Stratford hockey: Teams show off skills in weekend matches

Stratford Avon played against the Northern Wolves during the weekend.

Byline: Natarsha Hey

On Friday night the CMK Stratford A Women came up against Northern Women, certainly not a team to take lightly having won five championships.

Northern were first to score, with Stratford's Bex Dearden equalising soon after. Northern put away another two to make the halftime score 3-1. With Stratford under pressure goal keeper Chloe Jackson played an outstanding game, earning her player of the day. Northern dominated in the second half, with plenty of shots at goal, the final score 7-1 to Northern.

Stratford Broadway took on Northern Masters on Saturday. With the challenge trophy up for grabs, Broadway hoped to use the skills they have worked on to make the difference in this match.

Both teams played an aggressive game, and both had their struggles with Masters putting two goals up on Broadway. Broadway got one back with a well-shot goal from Ekam Bir Singh. Masters finished up the stronger team winning 2-1.

Avon played Northern Wolves and had a good turnout with 13 players, helping to make for a great start.

It was quite even with Avon matching goal to goal with some great passing from father- and-son duo Brendan and Riley Coles.

Leading to Stratford's first goal from Tyler McCullough's great positioning. Later in the third quarter mighty Mitch Best punched one in from a penalty corner, meaning the fourth quarter was the decider. Being 3-3 until in the last minutes Northern scored from a PC. A great close game, with Ethan Larsen playing his first game for Avon, showing great potential.

Stratford B Women took on Apex this week. A tough and very even game that had no goals scored by either side until the final quarter. Some great defensive play was displayed by Stratford. An awesome team goal which Georgia Payne managed to convert. Players of the day went to Georgia for taking in and implementing the advice given, and Emma Gernhoefer for her effort on defence. Final result 1-1.

The Brian Darth Funeral Service Stratford Men's A team finally got to play a Saturday game at home, playing against Northern United.

With a full team on the card there was a new structure to try that involved more running from everyone.

This showed through the attack going forward, we had a lot of possession and opportunities. The first to make one count was Ethan Lehmann sitting by himself at the top of the circle.

The second goal was again Ethan from a great penalty corner. Ethan's hat-trick goal was the best of the lot where he "slam dunked" the ball from well above his head. Our fourth goal was nicely placed by the ever-improving Noah West-Adams. Final score 4-0.

Games this week:
Saturday in Stratford: 12.30pm Te Kiri Rangers v Stratford Prem Men, 2.00pm Te Kiri Rovers v Broadway Men, 3.30pm Te Kiri v Stratford B Women, 5pm Stratford Prem Women v NPOB Black
Saturday in New Plymouth: 3.30pm Northern Masters v Avon Men