FRANCIS SCORE S SIX IN EXHIBITION WIN: Express demolish The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, March 21, 1979-Page 9f Cosmos, 8-2 By DAVE JOHNSON Special to The Daily PONTIAC-Both good news and bad news came from the Silverdome last night. First the good news. Soccer sensation Trevor Francis paced Detroit with six goals and one assist in leading the Ex- press to an 8-2 victory over the defen- ding NASL champion New York Cosmos in exhibition play before 25,473 enthusiastic fans. AND NOW FOR the bad news. Since Francis is still obligated to finish out the 1979 British season with the Not- tingham Forest and was only on loan to Detroit for the evening, Express fans must wait until late June to see Francis perform again. Nonetheless, it was quite as homecoming for the English star. Three goals in each half. Six goals on seven shots. The other goals were provided by Brian Tinnon and Keith Furthy. Furthy also had four assists. "I'm very happy," said Francis. "Especially when the sixth goal went in. Ken Kurphy (Express head coach) told me it would be a record so I went for it." DELAYED 30 minutes because of the large crowd, the contest was wide open from the start. Both teams had numerous scoring chances, but ex- cellent goaltending kept both teams off the board. The Cosmos had several point blank shots on the Detroit net, but goalkeeper Jim Brown came up with spectacular saves. New York's only scoring came on free kicks. Francis got Detroit rolling at the 12 minute mark of the first half, scoring on a rebound of a corner kick. BOTH TEAMS held each other scoreless until Francis again scored ten minutes later on a header. Trailing 2-0, the Cosmos bombed the Detroit net with three blistering shots, but Brown again was equal to the task. The third Express goal came with six minutes left in the first half. Francis teed the ball up 35 yards away and drilled it into the net to give Detroit a 3- 0 halftime lead. New York dominated the second half but couldn't get the ball past Brown. Finally, at 54:42 Vladislav Bogacedic drilled a free kick past the Express netminder. JUST AS IT appeared that the Cosmos were going to close the gap again, Francis scored his fourth goal, faking out three Cosmo defensemen in the process. The only setback for Detroit was goaltender Brown's injury in the second half. Although he apparently was seriously injured and had to be taken from the field on a stretcher, doctors determined the,injury to be a bruised shoulder along with a pinched nerve: Brown was hurt attempting to block a shot. He went high into the air and came down on his shoulde. The Express will open NASL play this Saturday, March 24 on the road against the Dallas Tornado. The team's home opener isn'tuntil April 14, versus the Memphis Rogues. V Temporary Tre or just brilliant TWO OF THE finest soccer players in the world, Trevor Francis of the Detroit Express and Franz Beckenbauer of the New York Cosmos, collide in last night's NASL matchup at Detroit's Pontiac Silverdome. Francis scored three goals in the first half for Detroit. SPOR TS OF THE DAIL Y - Wings tame Hawks, 5-3 By The Associated Press DETROIT-Rookie Dan Labraaten - scored two power-play goals in the first 11 minutes of the game last night as the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Chicago Black Hawks 5-3 in the National Hockey League. It was Detroit's fourth straight vic- tory and Chicago's sixth successive loss. Labraaten's two goals, his 16th and 17th of the year, were sandwiched around another power-play effort by 'Detroit's Vaclav Nedomansky, his 36th goal of the year. The Black Hawks rallied in the final five minutes of the opening period on goals by John Marks and Bob Murray to cut the deficit to 3-2. But Paul Woods converted a rebound for his 12th goal 27 seconds into the second period to make it 4-2. Ted Bulley's 21st goal at 3:53 of the final period gave Chicago new life, but Detroit's Reed Larson wrapped it up by putting a 130-foot shot into an empty Chicago net in the last 59 seconds. Pistons dumpe)d PISCATAWAY, N.J.-Harvey Catch- ings scored all of his 15 points during a fourth-qurter New Jersey rally to lead the Nets to a 117-110 National Basket- ball Association victory last night over the Detroit Pistons. Catchings, who managed to commit two personal fouls and three turnovers in nine minutes of action during the fir- st half, re-entered the game with 10:58 remaining and New Jersey trailing 84- 76. His three-point play sparked the Nets on a 11-point run to take a 93-92 lead. It was the Nets' first advantage after wasting a 14-point second quarter lead to trail by three at the half. After Detroit rookie John Long put the Pistons back on top 96-95, Catchins hit a pair of free throws to put New Jer- sey back on top for good at 97-96. Catchings then hit a lay-up and four more foul shots arournd a pair of free throws by Phil Jackson to help the Nets to a 111-102 lead before he fouled out with 1:10 to play. * * * igers roar SARASOTA, Fla.-Dave Rozema SCORES NBA New York Knicks 118, Milwaukee 110 Alanta 115. Clelveland 109 New Jersey 117, Detroit 10 NHL Detroit 5, Chicago 3 EXHIBITION BASEBALL Detroit 2, Chicago (A) 0 Boston 4, Cincinnati : St. Louis 7, Toronto 2 Minnesota 15, New York (A , 7 Houston 6, Montreal 4 Kansas City 9, Atlanta 2 San Francisco6, San Diego 4 Baltimore 4, Philadelphia EXHIBITION BASEBALL American League pitched six scoreless innings and the Detroit Tigers went on to blank the Chicago White Sox 2-0 yesterday in an exhibition baseball game. The Tiger righthander gave up four hits and picked up his first spring vic- tory. Detroit scored in the second inning on a single and stolen base by Tim Cor- coran and a single by Dan Gonzales off loser Rich Hinton. The Tigers added a run in the ninth on Phil Mankowski's two-out homer off Lerrin LaGrow. Merger threatened BOSTON-Boston Bruins President Paul Mooney says the team will file suit against the National Hockey League if it agrees to merge with the World Hockey Association this week. Mooney says the merger, allegedly violating the rights of players and NHL teams, should require an amendment of the league's bylaws, and thus a unanimous vote of approval. However, the merger can be ap- proved in Chicago tomorrow if three- fourths of the 17 NHL teams agree to it. Five teams opposed the merger in two previousvotes. But theMBruins believe that two opponents, Montreal and Vancouver, may have switched, in part because of pressure from Canadian business interests. The other holdouts are Boston, Toron- to and Los Angeles. The plan calls for admission of four WHA teams in Edmonton, Winnipeg, Quebec, and New England to join the NHL. NHL teams would get $1 million apiece, but would have to make four players eligible for a draft by WHA clubs. Mooney complains that one of the WHA teams, the New England Whalers, would encroach on Boston's geographic territory. The Whalers have played in Springfield, Mass., but are based in Hartford, Conn., where the civic center is being repaired. Playful Palmer MIAMI - Pitcher Jim Palmer of the Baltimore Orioles has another nagging spring training .injury - and he's playing it for all it's worth. Asked how long he would be sidelined by a pulled groin muscle, which he suf- fered in a game against Los Angeles on Monday, Palmer cracked: "... until they pay me what I'm worth. This could be a three-year injury. "I predict a slow recuperative period," he said. "I'll jet home just in time for the exhibition game at the Naval Academy on April 9." By JAMIE TURNER Special to The Daily PONTIAC-Now the question is: what is the Express going to have for excitement at the Silverdome for the next three months. Whatever Detroit thinks of, it can't match what Trevor Francis did last night. Francis' six goals was a performance by a maestro who has perfected his craft into a rare art form. And the 25,473 connoisseurs of headers, deflections, dekes and kicks ap- preciated every play.- But no more so than his Express teammates and especially coach Ken Furphy. "It gives the team a lot of con- fidence because they know a class player like Trevor will score goals for you," smiled Furphy. "He is not a superstar," added the red-haired Furphy, "in that he always hustles, marks his man, plays great defense, scores goals and he never complains." ' It was unknown until a couple weeks ago whether Francis would be able to return to Detroit following a brilliant initial season last summer. But thanks to a multi-million dollar trade in England Francis got approval from his home Not- tingham Forest squad to play for the Express last night and return sometime later this summer.- As excited as the Express fans were at his return, Francis was equally as nervous before the game. "I only had two hours for sleeping lasnight, I was so ex- cited about coming to Detroit," said a smiling Francis. "But I knew I needed some rest today so I laid down for five hours this afternoon. But I didn't sleep a bit ... I guess it didn't hurt me." The 24-year-old wunderkind was especially pleased that his goals came against defending NASL champion New York. Often slammed to the turf by frustrated Cosmos defenders, Francis nevertheless scored at will. "No disrespect to San Jose (against whom he scored five goals last season) but they just aren't as good as New York. I think they e(Cosmos) were trying tonight, but we were just that much better than they are." Francis' biggest thrill was his third goal of the evening when he beat New York goalie David Brcic with a blistering shot from 35 yards out. "The highlight was the third goal. I wouldn't say I was satisfied at that point, but I never thought I would be able to do any better. But then a teammate told me to go out and get another three in the second half." x Despite his performance last night and the reception he got from the Silverdome crowd, Francis is heading right back to England this morning. There he will rejoin Nottingham Forest with whom he will play until May when he joins the English national team for a tour that could last until mid- June. But what he saw last night convinced coach Furphy that half a season of Francis was better than nothing at all. "I said a couple months ago that I would-move mountains to get him back to this team ... and I guess we saw tonight what he can do for us." 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