NORTH DIVISION HOCKEY

Taranaki Daily News, 15 July 1935, Page 10

NORTH DIVISION HOCKEY

ROVERS DEFEATS RIVALS WANDERERS TOO GOOD FOR ARMY. UNEXCEPTIONAL GAMES RESULT. BEST MATCH PLAYED AT URENUI. In good conditions three unexceptional games of north division hockey were played at the New Plymouth racecourse on Saturday. A women's match at Urenui was the best seen this season. Resuits are:— ■ Men. Rovers 4 beat Rivals 1. Wanderers 4 beat Army 0. Women. Tariki 2 beat Y.W.C.A. 0. New Plymouth A 1 beat Urenui 0. ROVERS FOUR GOALS AGAINST ONE .RIVALS’ LINE .'DISORGANISED.' The match in which Rovers defeated Rivals produced hockey of fair standard. Bunching was conspicuous, but there were glimpses of bright play. Rovers’ total should not have mounted so high, but.it profited by disorganisation in Rivals’ defence. Considering the number of attacks, Rivals should have, been more fortunate. Murtagh scored three times and Burgess once for Rovers. Wood shot Rivals’ only- goal, Rovers’ front- line, comprised three new men, a fact which, handicapped combina-. tion. Murtagh did .most of the work, being in scoring. mop.d> and Burgess and Gaze supported, well.' Outstanding w the team was Hale, centre half., After a somewhat .inauspicious beginning he took control of .his team’s movements,' but in the secpnfl .haff his forwards were inclined to lo.af.in spite of the copious, opportunities . wjth.. which he provided them. Collett,. usually a forward, was played at half, and acquitted himself particularly well. H. Hogarth, right half, displayed admirable persistence and good spoiling tactics, Darby was played at full back and is improving, but even so he left most of the work to T. Ward, who was in fine form. The noticeable feature of the Rivals game was weakness in the defence. W. Bennett, always a speculator, could not get his eye in, and. frequently gave sticks. Clarke, a new man, showed capabilities of a high order but was erratic and not up to the standard of L. Innes, whom ’he replaced. Watson also was erratic in the goal. The half-line worked hard but'did hot follow up close enough. K. Ward showed improvement, and Treeby and J. Innes were on form. Wood and Armstrong were again the pivot of the attack among the forwards, with support from R. Ward in the second spell. . Plucke did not seem comfortable as an inside, and Lovell has yet to im--prove his speed. Tlie teams were:—

. Rovers: Burgess, Gaze, Murtagh, Gray, H. L. Bennett; Collett, Hale, H. Hogarth; T. Ward, Darby; Goodin. Rivals: Barnden, Plucke, Wood, Armstrong, Lovell, R. Ward; Treeby; J. Innes, K. Ward; Clarke, W. Bennett; Watson. Although Rivals attacked first, Murtagh soon picked up the ball at half-way and he, Burgess and - Gaze took it into the circle shooting twice, but feebly, at Watson. Gaze and Burgess tricked W. Bennett, and the ball was tapped to Murtagh, but Clarke cleared. J. Innes sent his men off, and Wood, Armstrong and Lovell scrambled past H. Hogarth and the full-backs. Goodin left the goal, and Wood, slipping behind him, pushed over the first goal. Rovers swept down from the bully and took the defence by surprise. Threading their way through it, the forwards were soon in the circle and Murtagh sent in a fast shot. Aggressive still, Rovers muddled past the defence, which was disorganised and speculating wildly, . Murtagh sent one ball soaring over the goal, but his next shot, which came to him after a penalty comer, was. low and straight. Murtagh completed his hat' trick in the next halfminute, his shot coming out unexpectedly from a scramble. Watson made a poor attempt to save. Spurred bythe quickly increasing tally of goals, Wood and Armstrong led Rivals to the attack. They -were staved off, and in another likely rush Wood fell foul of T. Ward. ■ Rovers were soon battering again at Rivals’ uncertain defences. Gaze and Murtagh both lost chances through inaccurate direction, and Royers fell back. Murtagh chased a ball rolling to the sideline and dribbled with it down to the corner. Burgess stopped his long, high centre and shot. Unsuccessful at- first, he continued to pepper Watson, and finally scored. - ■• - - j In the second spell Hale repeatedly fed Rovers forwards with chances, but. no one took advantage of them. R. Ward, who had taken Lovell’s place on Rivals’ right wing, opened an ! and Plucke’s shot at .goal was saved by Good-: in. Rivals made no headway despite Wood’s efforts. Hale eventually put Murtagh ill possession from a clearance hit. At close range Murtagh hit a stinging shot at goal, but Watson saved splendidly. A few minutes later Murtagh received the ball. With Clarke out of position he had what looked like, a certain chance, but Treeby foiled him. Next time W. Bennett was the stumbling block. Burgess spoiled a chance through waiting too long and giving Clarke time to clear. When Jime sounded Rivals was on the offensive. Rovers Rivals 1 The referees .were Messrs. L. G. Innes and R. Johnson. WANDERERS’ TACTICAL VICTORY. BIG SCORE AGAINST ARMY. In a particularly slow game, varied only by several runaway goals in the second spell, Wanderers, playing two men short, defeated Army by four goals to nil. Wanderers’ victory was principally the result of effectiv s tactics. Against a short team-Army was frequently penalised for offside, finally retaliating by bringing Logie from goal into the forward -line. Army’s -forwards lacked thrust. Alsop shot three of Wanderers goals and Stevens one. Prominent in the match was Clement, Wanderer’s right wing. He opened up the game with frequent side-line dashes and was responsible for the best of Wanderers’- goals.| Alsop- missed Ewart in the centre, and although he. was a scorer his goals were runaway efforts involving. little Stick work. Of the halves R. Booth was consistent. Templar was out of .-condition and . faded ,in the second half,'. but Reed was indefatigable and relieved much of the burden for the full-backs, both of whom played well. . i . ■ Purcell and .'Sole, full-backs, played fine hockey for Army but were not quick enough to the breakaway rushes of their opponent's. Donaldson, Wolfe and Westwood forhied- a mediocre half line, but Donaldson is improving. In the forwards R. Johnson did not strike the form he showed last week, and the whole line lacked penetration. Lobb was the brightest Exponent, and Haymer was sound. J. was given too few opportunities. The teanis were:—

Wanderers: Stevens, R. Hogarth, Alsop, Clement; 'Reed, Templar, R. Booth; Holmes, Er Booth.

Army: Downes, Haymer, R. Johnson, Lobb, J. Johnstone; Donaldson, Wolfe, Westwood; Sole, Purcell; Logie. Army had the best of. the game m the early stages, and once or twice seemed likely to herd the ball over the goalline in the course of scrambles. Clement dashed along the sideline, which was blocked by Sole. Purcell tackled Clement in his second run and cleared. Play was monotonous and unenterprising, consisting mainly of long hits and irregular movements that did not look like being capped. Clement, Templar, Reed and R. Johnson occasionally made short-lived solo efforts. At last Clement was rewarded for his initiative. Picking up a ball at half-way, he took it down the sideline in spite of the spoiling tactics of his constant attendant, Sole. He managed to send a fine centre across the ■goalmouth, and Stevens raced up to .poke the ball in. The next minute Clement again opbned up the right flank, and this time Alsop was waiting for his centre.- He hit hard, giving the keeper slight chance. After half-time both teams had their fair share of attack and defence. Lobb looked promising for Army, but his sparkle was marred by over-running, and Holmes cleared. Clement took play upfield, beating Sole to the ball,and centreing. The chance to deflect his shot into the goal went begging. Army gradually gained ground, forcing Wanderers into its own twenty-five, but the indomitable Reed made a spectacular run three-quar-ters of the length of the field. Leaving the defence standing, he charged through it with Purcell close on his heels bustling him. A yard from the goal Purcell’s stick upset Reed’s control and the ball went into the goal off his boot. After the penalty for the infringement Army took command and Lobb raced through a knot of players to be brought up short by Holmes. The clearance hit resulted in Clement receiving the ball. The fast wing ran down the sideline and centred cleanly when Westwood tackled him. The ball crossed the goalmouth and went out over the backline. After a period in which the ball was confined to the middle of the field Alsop suddenly broke away, heading for the goal, and Sole was too late to catch him before he found the net.

Alsop scored again in the next minute after another breakaway run which carried him three-quarters of the field. He pushed the ball behind Sole, and Pur* cell’s pursuit was useless. J. Johnstone took the ball upfield for Army, but E. Booth came across and tackled. From a scramble the ball soared towards Army’s goal. Purcell and Alsop raced in' pursuit, but Purcell was first and cleared across the field to the sideline. Play thereafter was indecisive. ' Wanderers 4 Army 0 The referees were Messrs. L. G. Innes and J. Bond. WOMEN’S GAMES FINISH NEW PLYMOUTH A WINS. RESULTS OF LAST MATCHES. New Plymouth A women’s hockey team has gone through the northern division competition without having had

a goal scored against it. In the final match of the second round- on Saturday it defeated Urenui by one goal to nil in a closely-contested game and qualified for the provincial semi-finals. The team, which-' was last year’s provincial champion, has scored 69 goals against opponents this season. Urenui, the runner-up, has lost only the two matches played against New Plymouth, and has scored 39 goals to opponents’ five. k The points table for northern division

In the' best women’s match, seen this season a crowd of spectators watched. New Plymouth A defeat Urenui at Urenui by one goal to nil. Play was even, but New Plymouth had the disadvantage of fielding only nine players. Urenui produced its best form, but the more experienced team won. — • J. Hutchison, who scored New Plymouth’s goal, was closely, guarded throughout the game, and her usual clever movements were smothered. V. Moorhead was a trifle- slow with her centres, givinjg the full-back time to tackle her.’ F. Frewin played-an exceptionally good game in the halves, and R. Eagles conceded no advantage. K. Berry was reliable in the back line, and V. Houston played her best game this year. For the first' time. J. Cummings, goalkeeper, was in demand, saving splendidly. . ■■ Urenui’s best were E. Edwin, ,H. Trass and G. White. The left wing was used too frequently, and J. Smith on the right was given few chances to display form. Both teams showed aggressiveiress from the beginning of the match. H. Trass sent play into New Plymouth territory,, where a gruelling contest began, the New Plymouth backs having, to defend strenuously. K. Berry, cleared and J. Hutchinson made a good run until stopped by E. Edwin, who sent the ball well upfield. J. Smith gained possession and dribbled past the backs to shoot. J. Cummings saved well. A penalty comer was given but R. Eagles saved. Urenui had the best of exchanges at this early stage, New Plymouth penetrating to the circle only twice before half-time. ’ The second spell produced more vim in New Plymouth’e gams, arid then J.’ Hutchinson scored the match’s only goal from a melee in the goal-mouth. Urenui tried hard to even the score, but the goalkeeper was sound and stopped many hot. shots, the defence holding until the final whistle. After a slow and raggad game .in which no players shone, Tariki beat New Plymouth B at New Plymouth by. 2 goals to nil. The referee was Mr. P. Collings.

teams is:— P. W. L. 13. For Ag Pts New Plymouth A 8 -8 0 0 . 0 16 .. 8 6 2 0 39 5 12 .. 8 4 4 0 15 28 8 Y.W.C.A. .... .. 8 2 6 0 5 36 4 New Plymouth B 8 0 8 0 0 50. 0