Hockey: Eyes still on the big prize

With three weeks of the regular season left in the men's premier hockey competition, Bream Bay are hitting form at the right time.

After a largely inconsistent season so far, Bream Bay have turned the wins column in their favour to have five wins, four losses and three draws to sit second, four points behind Mangapai.

Bream Bay coach Vicki Gribble said the men's competition has become extremely competitive. She added that last weekend's back-to-back matches had worked to their advantage as they came out winners over Springfield 4-3 on Saturday and 5-3 over Maungakaramea on Sunday.

"We've had such an inconsistent season," Gribble said. "I think probably coming off a huge loss and then having a double-header weekend it means anything we fix on Saturday we kind of confirm it to make it sure over the next few games."

She said her side were fortunate that a number of the younger players put in big performances, boosted by the experienced David Samuels.

"Not only does [Samuels] raise our IQ, his experience makes a difference and I think we haven't utilised that very well this season until these last two games.

"I think our problem [this season] has been we haven't scored goals, we can be all over the opposition and not score goals."

Gribble said with two trophies up for grabs, and Mangapai leading, her side would need to beat the leaders and hope another team can also knock them over if they are to have a shot at the minor premiership.

Last weekend's back-to-back matches were played to catch up on rounds missed from hosting the Four Nations and national under-21 tournaments, helping the argument for a third turf at Kensington Park.

In other men's matches, Mangapai beat Maungakaramea 1-0 on Saturday before completing the double in beating Springfield 5-1.

In premier women's matches, Maungakaramea hammered Hikurangi 7-0 on Saturday while Old Girls snuck home against Girls' High 4-3. On Sunday, Springfield drew 3-3 with Maungakaramea while Old Girls beat Hikurangi 3-0.