Grace Godfrey seized her chance to get the first goal for Wanganui against College Development on Saturday.
Grace Godfrey seized her chance to get the first goal for Wanganui against College Development on Saturday.
The Wanganui women's team are pleasantly surprised to find themselves third on the table of the new Manawatu Premier 1 division after picking up a 2-0 victory over winless College Development at Gonville on Saturday.
Extending their unbeaten streak to three weekends following draws with Massey and Palmerston North GirlsHigh, Wanganui started in the rare position of favourites for the home match, however they were missing Central Under 18 representatives Jo Bell and Rebecca Baker while facing Development's regular lineup.
"They had 15 and we had 12 - one sub," said coach Colleen Baylis.
"The girls did really well. Really good phases of passing where everyone linked together."
Grace Godfrey opened their account with a field goal in the first quarter, while Baylis said the match got pretty messy in the second half, as the side's communication dropped away.
They recovered for Jessica Watkin to slot the winner from a penalty corner in the fourth quarter.
Kirsty Parsons had a good match in the middle of the park in combination with Nicola Skedgwell, while Sophie Redmayne had to step into Baker's giant shoes and performed strongly.
Veteran Michelle Low went back into goal to cover the absent Bell and pulled off a clean sheet.
Having lifted their record to 2-2-2 with string of good performances, Wanganui find themselves in the surprise position of third, behind only the two powerhouses in leaders High School Hockey Club (6-0) and College (5-1).
Those two sides dominated the old Manawatu Division 1 grade last year, which was merged with Wanganui's own Division 2 for added numbers at the start of this season.
"For a team that didn't want to be there, it was quite a good place to be," said Baylis.
The side will have a much tougher prospect this weekend against the College 1sts, who will come to Gonville for the 1.30pm game.
Baylis will be trying to find a couple more players to fill out their bench with Bell and Baker still away.
With Rebecca Baker on Central Under 18's duty, Sophie Redmayne successfully covered her absence with a good match.
The Tech College Old Boys side can appreciate the disparate gap between the leading Premier 1 teams and the rest of the field as their two-game winning streak was halted in no uncertain terms by second placed Massey.
Facing their third-straight away game down to the Twin Turfs in Palmerston North, TCOB were hammered 8-0.
In the absence of their Central representative players, plus injury and illness, coach Russell Burgess once again had to recruit four newcomers to fill out the squad, including a fresh keeper on Premier debut facing a side that had put up 27 goals this season.
"Very much a pulled together team. It was a very young team," said Burgess.
"Someone said in the dressing shed, 'it's been a long time since we've had the same team every week'.
"It was a very disjointed TCOB performance. Not enough continuity and a fair bit of desperation."
Massey took their time and scored two goals in every quarter, and although they dominated possession, Burgess said the underdogs could still have made the score 8-4 if they could have capitalised on the chances they had.
Dropping from fourth to fifth on the table with a 3-1-6 record, it is a good news/bad news scenario for TCOB this coming weekend.
They will finally have a home game at Gonville at 3pm, but it will be against the undefeated College, who have scored 54 goals in their ten games.
