KEY POINTS:
Midlands wasted no time in showing that they intended to be around at the business end of the national tournament in Auckland yesterday.
They raced to 6-0 by halftime and cruised home 8-1 over Central, whose only goal came from some-time international Nick Wilson early in the second
half.
Lincoln Churchill scored a hat-trick with Australian international David Guest adding a couple. Richard Petherick, Sanjay Patel and Sam Greenhill scored one each as Midlands posted their fourth win. North Harbour poured on the second-half pressure scoring five unanswered goals to end Wellington's hopes.
Australian Ben Poulton grabbed another of the day's hat-tricks with David Green scoring twice after opening the scoring.
Matt L'Huillier equalised from a penalty corner and Joel Baker added a second to give Wellington their 2-1 halftime lead. Jonathan Pooch too was on fire scoring a first half hat-trick for Canterbury who led Northland 5-0 at the break.
Andy Hayward and Reuben Koorey also scored in the first half.
The northerners came alive after the break and closed to within two goals as David Heappey, Toby Peacock and Brad McLeod scored. Isaac Staples scored Canterbury's last as they won 6-3.
Auckland confirmed their standing as the top men's team with a comfortable 5-1 win over Southern, two goals each to Shaun Matthews and Marcus Chua and one from Jonathan Bilkey took Auckland's goal tally to 21 and their points to 16 - 4 clear of North Harbour and Midlands.
Hayden Shaw got one goal in the first half for Southern who are set to meet Northland in Sunday's seventh v eighth playoff.
It was a case of too little too late for Central in the women's race.
Their 2-1 win over Canterbury in a game in which all goals were scored in the second half, was not enough to get them into final contention.
Kayla Sharland gave Central their 46th minute lead with a penalty corner strike. Stacey Carr equalised eight minutes later and it was not until the last minute Bridget Blackwood got Canterbury home but they too are well out of the league race.
Midlands kept themselves in the hunt though. Their 3-2 win over Wellington - another game in which all the goals came after the interval - took them, temporarily at least, to the top of the table.
In a frantic last 20 minutes, Lena Andersch got Midlands started. Player of the match Niniwa Roberts quickly had Wellington back to 1-1 and then, with a second successful penalty corner, catapulted them into a 2-1 lead after 58 minutes.
Di Te Awa got Midlands back to 2-2 with six minutes to play and then, with only seconds on the clock, Clarissa Eshuis scored with a direct strike from a penalty corner to add further heartbreak for the defending champions.
Northland too remain in the mix. They beat Southern 3-0 with three goals from penalty corners, all set-up by Laura Douglas. Tarannah Vette twice added the final touch with Jade McLeod tipping in the third.