Things were looking up for the Rosvall ITM Northland Men when import Duncan Pearce slotted a goal in the opening minutes of the National Hockey League's third-round match against Central.
It was a promising start for Northland, who entered the clash against last year's wooden spooners on the back of two
losses to Auckland and North Harbour in the first two rounds last weekend.
"But it all went downhill after that," Northland's Dave Adams said from the tournament base at North Harbour Hockey Stadium. Central soon jumped out to a 4-1 lead when the wheels fell for the Northland side, who gave away a hefty 15 corners, from which Central scored four goals. "Giving all of those corners away pretty much determined the game for us and gives us something to work on."
Northland pieced together some good phases of play during the second half, which led to a goal by guest player Josh Tattley from North Harbour, but it was all in vain as Central - who lost to Northland in last year's NHL playoff for seventh and eighth - went on to crush the northerners 6-2. Adams said Northland were hoping the arrival of Australian import Rob Greene yesterday would help swing results their way for the rest of the week.
"We will be trying to retain possession, and trying to feed the ball into Rob. Our other Aussie Josh Miller has been handy up front, as has our captain Sam Webb, who will be looking to try and solidify things in defence."
Greene was thrown in the mix immediately, included in the line up to play Midlands in yesterday's round four match. The midfielder had to play in his NSW club final on Saturday, in which he received the player of the final award.
Midlands, third last year, were boosted by their round three 3-2 win over Canterbury on Saturday and were always going to be a tough match for Northland.
Northland put in a better performance but went down 3-1.
Nick Budgeon, Kieran Daji and Matt Rees-Gibbs found the back of the goal for Midlands during the 70 minutes, before Northland was able to salvage some pride with Pearce scoring on fulltime.
Round five gets underway today at North Harbour Hockey Stadium, with Northland Men to take on Southern at 1.30pm.
