intercepted and the visiting forwards. raced away again. Over-eagerness; however,. spoilt the move, and the ball , overran the line. B. Spiers shot away-alone and . looked certain of a score'until within the circle, when -Thompson was. able to check him.. • . . . .

- Taranaki was warming up ...and. the pace was well maintained. Surgenor raced to send in a perfect shot, but J. Spiers made a great save by kicking clear. Although fairly even territorially the play gave the, impression at this stage that Waipa held a slight advantage. BALL HIT OVER TREES. V. Betts was working hard on defence and combined with Irwin several times in clever short runs. Taranaki was hitting hard and before the forwards could reach the ball Hinton was clearing. Taranaki was now in Waipa territory and indulging in some pretty passing. Taranaki was several times in the circle. Page sent a convenient centre to Surgepor but the latter over-hit and the ball flew over the trees behind the goal. Waipa took a turn on the offensive, but Ryan and Duncan were able to hold their own. B. Spiers ' seemed to ' be away for a goal, but Thompson saved well. The Taranaki forwards by dashing play returned the ball to Waipa territory, but could get no further, finding the Waipa full-backs like a brick wall. On the resumption of play after halftime Taranaki staged a series of brilliant rushes. Surgenor and S. Betts combined well and several times made a lot of ground. Wood was responsible for some clever thrusts for Waipa. A great attempt at goal by Surgenor was brilliantly saved by J. Spiers. Taranaki continued the attack, a hard shot by Page going over the back line. Page was again seen - in brilliant thrusts near the Waipa circle. Hinton and L. Spiers were consistently safe. R. Spiers sent a hard shot that Karf 'was able to secure, and in a fast run' the latter gained about twenty yards. Page was playing a very much better game than his earlier display, and’had a. hand in every Taranaki A strenuous attack lopk.ed very dangerous, pressure being relieved for a minute by a long --corner.’ The Taranaki full-backs were working well together. Duncan set the home team on the offensive,. Page and Surgenor making vain attempts to penetrate the Waipa defence. Surgenor once had -an almost clear field, but his’shot just missed. Then Wood ran up and shot a really great goal. Waipa 1 v. Taranaki 0. A few -.mutes later Taranaki had returned to the attack and amid great excitement sent in shot after shot in vain.

Again reversed momentarily, Taranaki | worked down the line rapidly. Surgenor ran liatd down the line in a great solo effort but centred too late. Then Watson scored from a wild scramble within the circle to the accompaniment of enthusiastic cheering. Waipa 1 v. Taranaki 1. A few minutes later Waipa found the Taranaki defence weakened, and a penalty corner resulted in a score, Karl being successful. Waipa 2 v. Taranaki 1. ■ Taranaki returned, and S. Betts missed a great opportunity by inches. Waipa raced up the line, Duncan clearing safely. Taranaki rushed back to be stopped by Hinton again. Duncan over-shot the line wildly. Taranaki was missing many opportunities, but yet was in Waipa B twenty-five continuously. Time after time a goal semed certain but the Waipa defence was heart-breaking. Then B. Spiers shot away on his o.wn, and- although Thompson and ' Duncan .saved once, Wood was finally able to ■penetrate again. Waipa 3 v. Taranaki 1. Taranaki was losing a little of the stuig of the earlier part of the half, and it was obvious that it was a beaten team. Nevertheless play was strenuous to the last whistle, neither side letting up> a moment. The game ended without further score. NEW PLYMOUTH BEATS WAITARA. As a curtain-raiser to the representative match, a game was played between two ladies’ teams representing New Plymouth and Waitara respectively, the New Plymouth team winning 3-0.

The teams were:— New Plymouth; . Mesdames Montgomerie (captain), Barron, Hutchison, Stanton, Cummings, Berry, Foste'r and Jones, Misses Brough and Clow (2). Waitara: Mesdames. Taylor and Skelton, Misses Edwin, Batley, Herbert, N. Howie, G. Huff am. (c'apt), M. Huffam, White, Thompson and .M - . Sutton. Messrs. J. R. Bennett and R. Grant refereed. LADIES’ HOCKEY SEMI-FINAL rtHAMA' BEATS INGLEWOOD. THREE EXTENSIONS OF TIME MADEPihama, winners of the western division .in the senior ladies’ hockey competition,. beat Inglewood, northern winner, by one goal and a hit behind the line to one goal in an evenly contested game at. Stratford to-day. Pihama thereby. earned, the right to engage in the final with the. winner of the semi-final to be played between the southern and eastern, winners. The game was one of the finest seen at .Stratford this year and was highly exciting from start to finish. Two spells of. 35 minutes'were played at first, but as the score then was one-all further time had to be played. Two seven-minute spells and then two of five minutes failed to give a decision and then two of three minutes,were commenced, the arrangement being that the first team to send the ball behind the opponents’ line from within the circle would be the winner. The fortune of the game went to Pihama. Pihama deserved its win and was unlucky ,iii the closing stages. The game was very open, finely played and willing. Both teams exhibited excellent cohesion but'the defence of the Pihama backs was outstanding. On the whole there was little to choose between the teams but a slight superiority in the finish of the Pihama movements was a contributing factor to its win. In the last stages, with darkness closing down and neither team able apparently to gain the ascendancy, the spectators shouted themselves hoarse. ' / The teams were:—

Inglewood: Miss D. Nodder; Miss E. Gyde, Mrs. H. Trass; Misses N. Hunt, S. Vickers, M. Trigger; Misses I. King, K. Coles, R. Klenner, P. Burkhart, A. Clements.

Pihilma: Miss B. McCullum; Misses J. Forsyth, J. Richards; Misses M. Corkill, A. Conaglen, P. Templeton; Misses M. Conaglen, E. Riley, V. Hall,- M. Allan and M. Fisher.

In the first half Pihama probably had the better of the game territorially but play swung from end to end of the field with.- bewildering speed and it was hard to trace a definite advantage to either team; Toward the end of the spell Pihama initiated a hot attack and the Inglewood goalie was frequently bombarded. She played a sound game and it was one of her clearing hits that repulsed Pihama and put Inglewood on the attack to give it the first goal of the match. A comer hit came in to Miss Burkhart and she scored with a fine shot. Inglewood held the advantage at the’ start of the second spell and had Pihama defending desperately for some minutes until a breakaway saw Miss M. Conaglen tearing along the line. She centred in front of the Inglewood goal and received the ball as it deflected out again. She carried it right through into the goal to even the score. Pressing hard to gain the lead, Pihama bore doym on the Inglewood goal and in that region a spirited exchange among the forwards gave Miss A. Conaglen a chance and she fired in a shot that lobbed into the corner of the goal but counted for nothing as it had originated outside the circle. The score was still one-all when the spell ended, so the teams changed ends and began to play two seven-minute spells. Those were completed without score, but each was packed with incident. Two fiveminute spells were then commenced but were unfruitful and it wc._- decided to have two three-minute spells, the first hit behind the line from within the circle to win. Determinedly Pihama drove Inglewood back and Miss M. Conaglen, a yard within the circle, drove the ball

into the netting and won the game for Pihama. , „ TT j Messrs J. C. McDowall and C. Harding refereed. CENTRAL TARANAKI MATCHES. Hockey matches in Central Taranaki yesterday resulted:— Senior ladies: Eltham A 4 v. Stratford High School AO. Junior ladies: Stratford High School B 1 v. Eltham 80. Men’s juniors: Eltham 3 v. Mahoe 3. TEAMS FOR TO-MORROW. New Plymouth Wanderers to play Stratford at Stratford: J. Wilson, L. Innes, G. Sole, R. Booth, L. Page, G. Beaven, K. Hamilton, R. Ward, R. Gibbins, L. Wolfe and S. Murtagh.