First round to LOB

REACHING OUT: Piri Orotaunga, of Waituhi, reaches out to try to dispossess Sean Wills of Lytton Old Boys in men’s hockey on Saturday. Wills was among the scorers in a 5-0 win to LOB. Picture by Paul Rickard

HOCKEY

LYTTON Old Boys wrapped up the first round of the men’s hockey competition at the weekend.

They defeated Waituhi 5-0 in their final Round 1 game.

Lytton Old Boys NZ Fruits won the first round with 15 points, ahead of YMP A on 12, Gisborne Boys’ High School on 9, Waituhi on 6, YMP B on 3 and LOB Masters on 0.

“The hard work by the Fruits paid off on Saturday afternoon,” hockey commentator Tony Scragg said.

“They played constructive and determined hockey and deserved to win the first round.

“Their focus now will be on the men’s top-three competition that starts the weekend after next.”

The feature matches in the women’s competition were two 1-1 draws — between GMC Green and YMP A, and Gisborne Girls’ High School and Ngatapa.

“The draw between GMC and YMP A was the match of the weekend, I reckon,” Scragg said.

“They were locked up at 0-0 at halftime, then GMC scored in the third quarter.

“After that, YMP piled on the possession in the final period and scored late in the final quarter to square things up.

“Two key players were missing from the YMP line-up, though, and that has to be taken into consideration. YMP did well to get a draw.”

Boys’ High finished the first round of their competition with a 13-0 thumping of YMP B.

William Matthews scored four goals, Harry Allan got three, and Jack Willock and George Allan both scored two.

“The students had a strong start, and YMP, who were low on numbers, had no answer to the Boys’ High pressure,” Scragg said.

LOB Masters felt the sting of a YMP A backlash and lost 6-1.

They will have treasured the goal they scored, though.

“The Masters were quietly excited about the scoreline,” Scragg said.

“They worked hard to keep the YMP attack at bay as much as possible.”

In the women’s B grade, Paikea continued on their commanding way with a 3-1 win against Waituhi, as they sent Amber Church off to the Olympics with a winning performance.

“It keeps Paikea on top of the table in the B Grade, but Waituhi will take heart from the scoreline,” Scragg said.

“It was a lot closer than a lot of people thought it would be,” Scragg said.

GMC Kowhai beat Te Aowera 5-0 in the other women’s B Grade game.

“Kowhai made a little statement to the likes of Paikea and Waituhi with that result,” Scragg said.

“Do not write them off. They will be a team to watch.”

YMP B 0 Gisborne Boys’ High School 13 (William Matthews 4, Harry Allan 3, Jack Willock 2, George Allan 2, Oscar Ruston, Oliver Cranefield); LOB NZ Fruits 5 (Liam Melville 2, Sean Wills, Oliver Shivnan, Jed Skuse) Waituhi 0; LOB Masters 1 (David Preddey) YMP A 6 (Michael Bond 3, Kohere Tupara 2, Dylan Lardelli).

Gisborne Girls’ High School 1 (Chloe Kapene) Ngatapa 1 (Kate Pahina); GMC Green 1 (Caroline Maclaurin) YMP 1 (Lucy McHugh).

Te Aowera 0 GMC Kowhai 5 (Arna Searle 2, Georgia Craig, Amber Dempsey, Yuna Preddey); Waituhi 1 (Libby Te Rauna) Paikea 3 (Jo Cumming, Taimania Clarke, Lisa Gill).

GBHS Black 1 (Harry Allan) Campion Green 2 (Luke Hurlstone 2); GGHS (2) 0 GBHS (2) 6 (Jarred Knight 4, Dylan Storey, Jack Truelock); Campion Gold 0 Lytton High School 2 (A-e-ra Lloyd, Charlie Brown).