West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Monday 9 July 1934, page 14


A EAST^MINUTE VICTORY.

?'' Swan Districts Unlock?.

?? x»jr a goal scorea in tue nnai nau-nunute of play; East Petth defeated -Swan District^;, at Perth . Oval -- on-Saturday in a rgame- which. ,w.as' strenuously, .cbntested ?from thei ?cbmmeri'cement'; 'floldiriir a. rom.

paratively small lead of 19 points at the start of the last quarter and kicking against a strong wind, Swan Districts .held off its opponents in a rousing finish, ionly to be deprived of victory. It was ? an excellent performance for the new team which was unlucky not to have 'forced a draw. Owing to illness aud injury both teams were below full strength. 'Swan. Districts was without Forbes, Clarke and Grieve and East Perth took the field without B. and R. Ryan. Following were the teams: — . EAST PERTH.— Backs, Mather. Lawn.1 Wood; ialf -backs,. .BouiKjy, Bennett,. Matson; centres, .UcCulIougb, ;Kinff. Guhl;_ half-forwards, Cronin,

Dolan, Dempster; forwards, Brownrigg, Crow, Garnaut; ruck, Little, Booth, Screaigh (rover) ; 19th man, J. King (replaced Browurigjr, injured leff. during the first quarter). SWAN DISTRICTS.— Backs, Pcrham, Hunter, Millwood; half-backs, A. Zilco. Pcnberthy, Ford: centres, Krepp, Hunt, Mosey; half-forwards, Thornton, Parks, Mdnerney; forwards, Coo.k, Sinclair, Jamieson; ruck. Bee, Dixon, Sweetapplc (rover); 19th man, Broomhall (ueplaced Thornton, injured knee, in third quarter). UMPIRE: F. Collins. ? Gaining a sligh't -advantage from a cross-wind, Swaii Districts started with great pace and two goals were scored iii quick succession. A. few minutes after the start of play the. rand changed yand. blew directly into Swan .Districts' goal: Heavy rain fell and the ground quickly became a quagmire. After Little hail scored from a scrimmage, East Perth went forward and' Little ..and Dempster goaled. It was hard, slogging football, but East Perth was the surer, although lacking the vigour and dash of its opponents. The East Perth back-line was called on to do a good deal of work and it held firm against a particularly resourceful attack. For the greater part of the quarter Swan Districts could not gain a greater lead than six points, and the term ended with the scorea at: — Swan. Districts, 5.2: East Perth, 4.2. Playing with the wind and in fine, weather at the opening of the second term, East Perth was in attack for several minutes but several shots realised

only one goal, Little scoring close to the posts. Swan, Pistricte continued to play with dash and determination, the captain, Bee setting a fine example. East Perth's kicking at goal was faulty, Screaigh breaking a succession of points -with a goal.. Swan. Districts was more than holding its o\hi, Little's work. in the. ruck alone enabling East Perth to^ keep, .within striking distance of its opponents. Sinclair kicked Swan Districts'1'- seventh1 goal ' and ' the team led by nirrc-p'oints, but goals- by Mather, ' Screaigh and Crow placed EasJ Perth 12 points in the lead when the bell rang, the scores being:— East Perth,- 810; Swan Districts, 7.5. Relishing the changed conditions Swan Districts went vigorously into attack at the opening of the third term. The team adopted a wide, open game and from a fast, passing movement along the right wing the ball was sent to Sinclair who scored his fifth, and the team's ninth goal. When J. .King scored a point for East Perth! the scores were level. East Perth continued to hold its advantage in the ruck and G..King gave it the ascendancy in the centre but Swan Districts persisted and, ? after several 'minutes of scrambling play, Mclnerney goaled from a penalty. Other chances were, lost .owing to the fact that the team played- along the sloppy grandstand wing instead- of gaining the advantage of wind and dry turf on the other side of the ground. Lacking system Swan Districts played with desperate vigour and determination. Bee goaled twice and East Perth was 19 points behind at the close of the quarter when the scores were:— Swan Districts, 12.7; East Perth,8.12; Slow to find its feet in the last term. East Perth appeared ? to have only a moderate chance of reducing the leeway, although it was kicking with a stiff breeze. From a wild scrimmage in front of goal Crow got his foot to the ball and kicked it through but East Perth was obliged to. fight hard, Swan^ Districts making many last-minute saves. It held grimly to a lead of 12 points. Hunter saved on the1 goal-line at a vital moment, but the team . appeared to tire momentarily and its pace slackened. -Marking a long kick .from Gronin, ;Crow goaled for! East Perth and the scores were level with eight minutes to go. Play became rough and Swan Districts seemed to regain some of its pace. It fought every inch of ground and for five minutes the

scores were unaltered. The. Swan ? Districts backs, ;baftled ? ?heroically-iv5Hunter and; Millwood rb^eingiobrillianfeV- At two minutes from time- iSwanifDis^Ticts was still' holdingvtheVdraw,' but/Screaigh broke away from a scrimmage and goaled half a minute before the final bell which rang with the scores at: — EAST PERTH .... .. 12.14 (86 pts.) SWAN DISTRICTS .. 12. 8 (80 pts.) Goalkickers.— East Perth: Crow. (4), Screaigh (3), Little (2), Dempster, Mather .and J. King. Swan Districts: Sinclair (5), Bee (3), Cook (2), Parks and Mclnerney. Maintaining his excellent form of recent weeks, Little was outstanding in the East Perth side. Screaigh roved tirelessly and played cleverly, in the forward line and G. Kfng did well at centre. Others who

stood out above their team-mates were Booth, Bennett, Guhl (in the first quarter particularly), Matson and Garnaut. For Swan Districts none played better than Parks, who is consistent week after week no matter what the circumstances. Following or placed,vBee played a great deal of excellent ' football . and Ford and Hunter formed the backbone of a sound, if ..at times unpolished, defence. Mosey awl Krepp did well on .the/; wings and Siuclair played with resource and courage in front of coal. ' ? 1