Hockey: Mangapai comes alive to claim game

The third time around proved a charm for Mangapai as they scored four second-half goals to beat Springfield for the first time this season.

After leading 2-nil at the half, Springfield's defence turned casual to let Mangapai back into the game and eventually run away with it 4-2.

Mangapai player/coach Mark Thorne said it was encouraging to see his team shake off their slow start on Sunday and come away with the win.

"We had a shocking start," Thorne admitted. "But, we'd had two weeks off hockey and that's always going to show first game back.

"That's the first time we've beaten them all season, [so we were] expecting it to be a tough game. Although, the games we've played [against Springfield] we shouldn't have lost them ... so it was good to finally put together a good performance."

Thorne played a big part in continuing his side's comeback by scoring a skilful goal down the right hand side. For Springfield, the return of goal keeper Joshua Hodgson from overseas wasn't enough to spur his side into life late in the second half.

In the other men's premier game on Sunday night, Maungakaramea scraped by Bream Bay 1-nil.

Sunday also saw the women's premier grade re-start after having last week off due to Whangarei hosting the national under-21 tournament.

Whangarei Girls' High School went down to Springfield 3-2 while Old Girls' breezed by Maungakaramea 5-2.

Thorne, who also coaches Maungakaramea, said his side were made to pay for their unforced errors.

"They played all right in the first half," Thorne said. "But, there were a lot of unforced errors and [Old Girls] capitalised on them. [But] I think we're somewhere around on track for finals but it'd be good to get some consistency from the girls."