SENIOR SOCCER

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 153, 19 September 1927, Page 11

SENIOR SOCCER

Thistle the Champions PONSONBY ROUT SHORE ANOTHER season’s championship was decided at Blandford Park in a sea of mud on Saturday, when Thistle regained the lead by an exciting last- minute victory over North cote, while Pomsonby ran away from Shore to win by a sixgoal margin. Thistle is now in an unassailable position at the top of the ladder. In Dunedin the Canterbury reps defeated Otago in the English Trophy contest by three goals to one and finished level with Auckland on points, but on goal average Auckland wins by an average of two goals per game against 1.6 to Canterbury.

CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE POSITIONS OF THE TEAMS As the result of Saturday’s play the positions of the clubs are as follow:

THE CURTAIN-RAISER Auckland Tech. v. Hamilton Tech.— The technical college game provided a good curtain-raiser for the championship contests, and both teams displayed a good knowledge of the game, but the slippery surface and swirling wind made ball-control very difficult, spoiling many promising attacking movements. Auckland adapted themselves to ground conditions better than the Waikato lads, and finally won by three goals to one. The inside forwards, Cain, Bartley and Riddolls, showed good form for Auckland, and Bankier played a solid game at centre-half. The Hamilton college was a very even eleven and unlucky in not scoring more than once. THISTLE v. NORTHCOTE Hi,slop was unable to turn out for Thistle and was replaced by J. Stewart, while. Xorthcote was without Lyons in goal, but fielded a highly efficient substitute in Stott. The preliminary game had cut the surface up badly, and continuous rain made matters worse as the game proceeded. The Scots took up the aggressive from the outset, but Xorthcote put up a stubbon defensive game, Hibbert and Taylor being strong in tackling and kicking at full-back, while Stott brought off some brilliant clearances with a treacherous ball. Thistle continued to do most of the pressing, but wild shooting in the mud spoilt most of the attacks. The blues countered with occasional raids into the Scots’ territory, both Thompson and Hall missing narrowly with strong shots. Play was lively enough, but neither side c®uld register a goal in the first spell, a netted shot from Thompson being ruled ..offside just before the whistle went. A DRAMATIC FINISH The second half was largely a repetition of the first, only worse, as the rain continued to make the surface even more atrocious. A penalty to Hibbert saw Ferguson send the spot kick well wide of the target, and in spite of dour efforts to score the dogged spoiling and smothering defence of Northcote kept Thistle at bay. Reprisals by the blues gave the Scots some anxious moments, and the game had the appearance of closing with the

score-sheet blank, wl last-minute rally, and Kay ran down to tip back neatly to Dickson when blocked, for the half-back to crash the ball into the net a minute from time. Heartened by this the Scots secured again from the kick-off, and ran *right through on a surprise raid from Cumming and Dunsmore on the

right, tho latter putting the issue beyond doubt with a hard drive just as time sounded, and giving Thistle the championship honours for 1927. Criticism of the players under the conditions prevailing would be in- : vidious, as the forwards found it dif- J flcult to keep their feet in shooting. | but a word of mention is due to j Xorthcote’s last line of defence for its j splendid work in keeping the Thistle van at bay Both Hibbert and Taylor j played a hard defensive game, and Stott shaped like a veteran with his j judgment and clearances under ex- j trente pressure. PONSONBY HORE Had Northcote secured a win. or j even a draw, a victory to Shore in the ; following game would have left the ! honours of the season still open, but the seasiders were without Baxter. Jay and Renshaw, and gave a very half- j hearted display under the dismal state I which obtained, failing to produce any j of the fine form shown in recent games. The “Ponies’’ were taking no j

chances and revelled in the sloppy slush as though they enjoyed the game. They are certainly the liveliest team of mudlarks which has been assembled for a long time. The playing area was fast assuming the appearance of a shell-pitted battlefield, with pools of muddy water which frequently proved a pitfall to the unwary, and provided plenty of farce-comedy for the few spectators who sat out the lengthy programme. THE PONIES IRRESISTIBLE Early in the game Ross was penalised for tripping in a slide near goal, and Mooney made no mistake with the spot-kick. Shortly aft€>r Innes sent a strong shot into the goalmouth, which Ross deflected into the net in attempting to clear. Ponsonby continued to make things lively for the weak Shore defence, and only some clever saving by Lipscombe kept the score down. Play quietened down a bit towards the end of the first half, Shore making a few futile efforts to even the score but finding the Ponsonby defenders too strong for them. A SIX-GOAL WIN From the restart the Ponies went off again with irresistible dash and flew through the sea of mud for Hunter

and* Tomilty to score easily and put Ponsonby four goals up. Then Hunter slipped past the demoralised defence, of which only Gerrard was up to form, and the Ponies were five to the good. The game now degenerated into lackadasical exchanges of kicks, neither side making any

attempt to play serious Soccer. Walters secured the ball in midfield, and the colt skimmed through the slush with astonishing speed to score Shore’s solitary goal off his own boot amid cheer? and laughter. The shock upset the Ponies so much that Innes also gave a solo stunt which found the ball in the net and the marksman sitting up to his hips in mud. Then Bell got his head bravely to the ball, and deflected it past Lipscombe lying prone in the goal pond. It was a disappointing wind-up of the championship series, which under better weather conditions would have been full of interest to the finish. DACRE CUP FINAL Ponsonby v. Birkenhead.— ln stormy weather on the Outer Domain the “Ponies” colts had all the best of Birkenhead, and ran out easy winners of the trophy by six goals to two. ENGLISH TROPHY CONTEST POSITION OF THE PROVINCES The English Trophy competition ended at Dunedin on Saturday when Canterbury defeated Otago by three goals to one, this bringing the red and blacks level with Auckland on points. Auckland retains the trophy on goal averages. The following table shows the position: Goals

SPORT IN AUSTRALIA EVENTS ON SATURDAY By Cable. — Pres » Association. —Copyright SYDNEY, Sunday. At the Sydney Stadium last evening Gil McGrath defeated Frank Licke on points in 15 rounds. It was a scrambling and uninteresting contest. The Rugby League premiership of Xew South Wales yesterday was won by South Sydney for tbe third year in succession. The seven miles walking championship of Xew South Wales resulted as follows: G. Parker, 1; R. Latham, 2; j R. Foster, 3. Time, 54min 24see. In a wrestling contest at the Mel- j bourne Stadium last evening Miller defeated Clapham in six rounds. Clap- ! ham injured ope of his arm s * and was ! compelled to retire.—A. and X.Z. ,

Thistle . . . P. W. D. L. Goals F. A. 12 10 1 1 Shore . . 14 9 2 3 28 Ponsonby . . 12 (> 3 3 34 22 15 Navy .... 3 0 41 35 Y.M.C.A . . 13 4 4 31 37 Tramways 12 4 5 19 Northcote . . 14 2 2 10 23 50 6 Onehunga . . 11 1 3 7 19 37 5

p. W. J>. L. F. A. Pts Auckland . . . 3 2 1 0 6 3 5 Canterbury .. 3 2 1 0 8 5 5 Otago .... 3 1 0 2 6 7 2 Wellington ..3 0 0 3 611 0