A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
THE full list of finalists in the Poverty Bay club hockey premier and senior competitions will emerge from playoffs this weekend and most games promise to be tough.
YMP A have already booked a berth in the premier men’s grade.
Lytton Old Boys A and THC will fight for the right to join them from 2.15pm tomorrow on the LJ Hooker Turf at Harry Barker Reserve.
THC have won both games between these sides this season — 6-0 in early April and 2-1 last month.
The second result could have gone either way and was seen as a turning point for LOB A this season as they were much more competitive, especially on attack.
Their lift in performance was further illustrated in their 2-1 loss to YMP A late last month in one of the games of the season.
The LOB improvement in defence was a feature of that match,
Since then their attacking play has progressed similarly.
They belted in 20 goals against the NZ Fruits LOB team, 17 against LOB Masters, then five against Boys’ High.
It could be said LOB A are peaking at just the right time and they will be fully refreshed for tomorrow after a bye last weekend.
“There is such a small margin of error between any of the top three teams — ourselves, YMP and Lytton Old Boys,” THC senior player Hanoa Morete said.
“We are very wary of L0B and we expect that if we are not on our game tomorrow, they could knock us out.
“We got taught a lesson in playoffs hockey last weekend by YMP. I feel we have worked well on our flaws from that loss but we will give LOB due respect.
“Our season is on the line.”
The premier women’s finalists will emerge from two sudden-death games tomorrow, and predicting winners is not rocket science.
GMC Green should have more than enough firepower to overcome Ben Holden Fencing Ngatapa in their 5.45pm game.
The Green Machine have beaten Ngatapa all three times they have played this season, including a 9-0 whitewash this month.
They also defeated defending champions YMP A (2-0 in July) — the only team to have achieved that in more than three and a half years.
YMP turned the tables last weekend but that will have only added fuel to the GMC fire tomorrow, so Ngatapa face a huge challenge to stop them.
Ngatapa have played well defensively in the past few weeks but that defence will be sorely tested.
The 7.30pm playoff between YMP A and Paikea is likewise easy to call — YMP A to win and probably by a decent margin.
“Now we are at the business end of the season anything can happen so we will not be taking Paikea lightly,” YMP manager Pare Tureia said.
“But I also think we are on a bit of a run at the moment.”
The weekend programme starts tonight with a non-competition game between Gisborne Boys’ High School — who have already qualified for the senior men’s final — and LOB Masters at 6pm.
The other place in the senior men’s final goes on the line at 7.30pm when NZ Fruits LOB face YMP B.
When those two teams last met mid-July it went blow for blow in an exciting contest that ended 5-4 in favour of LOB.
Tomorrow’s rematch is too close to call — it should be a real cliff-hanger.
The season ends for GMC Gold and Te Aowera in their 12.30pm playoff for fourth and fifth places.
Gold should have the advantage.
YMP B and Williams Transport Gisborne Girls’ High School hit the turf at 4pm to decide who joins GMC Kowhai in the senior women’s final.
The students looked good in their 5-0 victory over GMC Gold last weekend. Expect them to be a handful for the YMP B women.