Combined team remains unbeaten

FULL STRENGTH: Joseph Redpath (blue) and his age group mates are back to give Wanganui TCOB a full strength side to improve its standing in the Manawatu division 1 men's competition. PHOTO/FILE

A NEW Whanganui composite women's hockey team has hit the ground running in the Manawatu division 2 competition where it remains unbeaten.

The side is made up of former Techno and Collegian players operating under Whanganui and coached by former TCOB men's coach Colleen Baylis.

Both Techno and Collegian had been playing in the Manawatu women's division 1 competition, so the drop to division 2 for the new composite team is proving far easier.

"Both Techno and Collegians were struggling to field their top sides week in, week out with some players unable to commit to the demands of division 1 for a variety of reasons," Baylis said yesterday.

"So we decided to put together a composite team and they are a mix of older more experienced players and younger up-and-comers. The experience for the younger ones is great and helping to improve their games."

The Manawatu competition has its fifth games coming up this weekend, but Whanganui has only played three so far after missing the first match of the season when defaulting.

"We cocked up a bit really. We thought the first game was a non-competition match, but it was actually not. Our first game was against Athletic from Levin and we won that 8-1 and then we played College Social from Palmerston North and to be honest I felt a bit sorry for them," Baylis said.

Whanganui won that encounter 19-0 and even stood down the goalkeeper halfway through the match because she had virtually no part to play.

"We took our goalie off because she wasn't needed, but we could still field 11 players, just nobody kitted up or designated as a goalkeeper."

The third match was against High School Hockey Club Evergreens, one of the stronger sides in the competition and while Whanganui was tested at times still came away with a 5-2 victory.

"We are currently sitting third in the competition, but it will start to get interesting as we meet other sides," Baylis said.

Whanganui line up against College Development this weekend.

Meanwhile, Whanganui's TCOB men's side has struggled in the early rounds of the Manawatu division 1 competition.

The side is now coached by talented masters player Russell Burgess who has taken over from Baylis this season.

Burgess said TCOB had yet to win a match, although there had been problems fielding full teams with reserves some weeks.

The problem has been key TCOB players Joseph Redpath, Ryan Gray and Jordan Cohen have been away on age group regional rep duties with the Central U18 team, while Lee Moir and Reid Atkinson have been busy with U21 duties.

Calum Wilbur has also been overseas. Missing all six has proven a huge blow for TCOB, although they were expected to be back to full strength for last night's home match against MCOB from Levin.

"With the school holidays on we also had other key players missing. We have played two games in the competition and while the scoreline probably doesn't reflect it, they came back in second game."

Ironically, MCOB could not field a team on Saturday so requested the match be rescheduled.