THAMES V. AUCKLAND

Thames Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 10592, 10 September 1906, Page 4

THAMES V. AUCKLAND

CLOSE 1 GAME WON' BY -LATTER.

Tlio inter-union .hockey match, Thames v. Auckland', played at .Parav<n). on Saturday, resulted in a, win for the visitors by three goals to twoAlthough! the ground was somewhat fcoit, <\i good exhibition of hockey was witnessed-, the, game being fast, and "v\ell contested! right to the call of time Tlha teams lined out as follows. — Auckland—Goal, Baker ; full-backs, Whitley and Anderson ; halves, Crisp, Poitei, and Bloomffeld ; forwards, Jes op, Young, Mather, Barry, Doylerl!lianiES;—Goal, Renshaw ; 'fullbacks, Driver and E- Hdsking; halfbacks, Griffin, Williams, and Wright; foa-vuda, A> Hdsking,,' Wbitehead, LGnffin, 'Martin, and ThompsonMr Porter captained the visitors, and E Hooking! thie local teamiFro m thtei bully-off Auckland obtained posse* ion, and rushed the ball to the home goal, where Barry put in ai hot drive and drew first 'blood for the vi ltois, -within: half a minute from the comimeheemienti of play- Griffin secu ed from the bully, and; tthle local forwaids carried play to the Afuckland 25, but Whitley returned the ball to the half way line- Play mow 1 bedainre very fast, and the forwards of both sides worked hard to scone- Alt last the visitors again broke through; the home defence, and Porter from, a scramble im front of the goal, drove the second* score for Auckland— Auckland 2, Thames nilTihainws were 'now setting* down to work, and hiaid! Anitokland oa the defensive for a few minutes, the visiting backs relieving 'by hitting to> the lime- Several exchanges -of hits passeld between the backs of each side, until.Wright drove to L- Graffini, who carried the hafi. up midfieldi 'and passed! to Martin, who; in turn sent it out to Thompson, the latter cutting! in and scoring Thames first goal, amidst great excitement of the spectatorsThie visitors again took a turn in the attack, and earned play down: the field, the ball again travelling through the goal, but being driven from: outside the circle ,wn.s given 'no> goal-' From the bully L-' Griffin secured, and a nice piece of passing by the home forwards resulted in LGriffin scoring—Auckland 2, Thames 2- "Until half-time the local backs were kept 'busy defendinlg, Wright and Driver putting in a. great amount of work, while Rensihiaw savedi. his side well on 1 several occasionsOh resuming play, the Auckland miem pressed hnrd for some time, but were penalised for "sticks" when a score sei&med certain- This relieved for 1 a, wihiilei, but the visitors: came aigain', thie ball finding its 1 way to Doyle on th;e w.ing, who. carried! play up, and shot a. good goal from ai difficult angle- The visitors' fo-rmi was nlow 1- .beginningl tol tell, and several of tiliie local men; were fading somewhat for 'the want of training- The Thames forwards broke through iseveiial times with the ball, but the. visiting backs ■proved' themselves too solid, and drove foaird, with splendid judgement, to their forwards- Rienshaiw, whb- played forward in) the second spell, worked; well with his side in trying to equalise the score, which! however, could not be done, and the 'game end-ed—-Auckland 3., Thames 2The Thames teaim. a,re to be congratulated on the great fight they put up against Such! a< strong combination as. the Auckland tfepressnitatives- For the visitorts every man; in the team played well, a(nd it would be hard to single out any in pairticulair for special honour. The forward's are a fine; lot, .and! play well into each other's hands- Porter, at centre half, played well, and his (hitting! was strong and clean- Crisp and Bloomfield also' hit well- Thie full-backs were also strong, while -Baker in goal hlad little to doFor Thames, L- Griffin, Man-tin, and Tthioimip'soni Were thie pick of the 1 forwards- Griffin generally secured frbmi the bully-off, and played! with goodl judgmen.ti- Of the backs, 0WKght wias undoubtedly the pick, and skived hisi side tinne after time:. JGriffin' played well, but Rev: Williams had a day off- Hosking 'had >a good d'elal to do and generally got lid' of the iba.lL well-' Mir S- 'Ferguson. h;ad charge of the game, iand his decisions were well received by the teams-