HOCKEY SURPRISES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 751, 26 August 1929, Page 7

HOCKEY SURPRISES

SOMERVILLE FALLS HARD TO ST. LUKE’S EDEN WINS ON PENALTY The Devonport Shield competition now finds Mount Eden at the I head of the list. On Saturday that team gained premier place by defeating North Shore by the odd goal in three after a hard game. COMER\ II.LE failed badly in its | meeting with St. Luke’s and) throughout a very fast match never'! looked tike pulling the game out of the ! fire. The final score was 4— l. Varsity gained the verdict over Epi- | phany in a 2 — o meeting. The ! grounds were dry and in very good condition for lively play. The following table shows the positions of the teams in the Devonport Shield competition:

MT. EDEN DESERVES WIN Judging by the amount of attacking exhibited by the teams, Mount Eden would have been unlucky in not leaving the field two points ahead of North Shore. Only powerful goal-keeping by Rankin in the second half kept the score as low as it was. Although Eden’s two goals came as the direct result of mistakes by Shore players, the brown forwards came within an ace of potting goals many times. As usual. Shore’s forwards were not capable of much combination and a lot of out of position play was indulged in. the chief wanderers being Monteith and Lucas. Rykers did a good deal of overrunning, as did Anthony. Reid was effective in the circle, witness the splendid shot he got home from a ball sent across by Monteith. Most convincing were first, Parker, left fullback, R. Prater, his associate and Thornton and Tlaggett, of the halves. Parker was right on his game. He intercepted with coolness and cleared with judgment. Frater was as unbustled as he always is and his placing was done with precision. Eden’s winning goal came from a penalty bully. A Shore man had grabbed an Eden forward in an exciting moment, when the latter was in scoring position. The referee in that sector, Mr. G. E. Waddingham, rightly awarded a bully. The Shore player won the tussle, but blocked the ball with his foot, and a penalty goal was allowed. Anderson and Mainland, the perfect partners, again shone as fullbacks for the winning side. Vail, in goal, was not often called to action, but did the right thing when the emergency arose. All three halves, Hughes, Jenkins and Kelly, were on their game, particularly the centre, whose worrying tactics earned applause. Chaplin, ce*ntre-for-w.ird, was always in the picture, but relied this time too much on his own resources. Both the Jones brothers proved good workers and worthy of goals. On the whole the game was waged in a good spirit, though two opponents who had indulged in a breezy pleasantry in a previous meeting exhibited hostile tendencies, but fortunately had the sense to listen to tho counsel of their team mates. SOMERVILLE FALLS TO ST. LUKE’S Tho Somerville team which took the field against feat. Luke’s on Saturday was only tho ghost of the Somerville which shared the Davis Cup for ordinary club competition with St. Luke's. Two of its best men, Eric "Watts and G. Cole, were away, the former through injury in the test match against the Australians, and the latter owing to business reasons. The gaps had to be filled by juniors, with consequent disorganisation to the eleven. Soon alter the match started it was evident the forward line was properly out of gear. Seccombe had to play centre, where he is not at home, and his position at inside-right was apportioned to a. junior. After St. Luke’s was one up Mr. S. Smith, Somerville selector, made structural alterations, putting Seccombe in his proper position and moving Hunter from the halves to fill the vacancy, and the junior fas given work in the halves. There was already another secondgrader in this department, but a chance had to bo taken that Hunter might bo able to repeat his goal-get-ting performance of the previous Saturday. Events did not turn out as hoped and the halves were not of much us© throughout the match. It was lucky for the Whites that the regular fullbacks, Gardiner and Smith, were available, or nothing would have held St. Luke's. These two had to , carry the burden of defence as well j as having to keep the forwards going. , On the day’s play there was no comparing the teams. St. Luke’s men were faster on the ball and carried no passengers in the team. The fullback work of Clark and H. Williams was a treat to watch, as was the play in the half line by Robertson. W Williams and Harding. Tho last-named is coming on well. The forwards were always eager and dangerous, and combination was a strong point. Wotherspoon has shown the most improvement and is now centring well. Grace’s speed gave the Somerville defence some qxiick thinking to do and Brown's bullocking was effective in its wav. The Giles brothers showed up well, their following-in being keen Robertson, centre-half, gave a particularly impressive account of himself and has rarely played better. Both Williams and Clark were outstanding performance among the Reds. On the Somerville side Gardiner and Smith were deserving of most commendation. Of the forwards. Harold Watts. Seccombe and Clive \> atts were the battlers and TTunter the lucky tnan who got the goal.

VARSITY V. EPIPHANY Varsity opened the game strongly, and after some fast midfield exchanges vigorously assailed the ppiphany citadel. Epiphany seemed nonplussed, and found difficulty in repelling the onslaught. Don. the Varsity inside left, who played well throughout, narrowly missed scoring. The ball was cleared, and Epiphany, which seemed to have recovered from the fi:*st shock of the impact, dominated the play. The Epiphany halves. —among whom Mills, the left half, was conspicuous—shone for a while, but it was only a flash In the pan. and they were soon outplayed by the \ arsity men. The play, which was patchy and uneven, swept up and down the field. Little combination was exhibited by either side, and even the individual work was below par. The half ended with the score sheet clean. The second half opened with a strong attack from Varsity, who swept into the Epiphany circle. A heated skirmish resulted in Varsity retiring, but only to return in a powerful combined movement, from which Thompson scored. The Varsity forwards were playing well, showing a dash and finish they lacked before. Thonipson. the outside left, played brilliantly, and was

ably supported by Don, whose dash and finish made the Varsity vanguard extremely dangerous.

Epiphany was overwhelmed, and all I the fight was taken from it when * arsity again netted through the ef- | r«rts of Seelen. Two likely-looking moves on the part o£ Epiphany proved abortive, through poor combination. Varsity, which was more confident, displayed unquestionable superiority. The play throughout was more individual than combined, and, on the | whole* poor. POINTLESS DRAW MT. EDF.N-WESLEY WOMEN PLAY EXCITING GAME HARD STRUGGLE THROUGHOUT One of the best, if not the best, women’s hockey games seen this season was witnessed at the Remuera grounds on Saturday when Mount Eden and Wesley, the two leading teams in the senior grade, met for a scoreless draw. Although Mount Eden did most of the attacking and deserved to score, Wesley’s superb defence with occasional flashes of bright attack, made the result a good indication of the iun of play. Had Mount Eden scored it would only have been because of a break in the defence, and as this did not occur the pointless draw was satisfactory from the onlookers’ viewpoint. It was a hard struggle all the time, fast and exciting. After withstanding Wesley would get the ball upfield, only to be turned back again. Mount Eden did get the ball into the net cn one occasion, but the hitter was offside and the goalie did not attempt to stop it. Mount Eden dominated the play in the last few minutes but could not net the ball. In the first spell Wesley reached the Mount Eden circle on a few occasions, but the backs cleared and the goalie was not called upon. In the second spell the Mount Eden goalie made no mistake in stopping a strong shot, the only one by which Wesley looked like scoring. Wesley’s front line was upset by the absence of one player, the vacancy being taken by a junior. In attack the team lacked combination among the halves and forwards who on some occasions were reluctant to tackle and awaited Mount Eden’s pleasure. However, when it came to stopping attacks the halves and backs played splendidly. Tho two Auckland x'epresentatives, Mrs. Hamlin and Miss Lowe, were the mainstays of the Mount Eden attack and both played grand hockey without getting past the greens’ defence. On the Wesley side, Miss Saunders was a tower of strength in repelling attacks, and Miss Twiname, the goalie, made no mistake when called upon, clearing two hot shots in succession while most of the players were in the circle. Mention must be made of Miss Bathgate, who came up from the junior ranks to fill the vacancy, which she did with credit, and who will be well worth a place in a senior team next season. Y.W.C.A. BEATS ARAWA Those who neglected seeing the Mount Eden-Wesley game and watched Y.W.C.A. and Arawa fight it out were rewarded with a good display which although not on a par with tho other fixture was quite interesting. Y.W. had the better of the play by more frequent attacking and although the Arawa defence was sound, tho blues were not to be denied and scored on two occasions. Miss McLachlan netting both. Arawa netted once. Miss Simpson scoring. The game was held up by injuries, one Y.W.C.A. girl being severely hurt. After she left the field Arawa did much better, but could not get another score and time was called with Y.W.C.A. still in the lead.

Mount Eden P. W. L. D. Goals. Ch. . 3 North Shore . 3 St. Luke’s .. . 3 Somerville .. . 3 1 University .. . 3 1 Epiphany .. . 3 3 — D —