ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16749, 2 June 1922, Page 2

ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL.

SOME KEEN CONTESTS. THE AUSTRALIAN VISIT. (By “ NESTOR.”) The Canterbury Football Association s sixth round in the Senior competition was played on Saturday. last, under conditions the reverse of pleasant. The raiu made the grounds heavy and treacherous, and the wet ball was tliSro.ult to control. Nevertheless most of th© games were interesting, and tho winners had to fight all the way for th© points. Contrary to expectations. Corinthians defeated St Albans and advanced another step in the champion ship. Nomads dropped a valuable point at Ashburton, and Rangers registered another win at the expense of Villa at Tun wood Park. The table, is becoming I more interesting, as there are- still three • series of mate-lies to be played belorO' the first round is completed, and any of tlie first six teams are still in the running for championship honours. The table now reads ns follows :

Lyttelton .5 CORINTHIANS (1) v. ST ALBANS (0). Corinthians scored their second win of th© season at Lngiiui Park against St Albans by th© only goal registered, aud that a. penalty. Luck was right against Saints from th© spin ol the coin. If anything, they hud more or the game than the winners, and they coulu do anything hut score. The attackers repeatedly gpt within shooting distance, but when* a goal seemed imminent the player either lost control of the ball or slipped on the treacherous turf. Many stinging shots, certainly, were sent goalwaids, but these invariably found Perry strictly on tho alert. Bond, the ex-West Coast rep., turned out for the first time lor Cor iuthians, and at centre half he played a rattling game. His tackling, feeding and general nil-round ability marks him as a valuable acquisition to the gam© in Canterbury. Ho should assist materially iit building up the Ctorin thian team. Behind him Graliam and Flood played a strong defensive game, and after securing the lead irom the penalty early in the match Corinthians showed good judgment in not reverting to the one hack game alter A. Bruprton’s injury', which necessitated his leaving the field. Tt would have been a fatal policy against the tas-t St Albans forwards. In the latter stages of the match Flood also received an injury, which will probably extinguish any possibility he may have entertained in being included in the team to play the Australians. Perry gav© such a sparkling display in goal for Corinthians that his selection tor the trial game at Kffglisb Park to morrow cam© as no surprise. Borne of his clearances vtere brilliant. The action of the referee. Mr 11. Kidded Is. in awarding Corinthians a penalty for hands, occasioned considerable comment. Hiligrove’s hand appeared to come in contact with the ball, following a natural action in recovering himself on 'a slippery ground. There appeared to b© no intention of committing nn offence with such a serious iek involved, and of the nine offences from any of which a penalty may he awarded, the intentional' handling of the ball or otherwise by a player in the penalty area is probably the most delicate point a. referee has to decide. Considering the nature of the offence and the condition of the ground, the weight of opinion was decidedly against the referee’s decision. Apart from St Albans's lost opportunities the play of Kelly on the right wing was distinctive. His policy of shooting for goal under all conditions was excusable with a slippery ball nnd put in some excellent shots. On the other wing Kirk was unlucky and the L-nwn game would have lx?en a better indication of the inn of the play. DANCERS (3) *v. VILLA (0). Villa again failed to notch a goal in their game against Bangers at Linwood Park. A tally of three goals in five matches played creates an altogether false impression as to the calibre of th© Villa team. An average of just a fraction over two goals a match against them indicates there is nothing much amiss with the defence—in fact, it is rather a flattering record for a new team. The half-backs are a trio who invariably give a good account ot themselves and they assist tlieir forwards os well ns any line in the game. Individually the forwards are quite good. They have the ability to work the bull into -rhooting range, but- then the advantage is lost by injudicious passing or weak finishing- It. is all very well to drrfw the defence, but without method such tactics are worse thaiu useless. Often, when close to the Rangers’ goal, the ball would be siting right over to th© wing,' thus giving tho defence every opportunity to consolidate. Unless a thorough understanding exists between the centre and the wing and the latter is both speedy and tricky, i si eh tactics should not be considered as a goal-getting policy. On several occasions when the Villa forwards found their progress blocked, a pass back to Sharr. at centre half, would have given him a clear driveway for goal. T should like to see this player given a trial in the centre forward position, with E. M. Ranson at centre half and Philps on his right. Sharr is an opportunist and he kicks like a mule—twQ^ qualities which are responsible for Villa’s tardy progress ir* the championship. A reconstruction of the Villa front line is a matter of urgent necessity and it should be con si do red without delay. Rangers were not three goals better than their opponents, for except in the last twenty minutes Villa had quite a large share of the game. Two of the Rangers’ goals were rather ' soft ’’ —the third — a. header from Dowker from a corner—-being the best effort. But wften the Rangers’ wings broke av ay there wa* always danger They were too fast for the Villa defence and their centres were always deadlyLiddon, on the left, put ovot some particularly hot stuff, and he is a player who has shown consistently good form since taking over the outside left position. Bissett and Barwell wore th© I b©3t combining wing, and Dowker and j A spina 11 both played a solid, headv j game. Priddis worked hard under dif- | fi< ultios in the left half position. It l

means, but Rangers showed a decided advantage in head work

NOMADS (2) v. ASTI BURTON (2)

Nomads played Ashburton on the letter’s ground and could only mutter nine men. The one hack game was adopted nml the resulting display wai Therefore disappointing to th© large number of spectators who attended, ui spite of the rain, to witness the match. The ground at Ashburton is not quite up to th© English Pork standard and seme of the depressions in the playing area being just comfortably filled with water were provided with quite a number of amusing interludes The game was very trappy but Nomads notched a couple of goals before the interval was taken. The home team became more aggressive in tho second half, ‘ind finally equalised th© scores just before time. The second goal scored by Ashburton something of a gift. Cummins, the Nomad*’ back, assuming that the ball was in touch, nevpr attempted to stop the wing, who immediately made a bee-line foi goal and scored. Wilson, the Nomads’ keeper, received an injury during the game, but it has not interfered with his preparation tor io-morrow’s trial game. SUNNY SIDE (4) v. * LYTTELTON <1 >- The hospital ground was soft, ard conditions were entirely against a good display. Sun.iyside were without two star players in Newell and J. Sweeney , but the team lined out. very confident as to the ultimate result. The first half was very even, with Sunnysid© doing most of the attacking, but. McGuire aud McGill put up a very solid defence, and there was no score at the interval. Lyttelton attacked consistently from xh© kick-off, and Sunny side had to defend hard. Lyttelton drew first blood following some pretty play. Hales secured from Hennessey, and. at ter some nice footwork, he beat the defence and gav© Courtney no chance. Shortly afterwards Lament equalised from a penalty given tor , hands, and from this point Lyttelton failed to keep up the pace, and Thomas added two goals and Porter one before time was called. For Sunnyside. C. Gibson shows consistent improvement, and ho sent over some fine centres. Bull tackled well at left Italf. and he fed his forwards well. The visitors met a very strong defence in Ocok and Johnston, anti Courtney in goal was safe. For Lyttelton, Hennessey, Hales aud McGili were the pick. THE : AUSSIES ” The colours of the touring Australians are light blue jersey with a maroon A worked on the left breast, white knickers with bluo aud maroon stockings. Light bluo represent the New" South Wales colours and maroon Queensland. Everything was against the Australians playing their best game at Wanganui. Th© cay was bitterly cold, and the ground heavy and lifeless. Th© visitors are looking for a bright day and n dry ground for the test matches. A northern critic has the following aneni tho first match of the visitor? : “ One of the weaknesses of soccer in New Zealand is the want of combination between forwards and backs, and also amongst the hacks. In the Australian team this point is developed to perfection, on,e saw at times a forward passing back‘to a full-back, who .just gav© the ball a deft touch to the hallback. leaving the latter to pass the ball . quickly on to a forward. The vs hole movement was simply clone—but what clever football it was. Then the versatility of the players! One never saw a movement wasted, every player kept his place, and if it so happened that on© player, «n tho execution of bis work, moved from his place, sotiteoi © els© invariably filled that place. Oi -> saw at times a back move up the field, but if danger occurred tho side there was invariably a half-back in the back's place. One is led to believe that our visitors play a brainier game. The on© point is: Will they settle down to football conditions in tho Dominion?. If so, we should see real good soccer. They know the game, know how to play it. don’t, get overwhelmed or flustered, and can shoot straight and hard.” Williams, a lormer pupil of the £?urarer Institute for the Deaf, and now residing in Auckland, is being spoken ©f as first choice for tlie outside left position in th© New Zealand team. Ho plays for Auckland Y.M.C.A. Congratulations io the Sumner coach. Mr. Williams, who taught his namesake the first steps. Trial games will he placed at Dunedin and Christchurch to-morrow, and tli© Sonth Tsland selectors. Messrs Ramsay and Fullerton, will select the team to meet the Australians at Lancaster Park on June 10 over the wire at midnight on Sunday. The selected team will appear in the “ Lyttelton Times : Monday.

A criticism of to-morrow’s play an players will appear in these column next Friday.

Toai/i. F. VV. D. T>. For Agst. Pts R ap get s . . U 5 — 1 *23 G 10 fcjunn.ysido .64 — 2 i2 0 8 Western .63 11 13 * " St Albans . 5 3 — 2 18 8 6 I'iotuatls - 5 2 1 *2 13 9 o Ashburton .6212 8 30 o Corinth iana .6 2 — 4 8 IT 4 Villa . .5— 2 3 3 li 2