HOCKEY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1266, 2 July 1914, Page 3

HOCKEY.

LEVIN B. 3 v. FOXTON A. 2

Foxton did not long retain their position on the top of the ladder for yesterday Levin B, put them down again. The teams were very evenly matched but the pace began to tell against Levin in the second half. From the initial bully they set out to make things lively and soon had play in the home circle. The pressure was relieved after some hard battling but the ‘•magpies” were not to be denied. Tneir forwards were playing a fast, open game and seemed to have the local backs outclassed. From some fine combined work the visiting forwards found O’Brien “not at home,” and promptly scored. The whites rallied and took a turn at attacking. Breaking through the defence they gave the Levin goalkeeper plenty of work. During the next quarter of an hour Levin were hard put to keep the ball out of the net, and it was hard luck and bad shooting combined that prevented Foxton from having half a dozen goals to their credit. Xu defending Levin packed their circle with practically the full team. They were thus able to prevent the local forwards having anything like a clear shot. Eventually the magpies again took charge and added to their total with a shot that just found the edge of the net. Frantic but unavailing attempts to score were now made by the whites. On one occasion McMurray broke away with the ball from midfield, but was fouled by a magpie when it looked odds on a score. Half-time sounded with the score,' 2 —o. In the second half the whites were again slow in getting off the mark and Levin added to their score —a splendid shot by Smart into the corner of the net, giving O’Brien no chance, With defeat staring them in the face the whites now fought desperately to equalise matters. Several times a score was imminent, but was generally averted by the whistle. The advantage rule might certainly have been put into force as it was mostly infringements by Levin players that pulled the game up. This annoyed the local players considerably. Battling near the circle Baughen found a Levin player between himself and the ball, so he pushed him over ; to the surprise of the spectators Baughen was ordered off. Some strenuous play now took place round the Levin goal and at last Hickson managed to score. Condition now began to tell against Levin, who were defending most of the time. The whites were further weakened by the dismissal of Cook, who was put off for obstruction. Despite the big handicap the whites kept up the attack and McMurray scored godl number two. Some very fast play followed but no further score was registered.

At Levin yesterday the Foxton B. team was. defeated by Levin A., by two goals to nil.