Wanganui women get revenge

Goalscorer Nicola Skedgwell stepped up in her team's debut win in the new Manawatu Premier 1 Women's grade on Saturday in Palmerston North.

It was about nine months too late, but the Wanganui women's team finally got their Twins Turf victory over College Development on Saturday.

In a rematch from last year's surprise loss in the Manawatu Division 2 final, this time Wanganui got off to a confidence-boosting start to the new look Premier 1 division, winning 2-1.

Coach Colleen Baylis was unable to attend, but got the report from her 13 players that they "absolutely worked their butts off", thereby frustrating the home side.

"Absolutely stoked with the result," Baylis said.

"Especically for most of them who don't want to play Division 1."

Baylis said Nicola Skedgwell had a very strong game, giving her team the lead in the opening quarter.

College would reply just before first break, before Wanganui again went ahead as Jessica Watkin collected the ball to tap it in at the far goal post.

The visitors were then able to defend strongly to get their first win in the new grade.

"Development were always going to be the team they enjoyed playing against the most," said Baylis.

"They all stayed really positive and they stuck to it."

It also showed Wanganui they could be competitive in Premier 1, which consists of the three teams remaining from 2016's Division 1 grade and three from Division 2.

They slot into third spot on the table, behind College and High School Hockey Club, who both picked up big 6-0 wins over Massey and Palmerston North Girls High School respectively.

Meanwhile, Tech College Old Boys could not keep their good streak of Premier Men's form going after a 2-0 loss to second-placed Massey at Gonville Domain.

Crucially for a home fixture, coach Russell Burgess has been relying on having at least a three player bench in order to run effective shift changes.

However, on Saturday he was down to two and one of them had to leave before the game's end.

"A couple of players let us down - said they were playing and didn't turn up."

Faitigue from other being involved in other sports had also set in, with TCOB running on tired legs in the third quarter when Massey got on top and played the game at pace, having scored either side of half time.

"We missed a couple of opportunities. There was some good penetrating runs by the tight three," Burgess said.

They were very unlucky on their best chance at goal when in the traffic jam around the Massey box, a TCOB player accidently deflected away his team mate's shot.

Andrew Thomas was named player of the day as goalie, doing his best to keep his side in the match.

"Andrew stood out because he was in the thick of it. He had a work out."

Callum Wilbur and Matt Ford made some strong tackles, while despite his recent workload with representative hockey, Lee Moir "gave it 110 per cent".

The side did receive some reinforcement as Daniel Thompson played his first game of the season.

Manawatu Hockey will be on a break for Queens Birthday weekend, and the following Saturday will see TCOB travel to the Twin Turfs to meet Marist, while the Wanganui women are also be there for another tough game against College.