Hockey: Last-gasp goal fest earns win

Maungakaramea's Anna Thorpe (left) has had a strong presence in the midfield this season. Photo / Tania Whyte

An late display of urgency got the Real Deal Maungakaramea women's premier hockey team over the line against Club Auto Hikurangi, with a last gasp 4-1 victory.

However, it wasn't until the last quarter that they ran away with the win.

Maungakaramea coach David Heappey said his side had several opportunities in the initial stages of the match but Hikurangi's goalie Nicky Mathews was at her best in the circle.

"I was pretty stoked - just building up and that like they do, they definitely deserved the win," he said.

"It's just that first couple of quarters they [shots at goal] weren't going in the goal. Part of that probably is that their goalie is a pretty good goalie too."

With the first half of the match producing a close affair, both teams were locked in an arm wrestle for the win.

Luckily for Maungakaramea, a late comeback sparked a convincing victory in the end - much to the relief of coach Heappey.

"We got most of our goals in the last quarter [but] we were up one nil fairly early," he said.

"I don't know whether we just kept going or they slowed down. It's a hard one to gauge with women's hockey."

Key standouts for Maungakaramea were Anna Thorpe, who had a strong game in the midfield, and Alicia Jurisich who also stood out.

Heappey commended the strong effort of his defenders as another key attribute to the last gasp win.

In other premier women's matches, ChillTech Old Girls narrowly beat Gilmour Brown Springfield, 4-3.

A late goal in the fourth quarter secured the win for Old Girls but only just.

The remaining premier women's match saw Whangarei Girls' High School secure a win by default due to Echonorth Mangapai pulling out with injuries to several key players.

In the premier men's 9s division, Dempster and Hill Maungakaramea beat Currie Electrical Springfield 3-1 and Bream Bay United beat Morris and Morris Mangapai 4-2.