Stratford hockey teams have successful start to second round of competition

The Stratford hockey teams had a successful start to the second round of the competition. Photo/ Unsplash

Stratford Broadway Men took on final rivals Northern Masters for the second time this season.

A game that always promises to be close, ended up as close as you can get with a 0-0 draw.

From previous encounters, Broadway knew that coming out of the first quarter unscathed or up would have them come away with a result. Starting strong has also been one of Broadway's weaknesses so far this season.

Knowing these points, player-coach Brooke Wyllie put extra focus on the team having a solid pre-match buildup. The team got on board with this and as a result, they held out an expected dominant Masters performance in the first quarter.

Overall this was definitely the best team performance from Broadway so far this season with solid performances throughout the park. This performance resulted in a high level of possession and a multitude of scoring opportunities.

Special mention must also go to Joshua Trowbridge, who played his first game in the midfield, which proved to be a solid move for both him and the team.

The CMK Stratford Avon Men's team took on Northern United Hockey Club Wolves in Saturday's game.

The team played hard and fair throughout the game and kept running right up to the last whistle. Even though the team went down 3-0, the team made the game start to look like we train every week.

There was amazing passing between the players. Avon had good communication and it showed on defence.

One of the standout performances was from Demi Ward, the Championship Women's goalie. Our next-generation Stratford club players coming through put in a massive effort, with all of them playing two games.

Travelling to New Plymouth, AlphaSports Stratford Premier Women's team had a 1-1 draw with New Plymouth Old Boys Black, improving on their loss to them in the first round.

Stratford's defence had an excellent game, holding off a strong NPOB attack until they scored in the third quarter.

Stratford fought back with an excellent breakaway team goal at the end of the quarter, finished off by Lexi Maketoni. Stratford showed determination by not letting in any penalty corners, and playing a strong game to the final whistle.

Games this week:
Friday in New Plymouth: 8.15pm Prem Women v Masters.
Saturday in Stratford: 11am Broadway Men v Te Kiri, 2pm B Women v NUHC Hawks, 3.30pm Prem Men v NPOB.
Saturday in New Plymouth: 5pm Avon Men v Masters.