Walter Jackson, the clever center forward of the Bethlehem Steel soccer team, will not be in the lineup on Saturday against the National Giants. He received a bad injury to his right leg in one of the early games and it has been slow to respond to treatment. The rest should do him a lot of good and he will be in his usual place against Newark in the all important National Cup semi-final at Philadelphia January 26th.
The absence of Jackson from the Steel lineup has set a problem for the management to find a center forward for the League clash with the Giants. Jackson has played in every game since the opening date so that no one has had an opportunity to display what they could in an emergency in this position. However, a few of the men on the list have shown enough versatility in previous games to be entrusted with this important position and no doubt the player select for the job will give a good account of himself against the Giants.
Bill Highfield and harry Oellerman have been alternating in goal and there is so little to chose between them that it is practically a toss up which one defends the citadel. Both are clever custodians and the rivalry is of the good natured kind that leads to the all important harmony so necessary in any team. The same holds good in the fullback position. Jack Young and the brothers Ferguson have appeared often enough in the lineup to prove that there is nothing to chose between them and the selection of any two does not weaken the defense with the added feeling of security with a good man in reserve. Of all the players on the Bethlehem list the man who has shown the greatest versatility is Jack Rattray. Jack is the trainer of the team but he can jump into almost any position at a moment's notice and give a display that makes the fans wonder who is the regular for that particular position. This all around excellence of the present Bethlehem machine is one of the strongest assets in a hard campaign where games are often played on successive days any players who may be injured on Saturdays are usually rested on Sundays but the team keeps going with practically no apparent weakness.