KEY POINTS:
There is plenty of hockey still to be played before the top four teams for Friday's semifinals in the men's national league are found. The women's race is almost as close but with Auckland and Canterbury nowhere to be seen.
The race for the men's top spot at
the end of round-robin play will also go down to the wire.
After two major upsets in yesterday's penultimate round - Central scored their first win in beating Auckland 5-3 and Midlands scored the only goal of the match in beating Canterbury away - North Harbour are back on top leading Wellington on goal difference.
North Harbour meet Wellington in Wednesday's final round and Auckland will play Canterbury.
Losses for any of these top four sides could spell the end of their top four hopes because fifth-placed Midlands are within striking distance and have what should be an easier assignment in playing no-chance Southern.
Midlands had another good weekend. A late Lincoln Churchill goal earned them a 3-3 draw with Harbour at Pukekohe on Saturday before yesterday's 1-0 win over Canterbury.
Converting one of the three penalty corners they were awarded, with drag flick exponent Richard Petherick scoring his second of the weekend, Midlands shut out the home side who could not score from any of their five penalty corner attempts.
Bryce Collins tidied up from a penalty corner to give North Harbour their 29th minute lead in Dunedin yesterday. Chris Ashton got the home side back to 1-1 soon after the break before Priyesh Bhana and Jan Peterson scored to ensure the victory.
Wellington beat Southern by that same 3-1 scoreline on Saturday before a 9-0 romp over Northland in Whangarei with Mark Paterson scoring three goals to take his weekend tally to four.
Led by Simon Childs' hat-trick, Auckland beat Northland 6-2 first-up but came unstuck in Palmerston North yesterday.
Without a point and having conceded 26 goals in five games, Central turned in their best effort taking their goal tally from a modest 10 to 15 on the back of goals from Nick Wilson (2), Matt Ling and, devastatingly for the losers, one each from Troy and Bevan Hari playing on loan from Auckland.
Wellington head into Thursday's last round of the women's competition on top by two points from North Harbour and Northland with the trio assured of Saturday's semifinals.
A win for Central over Northland in that last round would get them through but should they lose and Midlands take their expected win over Southern, the favoured Central side would bow out.
After winning four-from-four, Northland's bid for top spot has been derailed somewhat with their first dropped points, a 3-3 draw with Auckland on Saturday and a 3-1 loss to Wellington yesterday with former Black Sticks captain Suzie Muirhead bagging her second brace of the weekend.
After hitting the mid-competition stutters the previous weekend, North Harbour hit back with good wins over Midlands and Southern to put their campaign back on track.
Auckland, out of the top four for the past four seasons, will have another season among the also-rans with just one win and two draws in six outings.
They are joined in the Doldrums by Canterbury, runners-up for the past two seasons.