Paikea slipped out of the top four when Girls’ High beat them 4-3 on the Hain Farming Turf at Harry Barker Reserve on Thursday night.
“Girls’ High led 3-0, but let Paikea have a sniff of a result,” hockey commentator Tony Scragg said.
“Unfortunately for Paikea, they left their run too late.
“The students certainly deserve to be in the top group, and they will relish having that tougher competition before they head away to their school tournaments.
“Paikea competed well in the the first round and will be the danger team in the bottom four.’’
In one of the other feature results from the weekend, Ngatapa restricted GMC Green to a 3-1 victory.
“It was a good game,” Scragg said.
“It was only 2-1 to the Green Machine for a long time, so kudos to Ngatapa for making them work so hard for it.
“It sets up a very interesting top-four women’s competition.”
GMC Kowhai beat Waituhi 1-0.
“Well done, Kowhai . . . it gives them a mental edge as they go into the bottom four with Waituhi.
“No doubt they will look to keep that momentum going in the coming weeks.”
The best of the men’s games, despite the scoreline, was the gutsy showing by Gisborne Boys’ High School against the strong and experienced YMP A team.
“Although beaten 11-4, the boys gave a good account of themselves,” Scragg said.
“YMP played strongly, and Boys’ High could easily have conceded a lot more goals. To score four of their own was a credit to them.”
Covid Cup winners Waituhi beat Lytton Old Boys Masters 4-1, but the Masters should be proud of that performance.
“It was a lot closer than most people expected,” Scragg said.
“That result has given Waituhi their first points for the first round and they will want to keep their foot on the pedal from now on.”
The other men’s and women’s games featured big scores.
YMP scored a dozen unanswered goals against Te Aowera. They included four to Courtney Onekawa and a hat-trick to Cheidan Moetara.
“It was great to see Cheidan, one of the younger members of that YMP squad, score three goals,” Scragg said.
“It was her first hat-trick in premier-grade hockey.”
Lytton Old Boys NZ Fruits rattled home 20 unanswered goals against YMP B. Liam Melville got seven of them.
“The Fruits sorted out some of their combinations in that win,” Scragg said.
“Now they will focus on the big clashes against Waituhi and YMP in the next fortnight.”
Paikea 3 (Jo Cumming, Joanne McLean, Kate Muir) Gisborne Girls’ High School 4 (Tiari Pepere 2, Chloe Kapene, Briana Ingoe); Waituhi 0 GMC Kowhai 1 (Georgia Craig); GMC Green 3 (Shannon Williams 2, Caroline Maclaurin) Ngatapa 1 ( Viv Macpherson); Te Aowera 0 YMP 12 (Courtney Onekawa 4, Cheidan Moetara 3, Toni Halley 2, Lucy McHugh, Nicole Torrie, Nancy Tarawa).
Waituhi 4 (Tam Tuhou 3, Tegan Brown) Lytton Old Boys Masters 1 (David Preddey); Gisborne Boys’ High School 4 (Harry Allan, Oliver Cranefield, Austin Fergus, Will Matthews) YMP A 11 (James Torrie 6, Heath Tupara 3, Josh Cousins, Hamish Swann); YMP B 0 LOB Fruits 20 (Liam Melville 7, Patrick Ferry 4, Aaron Whitehead 3, David Melville 2, Matt Skuse, Ben Blakeman, Jayden McKay, Jed Skuse).
Whatatutu 1 (Allies Wilson) Campion Gold 1 (Marshall Boyd); Lytton High School 0 GBHS Black 5 (Jack Fletcher 2, Jamie Walker, Patrick Brownlie, Harry Allan); GGHS (2) 0 Campion 7 (Hamish Swann 3, Cole Manson 2, David Levy, Ben Blakeman).
