Hockey: Draw no surprise in derby match

Bay of Plenty Indians player Surinder Singh scores during a 5-5 draw with the Rotorua Aces at Smallbone Park. Photo/Stephen Parker

The Rotorua derby match between the Bay of Plenty Indians and Rotorua Aces has lived up to expectations following a 5-5 draw at Smallbone Park.

Rotorua's best hockey clubs met on Saturday for their second derby match of the season.

The Aces comfortably won the first derby in April, but faced a tougher task on Saturday.

They took the lead in the first half but the Indians battled back well, with star player Surinder Singh scoring a hat-trick.

Leading 5-4 in the second half, the Indians could not manage to hold on, as the Aces scored an equaliser off a penalty corner.

In a bizarre finish, the match was called off a couple of minutes early following an injury to the Aces' goal keeper.

Indians coach Karandeep Lall said the fixture was quite entertaining.

"It lived up to the expectation," he said. "I mean 10 goals, it won't be that often you will see that. This was good attacking hockey."

He said Singh in particular played well with a fine hat-trick for the Indians. Lall said the intensity was great.

"The players knew each other and they wanted to play good hockey."

While the match will go down as a classic, the result does not do much for either side on the Midlands intercity competition ladder.

The Aces still have a chance of making the semifinals while the Indians will do well to break into the top half of the table.

"We are hoping from next week on we can turn the tide and go for the top six or even the top four," Lall said.

He said one of the only disappointments on Saturday was the turf at Smallbone Park had not been watered before the game. He said luckily no-one was injured.

Meanwhile, the Rotorua Aces women's team suffered a 3-1 loss away to the Franklin Barbarians (Counties Manukau) on Saturday, in the Midlands women's competition.