Surprise By Soccer Selector

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31109, 12 July 1966, Page 19

Surprise By Soccer Selector

Reversing his previ- , ous policy of giving . youth its chance, the | Canterbury senior soc- ■ cer selector (Mr V. R. Smith) has made wholesale and sweeping changes in his choice of 12 players to take part in a provincial trial at Rangers Park tomorrow evening. The 12 players selected are: O. Nuttridge (City), K. France (Brighton), A. Hawthorn (Shirley-Nomads), A. Gowans (City), G. Donaldson : (Shirley-Nomads), B. Gowans (City), F. Nicol (Waterside)/ R. Taylor (City), C. Hicks (H. 5.0.8. T. Conley (Brigh-.

ton), W. Logan (Technical), |J. Gibson (Rangers). I The trial will take the form of two matches, of 45 minlutes each, the senior team meeting the Canterbury un-der-18 side in one half and the under-20 team in the other. It will also be a final warm-ing-up for the under-18s, who meet Otago in the South Island final of the Junior National Cup at English Park next Saturday, and a full-scale trial for the under-20 side to : play Otago in the first leg of . the Ruddiman Cup on July ■ 23. “I know that it may look i as if I have put the clock i back five years in some in- , stances.” said Mr Smith, com- ; menting on his trial team. “But I have taken the opporI

tunity of trying out new wingers and I have had to strengthen the defence.” The newcomers to the side this season are France, Donaldson, Nicol, Logan and Gibson. France, a former English schoolboy and youth international, arrived in Christchurch 10 days ago from Britain and played his first game for Brighton last week-end, at right-half. He scored twice, from penalties, when Brighton ended its second division programme with a 10-0 victory over Wanderers on Sunday. Donaldson, who has Inspired Shirley’s dramatic recovery from the bottom of the first division, last played for Canterbury in September 1963, the same year that he

won Canterbury’s “Soccer Player of the Year” award. Nicol, for much of the season, has ploughed a lone furrow in the Waterside forward line, and could be the dangerous, aggressive winger Canterbury has been looking for. Logan has played 20 times for the Canterbury senior eleven, his last appearance being in August, 1964. Gibson is a newcomer to Christchurch, joining Rangers after being transferred by his employers from Wellington. This season he played at inside-forward in the Wellington under-23 team. Canterbury’s next game is against Otago at Dunedin on | July 23 and the team will ■ probably be announced at the week-end.