SOCCER

Evening Star, Issue 21749, 18 June 1934, Page 5

SOCCER

AUCKLAND RETAINS ENGLISH TROPHY

CHALLENGERS BEATEN [Special to the ‘ Star.'] AUCKLAND, June 10. Glorious weather and a faultless f;round favoured the second visit in orty years to Auckland of the Otago Soccer representatives, when the southerners challenged lor the dominion premiership before a crowd of several thousand. The teams were :

Otago: M'Dougall, Taylor, Anderson, Chapman, Brown, Patton, Inues, Witchall, Hooper, Skinner, Balk. Auckland:. Watson, Gerrard, Stone, Watson, Chapman, Wright, Woods, Dunsmorc, Angus, Farnan, Kay. Otago opened with great promise, and twice in. five minutes were within ah ace of scoring through Hooper and Witchall. Then the home side broke away, and Angus opened Auckland’s scoring with a lovely long shot. The visitors continued aggressive, but again a sudden Break-away by Auck-land-threatened danger, Taylor clearing. The southerners were still playing a game, and had slightly more than a fair share of play, though the’ Auckland sorties were always dangcrousj with Angus’s deadly shooting keeping M'Dougall active. A mis-kick by Anderson let Auckland in, Kay shooting past. The home backs were very uncertain, and Otago forced. foui- fruitless corners. A clever movement by Innes gave Hooper a beautiful centre for the latter to head over. For the first half-hour Otago played better football than the homesters, and territorially had the advantage, but the sporting tactics of the home defence nullified the effectiveness. A glorious chance of Otago scoring occurred wheh a long dropping shot from Balk went straight to goal. Hooper and Innes dashed in, and the ball bounced on the goal line for Gerrard to clear in the nick of time. It was the closest call for the homesters, but was characteristic of the southerners’ luck, which so far had been all against them. So far, Taylor and Anderson had been very steady, with Brown sometimes inaccurate in but the other half-backs were steady. Skinner was the hardest working forward, but inclined to hang too long to the ball. Hooper was not much in evidence this spell, and towards the interval Auckland took a firmer grip of the game. Swinging the ball freely, they made ground rapidly, and the Otago hacks were given hard running. Scoring opportunities, however, were few and* far between, and M'Dougall dealt with long shots safely. In an Otago raid, Gerrard _ imskicked badly, and Hooper had an open goal, but slipped and fell when on the point of scoring. Just in time Woods broke away and sent over a nice cross to Anderson, who mis-kicked, and Kay scored from 2yds. The interval found Auckland rather flattered by a two-goal lead. TWO OTAGO EFFORTS.

Auckland were on top on resumption, but,found Taylor and Anderson again a sound pair of backs. . Gradually. Otago took up. the limning, for Hooper to "manoeuvre for position, but his parting shot went wide. r i he pace was not so fast as in the opening spell, till a long centre by Balk saw Hooper again dash for goal, to be stopped by Stone. Then Kay had a tricky run, hut was brought down by Taylor, the resulting kick going out. Another dash by Hooper resulted iu a fruitless corner. Midfield play followed to Innes and Witchall. and then Skinner and Balk, who worked combined movements. but the finishing was weak. . , , The Otago goal was m jeopardy when Kay got away, and there was a thrilling melee in front of M'Dougall, the fates being with the visitors in effecting a clearance. THE PRETTIEST MOVEMENT. However, the prettiest movement of the match came when Innes started a run with Witchall. Then Hooper got possession, to send out to Balk, who sent in a dazzling daisy cutter just past the far post. Then matters livened to become thrilling in end-to-end rushes, both goals escaping narrowly in turn. In a terrific Otago rally, with the home goalie hopelessly beaten, a great drive by Hooper hit the upright. Then, at the other end, a brilliant save by M'Dougall kept Kay from adding to the score. SUCCESS AT LAST. After half an hour Otago again pressed home a fierce offensive, and a deafening cheer greeted long delayed success, when Hooper slammed the ball into the net. 1 The last ten minutes were fought out at a terrific pace, Otago throwing discretion to the winds in an effort to gain the equaliser, but they failed. M'Dougall was excellent in goal, Anderson was the better back, the halves were all good, and the forwards splendid in attack. A draw would have been a fair result.

FIVE-A-SIDE TOURNEY

SENIOR CLUBS GOMfETE WIN FOR MAORI HILL The fivG-a-side tournament held at the Caledonian Ground attracted eleven entries, and was won by Maori Hill, who defeated Technical in the final. The ground was in greatly improved condition. FIRST ROUND. Mornington B 2 goals beat H. 5.0.8. 1 goal. • The teams were:—Mornington B: Agnew, M'Quarrie, Cooper, Donaldson, Porter. H. 5.0.8.; Smith, Grant, Groves, Latimer. Pickerill. Mornington attacked at the start, and then School rushed. Groves shooting unsuccessfully. On Mornington attacking, Cooper also missed, and Smith saved a shot from Donaldson, Porter scoring off the rebound. Another attack by Mornington ended in Porter scoring his second goal. Smith went upfield to assist School, and a fine passing effort resulted in- Latimer scoring.

Technical 2 goals boat Roslyn-Wakiri B 1 goal. The teams were:—Technical: Cope, Wilkinson, Jones, Groves, Pilling. Roslyn-Wakari B: Harbourne, Allum, Lennon, Ramage. Rutherford. The early attack was made by Old Boys,. two shots. going wide. Rosiyn

then conceded a corner. On changing over Roslyn attacked. Cop© cleared forcefully, and Technical carried on, Jones having an easy shot. Immediately Roslyn advanced and evened the goal account, but Technical scored the winning goal on time.

Northern A 1 goal and 1 corner beat Seacliff 1 goal.

The teams were:—Seacliff; Jordan, Stenhouse, Truesdale, Gorrie, Hector. Northern A: Jones, Henderson, Peart, Ruddiman, Faithful. This was the fastest game so far played, both teams swinging the ball about in good style. Neat passing by Seacliff terminated in Gorrie scoring a good goal. On turning round. Northern quickly had Seacliff in danger, but Henderson narrowly missed the net. Northern were uppermost, and Peart accepted a pass to even the scores, with Northern having the advantage of a corner. A certain score was missed by Stenhouse on two occasions, and then Ruddiman failed. T-fector missed the penalty shot, and Northern won by the corner.

Maori Hill 2 goals beat Mosgiel 1. goal.

The teams were ;—Mosgiel; Steven, Skinner. Williamson, Nicholson, Carr. Maori Hill; Holden, Gordon, Evans, Davidson, Dalziel. The play till half-time was ragged, and rather one-sided. Mosgiel opened the scoring, Williamson completing a heavy rush. To retrieve the .situation, Holden left his goal, and joined in a passing bout, the goalie evening the scores. Davidson finished off the second rush with a good goal. Morniugtton A, Northern B, and Mosgiel B drew byes. SECOND ROUND. Technical 3 goals beat Mornington B 1 goal. Technical quickly scored, Williamson shooting from the wing into an open goal. Jones slipped the ball through, and Pilling dashed up to beat the goalie all the way. Mornington were attempting to play neat football, and made no advance. After half-time, Agnew kept Technical , out, and a clearance let Donaldson away, and he scored Mornington’s only goal. Technical were assured of a comfortable wjn when Groves placed perfectly for Jones to head in. ■ Roslyn-Wakari B 3 goals beat Northern A 1 goal.

\ The Roslyn-Wakari team was:—Copland, Scott, M'Calliou, Oliver, Munro. The Northern defence was drawn, and Roslyn had an easy opening goal, Munro accepting a slow pass. Roslyn were all over Northern, and a corner was scored off Henderson. At last Northern started to swing the ball about, and, Henderson shot into an open goal from 30yds out. M'Callion drew the goalie, and passed up for Munro to goal. J nst on time M'Callion beat the defence badly, and scored from 20yds out.

Maori Hill 3 goals and 1 corner heat Northern B 3 goals. Northern’s team was; —Coates, Smith, Berry, Sutherland, Connolly.

Smart passing let Hill away, and Gordon’s transfer to Davidsou.was accepted for a scoring shot. After Connolly had shot to the goalie’s arms. Hill broke away, and Davidson scored his second goal. The Maroons’ shooting was erratic, but Northern were on defence till the forwards broke away, and Smith goaled. Gordon missed an easy shot, and then Northern dashed away again, Smith equalising as the whistle sounded. Extra time was played, and Coates gave away a corner, and then Gordon raced through on. his own to score from close in. On Northern’s next advance. Smith made a hard scoring drive and evened the goals. Mornington A again drew a bye.

SEMI-FINALS. Technical 1 goal beat Roslyn-Wa-kari B 0. Both teams lost chances of scoring in the first half. The respective defence of Cope (Technical) and Copland (Roslyn) was sure, but M'Calliou forced a corner off Pilling to give Roslyn the lead at the change over. Technical securing swung the ball about, and Groves scored easily. Roslyn failed to reproduce their early form, and were not dangerous in the second spell. Maori Hill' 4 goals beat Mornington A 2 goals. The Mornington A team was;— Ham, Lowclcn, Donnelly, Watkins, Whyte. Gordon opened up play, and Dalziel connected with a pass to open the scoring for Hill, who nest forced a corner. Then another rash by Hill saw Dalziel net the best goal of the day. Mornington attacked, and Donnelly’s pass was forced into the net by 'Whyte. Gordon then ran through from his own end and scored. A neat piece of play by Dalziel gave Evans a chance, and he shot an easy goal. Mornington had a royal chance, but Holden defended brilliantly. The Hill goalie had no chance of stopping Donnelly, who beat him all the way. Hill held the 2-goal lead to the finish. FINAL. Maori Hill 2 goals beat Technical 1 goal. After Pilling had missed several shots for Technical, Gordon drew the, defence at halfway, and his long shot rolled into the net. Both finalists were tired, and the play was very ragged. Jones snapped up a pass and shot hard, but Holden saved brilliantly. Technical were without luck, two good shots hitting the cross-bar. After defending solidly. Hill broke away, and Evans passed to Gordon, who scored his second goal. At last Technical met with success, Pilling bursting through to score from close in. Jones shot and Holden again saved splendidly. The referees were Messrs W. P. Smith, H. T. Knight, A. Riach, and F. G. Smith.

SECOND DIVISION. Gaversham 1, Mornington 1. THIRD DIVISION, High School 0.8. J, Y.M.C.A. 0. Fairfield 8, Boys’ Brigade 2. Northern 3, Technical 0. FIFTH DIVISION. High School 11. 2, Technical A 0.