KEY POINTS:
After nose-diving from champions two years ago to seventh last season, Wellington won back their mantle as New Zealand's top women's team with a convincing 4-0 win over North Harbour in the National League final yesterday.
Even playing at the Crown Relocations Stadium in front of a home
crowd, and in the knowledge they could complete a unique double following the 3-2 victory the Harbour men had scored over Canterbury on Saturday, could not lift the women.
They showed little in an often scrappy game in which they rarely strung telling passes together and were outplayed by the Suzie Muirhead-led visitors.
Wellington, whose only dropped points came in their third round 2-1 loss to Central, were in control from the start going ahead in the fourth minute when a diving Nichola Brydon swept home from close range.
Maintaining that pressure, Wellington doubled their score 12 minutes before halftime when Niniwa Roberts, later named the most valuable player, scored from a goalmouth scramble after Harbour goalkeeper Bianca Russell had blocked an earlier shot.
Six minutes after the break, Wellington killed the game off when, in following up from a penalty corner, Gerry Blair scored from a melee.
Set up by Muirhead, Brydon grabbed her second in the 59th minute to complete the rout.
National women's coach Kevin Towns said later he had not been overjoyed with what he had seen in the final phases of the NHL, expressing real disappointment in the form shown by his Black Sticks.
"A lot haven't shown the consistency and pride in their performance I was looking for," said Towns who this week will name a squad of "up to 24 players" to begin preparations for next year's Olympics.
"At this stage, we are struggling to come up with the names of 24 players we feel are in the form to be selected. A lot of players are quite stressed about next year and the commitment they have to make."
Like most, Towns was disappointed that Canterbury and Auckland, for so long the power base of the game, lost their play-offs yesterday to finish sixth and last respectively.
Sadly, Muirhead, Di Weavers and Robbie Matthews - all long retired from international hockey - showed out as being among the better players in the league.
The men's game was a much closer, exciting affair decided in the dying seconds by a penalty corner strike from North Harbour's Bryce Collins.
Canterbury had taken the lead in the17th minute when Craig Paterson mopped up after the third of three penalty corners won in quick succession by the visitors.
The home side got back to 1-1 in controversial circumstances just before halftime when Priyesh Bhana was adjudged to have deflected home a David Green freehit. Subsequent replays showed, as Canterbury captain Hayden Shaw had insisted, there was no touch from a North Harbour stick and the goal should not have counted.
Shay Neal put Harbour ahead 17 minutes into the second spell before Jason Bradley tied it up 2-2 with eight minutes to play.
Collins had the last say and left the hosts to celebrate their third title in eight years - two on their home turf.
"It wasn't our best game of the season," said Harbour coach Brent Edwards. "But it was awesome to win especially in the 100th year of the Challenge Shield."