St Matthew's Collegiate coach Jo McKenzie was delighted with the character shown by her young side in beating Fagan Motors 34-31 in their Netball Wairarapa premier one match at the Genesis Recreation Centre in Masterton on Friday night.
Fagan Motors actually held a 10-goal lead about midway through the third quarter
and it took a splendid late rally from St Matthew's to not only make up that leeway but get their noses in front.
McKenzie said the message to St Matthew's at the halftime break had been to lift their intensity with the idea of disrupting the flow of ball into the Fagan Motors shooters and they had done exactly that.
"It was a good learning curve for them, it showed what can be achieved when they put their minds to it, "McKenzie said.
For Fagan Motors is was their first start in premier one and their performance suggested they will continue to make their presence felt as the season progresses.
The other premier one match on Friday night saw Celtic make a successful return to the top grade. They played Carterton Sports Arena and proved too strong all round, winning by a handsome 62-33.
Kuranui College and Wairarapa College had done battle on Thursday evening with Kuranui, who finished runners-up for the premier one title last season, coming out on top by a narrow 38-34.
Also on Thursday night defending premier one champions Harcourts came up against Gladstone All Blacks. The latter did their best make to make a game of it but Harcourts were always in control and ran out winners by a convincing margin, 59 to 19.
