Strenuous Soccer

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 461, 17 September 1928, Page 6

Strenuous Soccer

TRAMS TOP THE TABLE Championship Still Open AFTER the inter-provincial thrills club Soccer was resumed on Saturday, the only game with any bearing on the championship being the Tramways-Y.M.C.A. clash, in which the Young Men had a chance of spoiling Trams’ prospects. The game was a poor display of Soccer, but very fierce at times. Trams won, 4—2, and, with one game more played, are now a point ahead of Ponsonby. Another hard game at Devonport saw Shore win luckily from Onehunga by a goal to nil, and Belmont beat Northcote by the odd goal in three.

Y.M.C.A. rolled out at full strength for its match against the redoubtable Corporation team, but Spencer was missing, and badly missed, from the “Trammies” van, owing to knee trouble following the strenuous game against Wellington. Reid, of the Dunedin, relieved the AH Black in the centre, but was strange to the position and lacked the nippiness needed for the forward pivot. Trams fielded five of the successful Auckland representatives, but none of them reproduced the brilliant form of the two previous Saturdays in the F.A. Trophy events. The match, as anticipated, turned out to be a hard duel between the Young Men’s strong attacking line and Trams’ very solid defence, and for the first spell it was a very even go, with Trams just snatching the lead before half-time sounded. Batty had been more busily engaged than Baton and the goal advantage might easily have lay with Y.M., Chalmers missing one sitter, while Whaley, with only Batty to beat, drove straight at him for a quick save, when a push to one side must have found the net. SOME HEFTY BUMPING There was nothing inspiring o.r scientific about the football in the opening spell, the best bit of combined play being a nicely worked opening by Christie, which sent Reid away to send on to Davis, who rounded Mowat and pushed the ball past the expectant Baton. Y.M. set out in the second spell with a strong determination to even matters, but met an equally determined resistance, and in the clash there was plenty of jumping and bumping to draw the audible urge and protests of the barrackers. Humphreys had Batty guessing and scrambling from a hard drive, and Chalmers forced a couple of corners which were accurately placed and quickly cleared, and tfren the Christie-Davies-Reid combine came into the picture again with a fast raid which ended in Reid finding the bull’s-eye, and putting Trams in the healthy position of being two up. A swift reprisal by the Young Men found Chalmers and Humphreys running through, when some mixed tackling by Chrfstie and Simpson held up play. A penalty against Trams saw Chalmers make a certainty of the spot kick. A STRENUOUS FINISH Y.M. tried hard for an equalising chance, and some bumping exchanges ended in a head-on collision between Christie and Grant, with the latter a technical knock-out and Christie somewhat dazed. Then Trams got moving again, Reid and Davis crashing through the shaky defence, and Tinkler nipped on to the ball to put the third goal past Baton. Young Men, however, were not downhearted, but hammered away willingly at the Tramways defenders and Humphreys tried his luck with a long range drive. The ball flew true, but Stretton fluffed an attempt to clear, and the ricochet of the ball beat Batty completely. This was followed by another Y.M. attack, which culminated with a regular Rugby scrum in the goal mouth, with Batty and the ball “gone to earth” and invisible. A free to Tr.oms for dangerous play relieved a critical situation and play went to the opposite end, where a rival scramble in Y.M.’s goal brought a strong appeal for a goal against Baton. A halt for a bounce by the referee restored order, and Davies settled all arguments by sending the throw-down smartly into the net, giving Trams a four to two victory. A DISAPPOINTING DISPLAY While the game was far from dull, the standard of play was much below what was anticipated with most of Auckland’s brilliant representatives engaged in the contest. None of these played up to provincial form, with the exception of Humphreys, who was the life and soul of the Y.M.C.A. attack and stuck grimly at it to a gruelling finish. The Y.M.C.A. defence was painfully weak, the halves and backs being hardly up to second division standard, but the Trams’ attack w#s very straggling and disjointed, and a prolific crop of corners produced no profit- Playing the man and ignoring the ball was All too frequent, and combination was about a minus quantity. SHORE SCRAMBLE HOME The final game of Soccer on the Devonport ground found Shore just scrambling home from Onehunga by the solitary goal the match produced—from a free kick. There were several other free kicks which made quite an impression—but not on the ball, and play was very “mixed” in some purple patches on the daisy-starred sward. The result of the match had no bearing on the destiny of the championship honours, but, as in previous games, both teams made it very willing, and spirited clashes kept the referee busy keeping the peace. Sowden, of the fourth division, appeared in goal for Shore and defended his charge cleverly. A free against the Onehunga custodian for a Rugby run saw' Gilmore drive to the net from short range and give Shore the winning goal. A diversion was caused when the ball found rest in the topmost branches of a tree, and called for a perilous climb by the club secretary to rescue a somewhat superfluous adjunct to the game. Further willing exchanges characterised the second moiety, and Onehunga nearly succeeded in bumping the ball through for an equalising gaol, but a confident appeal failed, and after Woolley had retired hurt Shore continued to press but without further score. BELMONT EVENS MATTERS Belmont met Northcote in a contest

which probably decided which of the neighbouring suburbs »liould hold the empty wooden spoon, and this time the junior district triumphed in «ui excitingrace for the bottom rung of the ladder. This leaves honours easy between the neighbours, with a win each and a draw, as the result of their three championship games. The game was a pleasant and friendly one, without being o, first-class display of the code, and an even match was in doubt till the closing stages, when Belmont secured the full points by two goals to one. Belmont got the lead in the first half, when a forward rush found Adams beating Lyons, and from then on the defence was too solid for the attack, until 'Cote’s forvyards caught Chesney with the ball and scrambled it into the net to equalise. Belmont stayed the distance better than the veterans, and Lithgow made a good opening for T.rewhella to finish the movement in clever style for the winning goal.