Hockey: Northland rain on Flynn parade

Anna Thorpe scored Northland's second goal to pip Midlands' chances of a win. Photo / John Stone

If anyone was going to spoil Black Sticks star Gemma Flynn's hopes of a win as she played her 50th cap for Midlands, the Mark Cromie Holden Northland Women's team were the ones to do it.

Continuing on with the rampant form seen in their 3-0 win over Auckland in round two of the Ford National Hockey League (NHL) last weekend, Northland kept the tap running to dispel Midlands 2-1 during round three of the tournament in Whangarei on Saturday.

Noting that Midlands had Black Sticks bedded through their squad like layers of pastry in a croissant, Northland coach Angeline Waetford sighed a wave of relief at the outcome.

Local fans react to Stacey Michelsen's opening goal of the match against Midlands.

"I felt we defended a fair percentage of that game, there'll be some tired players today," Waetford said at the end of the match.

"That was hard running for 60 minutes and a few of the girls said they hadn't played a hard game of hockey like that ever."

Undeterred by the challenge, Northland's Stacey Michelsen rose to the occasion, slicing through Midlands' defensive lines right from the opening whistle.

Michelsen opened the scoring just out from half-time before Kate Kernaghan drew Midlands level in the 41st minute.

Both sides fought hard to swing the match their way in the closing stages.

Several attempts at goal went amiss from both teams until Anna Thorpe delivered the winning blow just five minutes shy of full time.

Grinding out the remaining minutes, a composed performance from Northland's Alana Millington at the back helped keep her side in front and the winning hopes of Midlands on the back burner.

"There was some really nice pace in that team, just one after another, layer after layer," Waetford said of Midlands' depth.

"I was struggling to decide between leaving experience out there or putting fitness out there - it was a fine line what to do."

In Northland's round four game yesterday they managed to weather the bite of the Southern Storm and stage a relatively comfortable 5-3 win.

Doubles to Hannah Haughn and Stacey Michelsen had the home side up 4-1 at half-time before Samantha Polovnikoff added the fifth in the third quarter.

A shaky last quarter saw Southern creep back into the game, but Northland remained defiant.

"In preparation and going forward I can definitely tell you that a winning team is a happy team," Waetford said of a key ingredient to Northland's winning mix.

"If things don't go right you have to start patching up the cracks."

-Northland face Capital in their round five match today, 4.30pm at the Whangarei ITM Hockey Centre. The Northland Men take on Capital at 7:00pm.