HOCKEY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 31, 31 July 1911, Page 7

HOCKEY.

LAIMKS' MATCH. WJIAKATIKA v. JIUAK.I (IIAWERA). \ ■ I " , i The final' match for the challenge i shield, was played at Inglewood on Thurs- I days nfjcVnoon, when lluaki defeated j Whakatika by ten goals to nil. Tliere < can be no disputing the fact that the > i better team won, but the game was by | no means so one-sided as tin; score would seem to indicate. The pace wa» very fa.sit, particularly so in the first spell. Consequently several of the less hardened of the Whakatika forwards and halves were completely tired out before the end'of the match, but they kept up a plucky fight and had exceedingly hard luck in ' not scoring on more than one occasion. On the whole, though, the Whakatikas gave a distinctly disappointing -display, the only exceptions being M. Arthur' (goal). K.' Peim (right half), T. Mouat (left half), and M. McEwen(centre forward). Too much pra-ise cannot be given to Miss Mouat, one of this seasons beginners, who played a really fine game, keeping her place well, hitting cleanly, and .showing better judgment generally than many of the older players. Miss McEwen performed a marvellous amount of work at centre forward. Her on<> failing is that she is inclined to leave too much, and this must inevitably tend to weaken the j forward line and disorganise their combination. Both full-backs showed a decided tendency to crowd back on the goal, and they would have shown better judgment in keeping near the edge of the circle and attempting to'spoil the shots at goal instead of arrogating to themselves duties which devolve upon the goal-keeper alone. Of the ITa-wera pin vers the best were perhaps B. Elson (right back), M. Barnford (centre half), P. Young, A. Young, and I. Shepperd (forwards). The whole team played with magnificent combination, particularly the forwards, who gave an excellent display of accurate passing and sh-Hiting. The coals were scored bv M. Winks (1). T. Yonmr (1), M. Barnford (1). T. Shepperd (2), and A. Young (5). Their backs compared more than favorably with their opponents, although the left back gave sticks rather frequently. Their goal-keeper had not a great amount of work to do, but what little did fall to her share was certainly ]>erformcd cleanly and well. The irame was very ably controlled by Mr. Patterson, of Tnglewood. and was watched by a. fair number of spectators. T understand that an unusually large number of players from both northern ' nd southern divisions intend nominal-ins for the "reps.," so that Taranaki ought to make a really good showing in the tournament fixtures this year.