Hockey: Late surge gives Hikurangi second win

Nicky Mathews

Hikurangi have claimed their second win of the premier women's season with a 5-1 victory over Mangapai.

However, it was Mangapai who drew first blood scoring the opening goal of the match.

Hikurangi coach Meredith McInnes said her side were taken aback by Mangapai's confident start.

"She'll [goalie Nicky Mathews] be pretty disappointed in that, she sets pretty high standards but it was a good first goal that they got.

"Mangapai's a young team as well. They've got good enough players that if you let them put you under pressure they can take advantage of that.

"They played a smart game against us [and] put a lot of pressure on us which we didn't really respond to too well."

Mangapai coach Richard Redfurn, whose side have struggled through the opening rounds, said his players were able to draw plenty out of the game, especially after leading for the first time.

"The girls were elated," Redfurn said.

"At the end of the game they jumped up like it was a victory.

"We went up 1-nil and the girls created a few opportunities.

"The girls are getting quite confident in the circle, communication has improved and they're really taking on board their leadership."

Despite coming back to win the game by a comfortable margin, McInnes said her Hikurangi side still have work to do this season.

With the score 2-1 with nearly 20 minutes left on the clock, McInnes was concerned her side took longer to settle in to the game than she would have liked.

"We just weren't linking well together. Each person was doing their own sort of thing right but we weren't playing together too much as a team.

"[A] win's a win and three points is three points - we're pretty happy to get our second win," she said.

Premier Men, Round 6: Mangapai 6 Bream Bay United 2; Springfield 2 Maungakaramea 2.

Premier Women, Round 5: Hikurangi 5 Mangapai 1; Old Girls 3 Maungakaramea 2; Whangarei Girls' High School 4 Springfield 1.