Soccer Championship

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1053, 18 August 1930, Page 7

Soccer Championship

VICTORY TO Y.M.C.A.

Narrow Win Over Thistle By a narrow win on Saturday over Thistle, the Y.M.C.A. club gains the senior Soccer championship for 19:10. and is to be congratulated on a well-deserved triumph. The game was close and exciting, only the odd goal in five separating the teams at the finish, and Y.M.'s place is now unassailable. Drawn games were played between Celtic and Corinthians. and also between Ponsonby and Manurewa. No referee arrived at Onehunga. and the home club played a friendly match with trams. College day at headquarters found Mt. Albert Grammar three too good for Auckland, and Takapuna Grammar defeated Technical College by the solitary sroal scored.

Conditions were ia.\ oui a.uie .n in. , «f nlav at Blandford Park on Saturday, though the ground had cut ul a good deal during the rainy season but the attendance was dis•ss£rjr<£ __ ;« other branches of sport. a persistent drizzle rather spoilt things for the major same between v\f CA. and Thistle, the slippery sur-face-and greasy ball baulking the nlaver* and spoiling good movements t times. There was great excitement •md cheering in the second half, when the Scots made a great effort to win. and from a spectacular point of view the game was about the best seen in the championship series this season. the college knock-outs The secondary school contests opened Tvith a knock-out between teams representing the Takapuna Grammar School and the Seddon Technical College in the intermediate grade. The pupils or. both sides showed good proficiency at the code, and with coaching in teamwork would soon make .lever teams; but cohesion was lacking among the attackers, and overkicking by the halves was a frequent fault. The defenders were superior to the forwards, and it was only in the . losing stages that a determined rush by Takapuna’s van gave Hill a chance ..f scoring the only goal after a scramble. The goalkeepers. West (Takapuna) and Bodmin (Technical), were both safe custodians, and the f OUr fullbacks were a strong quartet in defence, but cleared rather aimlessly instead of trying to find their forwards. Sale (Takapuna) was conspicuous at half, and there was some clever individual work among the forwards. MOUNT ALBERT TRIUMPHS AGAIN Th® advantage Mount Albert Grammar gained by taking up the Soccer code some years before the Auckland school still stands it in good stead, but Auckland put up a good showing, and was unlucky not to be nearer at the finish, as they were by no means three goals inferior. The Light Blues made more effective use of openings. .Tepson in the centre being a clever opportunist in scoring two of the three goals. The physique of the boys was impressive, but did not make for speed and nippiness, and what may be an asset in the older code often slows down the play at the round ball game. The Auckland front line suffered through the centre being lamed in an early crash, but Mount Albert’s centrehalf (Miller) suffered equally, and both lads stuck to it gamely. As in the previous game, combination was not a strong feature, an exception being the good understanding - between Mackie. Jepson, and Grant, the inside forwards for Mount Albert, whose thrust was largely responsible for Auckland’s defeat. YOUNG MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP Young Men had to take the field without Otter at back, and Chalmers on the right wing, while Kay went to the inside position to nurse his injured ankle, and it was noticeable that most of his work was right-footed. Mcflladdery proved a very capable replacer for Otter. He was the best back on the ground, and he had many strenuous struggles with Norman Gumming. who easily outshone the other wing-forwards, and nearly brought

victory to his side. The veteran Clanachan. who substituted for Chalmers in the forward line, played a great game at inside right, and T.M. have him t«5 thank for two smart goals, ■which made the championship a certainty. Play was fast and willing right from the start, and both goalies were kept hu?y clearing lively raids in which work was more marked than combination, and throughout the game play was more of the cup-tie type than championship form. McLeay was baffled by the greasy ball when seizing on a scoring opening on two occasions. while Kay had to sacrifice a s itter owing to his left shooting boot being out of action. Humphreys was nearly through with a typical solo flribbl© when pulled dow n from behind yard from the penalty line, but thapman ballooned the free. Y.M. gets two quickly

A lively first half was nearly over before a nice combined movement by . ° T.M. van was finished by Jay sendin to Humphreys. who crossed to Kay. The flier cut in to head a low ball for the net. and Gerrard was un''cky in brushing it to the wrong angle 'l r the upright, where it glanced into i net - Soon after. Kay was again ‘b the limelight with a lofty lob to , ® goalmouth, where Clanachan fol•owed in smartly, and headed in neatly om close up. The teams turned round wit h T.M. two up. THISTLE RALLIES STRONGLY

the re-start, the Scots went off V a srea t burst, and soon had the ?• defence battling hard to clear, made' a perfect opening with a \Vr * >ass through the centre, where * wa » unmarked, and possibly of play, but the centre did not

dwell to argue, and burst through to ! give Hillard no chance. Y.M. had its! turn at attack, but there was no “get together” movement in the front line, and Thistle came back with Wilfeon and Kennedy, having only Hilliard to beat. They faltered, and the goalkeeper partially cleared, but McLeay was smart to the ball, and made no mistake about evening tlVfe score. THE FINAL STRUGGLE Both sides went after the winning point hammer-and-tongs, and had the well-filled stand on its toes with wild cheers and counter-cheers. A swift long shot by Chapman brought Gerrard to earth, to deflect it past the post for a corner, and then Hislop slung over a long pass, which was mulled by the Y.M. defenders. N. Cumming spurted in to crash home to the net, but the cheers from the Scots changed quickly to groans when the point was disallowed by the distant referee for offside. It was a very dubious sort of decision. A few minutes later Cumming nearly scored again with a hard drive which left its mark on the wrong side of the post. Y.M. worked smartly to Thistle’s goal are#, where Gerrard saved from Kay and Humyhreys. only for Clanachan to trap smartly, and slam a humming shot home for the winning goal. It was a hard-fought duel, in which honours were about easy, and a draw would have represented the run of the play. CELTS AND CORINTH DRAW Fielding its full strength again, it was thought Celtic would prove- too strong for Corinthians at Walker Park, but, aft€*r the Celts had established a three-goal advantage, a hat trick to Ansteed gave Corinthians a half share in the points and the eight goals scored. Gavan and G. Hunter scored for the Greens in the first spell, and A. Hunter put them three up soon after resuming. Celtic eased up a bit, and Ansteed took the chance to i bag a brace of neat goals. A penalty • for hands again Celtic saw Taylor I equalise the score, but from a loose j rush Jerrim regained the lead. In the j last moments Ansteed put the Whites , level again, and Corinthians improved j their goal average with a well-earned j draw. ONEHUNGA V. TRAMWAYS The Onehunga ground was in excel- j lent condition on Saturday. The wea- i ther conditions, too, were excellent. ; Punctually at three o’clock the teams ! were on the field, all ready to play. But ; in spite of these favourable circumstances. the game did not start. One slight hitch prevented its commencement. The referee was absent. Nor had he arrived by half-past three or by twenty to four. The players by that time were slightly chilly through waiting about, and the two captains, after some discussion, decided to call the game off. A friendly game, however, was played, the teams playing half an hour each way. Onehunga had the advantage during the first half, soon after the start the homo side was one up. Henderson being the i scorer. There was no further scoring ! until near the end of the spell, when i Spencer equalised for Trams, with a j penalty goal. The Trams attacked for j nearly the whole of the second half, i Spencer scored a. further two goals, and when the final whistle went they were the victors by three goals to one. Mr. F. Knaggs, the voluntary referee, controlled the game in a very creditable fashion. It was probably fortunate for Onehunga that no official game was played, since it had only a scratch team, which included three third grade players. Rutherford was unable to play; Moc-n was down with the ’flu; and Petersen was unable to play. Onehunga has had a lot of really bad luck in this direction this season, and on many Saturdays, when it has lost, things might have been different had not one or more of its regular players been away owing to illness or injuries, or | some similar causes. PONSONBY V. MANUREWA Manurewa’s showing against Pon- . sonbj* was clear proof of latent enterprise and capability, only glimpses of which have been seen for the most part of the season. The team, which on the previous Saturday defeated the doughty Young Men, had its work cut out to get away with a draw from Manurewa.

The Manurewa forwards were not impressive. In the first spell they were given numerous opportunities to score, halfbacks and backs feeding them liberally, but they could do anything but score. Lack of ball control was, in fact, outstanding on both sides, and the final low score conveys no idea of the trend of play/ innumerable opportunities being wasted in the respective goal areas. A SOUND DEFENCE

Manurewa’s strength lay in its defence. l*>tts and Ross, right and left fullbacks respectively, were cool and steady under pressure. Time and again they foiled Ponsonby, and strong kicking changed the aspect of the game in no time. The result was that play was transferred quickly from end to.. end, and the kaleidoscopic changes induced a constant interest in the game.

Of the Manurewa halfbacks, Corbett, was most prominent. He seemed to pop up unexpectedly at the critical moment, stemming in this way many attacks, but as with the other members of the team, many of his passes .were badly directed. Jackson, in goal, acquitted himself well in that unaccustomed position, the usual custodian, Parks, being down with the ’flu. PONIES NOT IMPRESSIVE If Ponsonby thought it was going to have an easy task, it was rudely disillusioned. In any case, the poor combination and generally weak scoring efforts did not merit much success. Among the forwards there was a growing tendency to hang on to the ball, and even Innes, who should have known better, was glaringly guilty of this offence repeatedly. In the halfbacks Ballock was responsible for some good efforts, but he again was inclined to hang on too long, the error being more noticeable in his case on account of its rareness. McCosh, at fullback for Ponsonby*, made some obvious mistakes, but the opposing forwards were not resourceful enough to utilise the opportunities that followed. Generally speaking. Ponsonby’s display was disappointing, there being a lack of cohesion anrl teamwork that spelt disaster. Of individual effort i there was an excess.