Wanganui lost to Manawatu 5-1. Women: Manawatu beat Wanganui 2-2 (4-1 shoot out).
Wanganui representative teams experienced heartbreak at opposite ends of their Central Hockey League clashes with Manawatu at Gonville on Sunday.
A great comeback by the women's team off the stick of Jessica Watkin saw them reach level for a 2-2 draw at fulltime that morning, but Manawatu proved too strong in the sudden death shoot-out, taking it 4-1 to get the competition points.
The Wanganui men were not able to overcome a horror start in the afternoon after they dropped two goals inside the opening three minutes.
Once play settled down the action was fairly even for the rest of the match, but a late Manawatu goal inflated the scoreline to a disappointing 5-1.
Wanganui's Jan Dixon said after being down 2-0 at halftime, her players never gave up, especially in the midfield.
Phillipa Norman was moved to the centre half position for the second stanza and helped shift the momentum.
Fullback's Chloe Peters and Michelle Mitchell shored up the defence, helping Charlotte Dixon in goal keep the visitors scoreless for the period.
Watkin got them back in the game with a penalty with 10 minutes to go, then slammed in a field goal to level the scores.
Jan Dixon said Watkin had worked well in tandem with Melissa Hylton and Elizabeth Norman.
'I was pleased with the draw, the girls really went well, got some good passing going."
Wanganui men's coach Langley Atkinson could only wonder at his side's lack of concentration coming straight out of the gate.
"They scored a goal in the first minute, a goal in the third minute. It was gut wrenching.
"That slow start just sunk the whole game, playing catch up, so that was really disappointing."
Manawatu continued to chip away at the score, taking a 3-0 lead into halftime.
Wanganui came back through a Bryce McKenzie goal, while captain Craig Ratene had a towering match, but another goal right at the death further inflated the scoreline.
Central League takes a break this weekend, then on May 12 the Wanganui sides will face their Taranaki counterparts in Palmerston North.
Tech College Old Boys made it two wins on the trot to keep pace on a tight Manawatu Club competition when they held off Marist 4-3 in a thriller at Palmerston North on Saturday.
Langley Atkinson said in the end it was Tech's attempts to work with new systems which dictated the terms of the match - for both good and bad.
"We were scoring the goals, or making mistakes and letting them score theirs."
Tech led 1-0 after 30 seconds, which Atkinson thought had come too easily, which was extended to a 2-1 advantage.
Marist came roaring back to lead 3-2 before Wanganui wrapped up the match on the back end of the game.
Central Under 21 representative Martin Atkinson grabbed a hat-trick of goals, while Kane Watkins, who had been promoted from non-travelling Central reserve to full squad member, got the other.
Both had excellent games.
"One was off the drag - a flick deflection," said Martin Atkinson of his hat-trick. "The second one was Kane dribbled it for ages and beat the keeper, passed it off to me."
The third was an intercept that was "smoked in the goal".
Both teenagers will be in Whangarei for the national Under- 21 tournament this coming weekend, along with Martin's father Langley, and will be missed when the team play College at Gonville.
Langley Atkinson said if the side can iron out a few silly mistakes, like trapping the ball and cutting out astray passes, then they could be in the mix among six of the stronger teams trying to squeeze into four playoff spots.
But Atkinson had few other words of comfort for the young developing Rangers side, who were given their second smashing in two weeks by HSHC in Wanganui earlier that afternoon.
The 14-1 trouncing was a "huge disappointment" and the worst the team had played at this level, he said.
"They just really took it to the boys, the goals kept following."
Down 8-0 at the break, Ranger's sole goal was hardly consolation.
Atkinson said to their credit the team discussed their issues post-match to come up with ideas of what they want to work on.
"It's not a negative spiral down, it's 'what can we do [to improve']".
Results
Manawatu Club Competition
Men: TCOB beat Marist 4-3; Rangers lost to HSHC 12-0. Women: Collegians lost to Massey 3-1; TCOB women lost to College 3-0.
Central Hockey League
Men: Wanganui lost to Manawatu 5-1. Women: Manawatu beat Wanganui 2-2 (4-1 shoot out).