We are coming to the end of the hockey season with only a few games to go, and all of our teams are showing great determination and improvement against some tough opponents.
A great result from NZ Trellis Central Reserve Men sees them at the top of Division 3 this season - a great achievement from a strong team. The men managed to get a last-gasp win against Napier Tech Masters under some challenging conditions. Six minutes from fulltime, half the turf lights went out, making seeing the ball a lot harder for Ross in goal. However, determination saw a 2-1 win, with Brock G and Ethan W as goal-scorers. With a bye next weekend, the men will go into the finals looking confident for the win.
The Unichem Prem Women were up against Bay Independent this week. We knew going in it was going to be tough - we brought everything and left it on the turf after this game. We went down 5-0 but played a great game. Bay were faster and able to finish off goals in the net. The ladies were strong throughout, with great connections, passing and communication, and we are all gelling as a team. I’m looking forward to the last three games of the season.
Saturday’s game was another hard one for the Higgins Central Prem Men, going down 9-2 to Te Awa Scinde Prem Men. Te Awa just simply overloaded us in defence, resulting in goals, and some harsh calls resulted in penalties. But the boys did play well, scoring a couple of very well-structured goals, and the end score doesn’t display the entirety of the game.
Henry’s Pies Reserve Women had a fantastic game against Akina Rovers Paewai. Both teams were evenly matched, so it was going to be another close score. The central team fought hard, breaching the defence on multiple occasions, linking well and defending against counter-attacks from Akina. Akina got lucky off a penalty corner, with the ball crossing the line for the only goal of the game. Central fought hard even when reduced at times to 10 players, but we just couldn’t find the net, going down 1-0. We have one more playoff game and then it’s into the finals for us. It’s time to get those well-deserved wins.
