SOCCER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 141, 17 June 1931, Page 4

SOCCER

•——(Li*

"ABBOTSPORT

Senior fixtures will be suspended on Saturday on account of the Chatham Cud game at Palmerston North. The Junior Shield final, postponed last Sat urday, will be played on Saturday, the contesting teams being Woollen Mills and Eastbrooke. Athletic for Palmersto.n Athletic will journey to Palmerston North on Saturday in quest of Chatham Cup honours. To beat St. Andrew’s on their own ground will require a big effort on the part of the “whites.” Athletic are relying on their usual team for this game and if the defence can stand up to the gruelling time that they will undoubtedly get, the forwards should be able to do their part. In past games there has been a tendency on the part of the inside men to play too far up the field, thereby throwing extra work on the halfbacks, but if the, two insides will remember that it is part of their job to help the halfbacks then there should be more hope of the defence holding out. As the winner of this game will have a home fixture with the leading Wellington club in the next round of the competition, both teams will be keyed up to the highest pitch, and a rousing game should be the outcome. Shield to ELP.’s. The last game in the Shield compcti tion was played on Saturday, and despite a water-logged ground both teams gave a surprisingly good display of “soccer.” In the first spell K.P.’s had a big advantage territorially and crossed over with a lead of two goals. Although they were worthy of the lead, they were also a bit lucky, as the second goal should not have been scored, a bad miss by one of the 'Brooke defenders letting Ritchie through. The second half saw the positions reversed and K.P.’s for the most part had to take on the role of defenders. Eastbrooke scored twice to make the scores level, and with a little more steadiness might have snatched the winning goalUnder the conditions prevailing on Saturday the policy of botn reams should have been to shoot hard and shoot often, as both goal areas were in a bad condition, making the goalkeepers’ movements very uncertain. The forwards, however, elected to dribble more than shoot, and the greasy ball was difficult to control.

With this game the Shield competition is ended and K.P.’s will hold the trophy for another year —a good performance, when one considers the difficulties that faced the committee at the commencement of the season. The Players.

Robb, in goal for K.P. ’s, played quite a good game and came near saving a penalty kick. This player is in his first season and with. a little more experi ence should make a good goalie. Neilson and Proudfoot both defended well, although the latter marred his other good work when he started kicking out near the end of the game. All three K.P. halfbacks put in a lot of hard work, Jamieson and Davidson being outstanding. Christie, at left-half, is fairly good, but has a tendency to go in any old way with the result that a lot of his play could, be classed as dangerous.

Forward, Ritchie, at centre, took the eye a lot, while Rusling, with his limited experience, put up a good display. Hope seemed to be the only forward to realise that shooting was a paying proposition, and although unsuccessful in finding the net, he had hard luck on two occasions.

Scott did his bit in the ’Brooke goal and, like his opponent, was badly hampered by the state of the ground. Neither of the blue fullbacks impressed greatly, both failing to clear their lines with first-time kicking. The half-line was good at times, but at others it was quite the reverse. ISpence was perhaps the best of the lot. Wood started the game at centre-half, but after the interval was played as fullback, and in this position gave a good display. ’Brooke would be well advised to keep this player as a fullback. In the first spell the blue forwards were not in evidence much, but the second spell saw them in a much better light. Killeen held the line together well and of the rest, Jones and Garner, the inside men, were best. Offside. A recent decision of one of the local referees has caused a lot of comment and the writer has been asked to explain the decision on several occasions. For the benefit of followers of the code who are not too well versed in the laws of the game an explanation is given here. A player took a penalty kick which the goalkeeper touched on to the bar, the ball rebounding to the kicker. The latter was evidently under the impression that he could not play the ball again and to avoid doing so stepped in front of the ball to allow one of his team-mates to take the rebound. Immediately the first player put himself in front of the ball and another of his own team played it he was offside, as he was in front of the ball and had not two opponents nearer their own goalline than he was himself. Before leaving this subject it would perhaps be as well to point out that the taker of the penalty kick could have played the ball when it came back, as the opponents’ goalkeeper had played the ball immediately after the penalty kick was taken. Late Starting. The late starting of games is causing some concern locally and quite a lot of time was spent at the last committee meeting discussing this matter. There has certainly been a lot of comment lately among followers of the code and an improvement will have to be shown; otherwise the local body will find their finances suffer. Referees have their instructions to start games at a stated time and it was thought that these instructions would ensure a prompt kick-off. Matters, howler, have not improved a great deal, •nd now the referees are considering more drastic measures to cope with this undesirable feature. *The onus is on the various teams to be ready to start at the advertised time, and it is hoped th: club executives will give this matter their attention.