Wednesday, June 13th 1973

Atrocious Weather For Soccer

Atrocious weather an a re-shuffle of the team could not give Ngaruawahia United a win against Te Awamutu on Saturday. A greasy pitch and solid, steady rain made changes of pace almost an impossibility.

Sandy MacDonald moved into the forwards for the first time to partner Neil Gorman. MacDonald’s normal berth at centre-back was taken by Maurice Frankhouser. Several changes were made for Ngaruawahia early in the match and it was the first of these that Neil Gorman capitalised on to score. Shots that hit the ground before reaching the keeper were those most likely to score as the ball seemed to accelerate on leaving the turf.

Rex Nightingale played well in goal, getting completely coated with mud from his diving saves although six balls did get past him. George Sunnex had a reasonably good game as centre-half and tried to put some through balls past the backs for the forwards to chase. Bill Burston on the right wing tended to hold the ball too long when a quick pass would have split the defence.

Too many passes went straight to the Te Awamutu opposition who made the most of these gifts to take the game 6-1.

Ngaruawahia’s fourth division lost to Claudlands 18-0.