Hockey: Newcomers put up a good fight

Mangapai's Demi O'Halloran, left, takes the ball forward with Old Girls Georgia Miller as opposition.Photo/John Stone

Old Girls came away with the points but Mangapai were more than satisfied with their second half performance in their premier grade hockey clash on Saturday.

When the two teams met in the first round, the competitions newest team were handed a 19-0 drubbing. On Saturday, Mangapai managed to keep Old Girls to a single figure deficit, finally losing 9-0 but leaving skipper Kelsey Eaton pleased with the second-half performance.

"It was a big improvement, the girls have been improving every week and today it was D-Day for us, we played pretty well especially in the second half," she said.

Unfortunately for the young team, the game started much as the previous fixture left off. Jess Macalister scored early and with the Mangapai defence allowing Laura Douglas far too much space in the circle, the former Black Stick completed a hat-trick within 12 minutes of the opening whistle. Mangapai then withdrew deeper in defence leading to frustration in the Old Girls camp and only Chelsea Macalister was able to get on the score sheet before half-time making it 5-0.

Eaton said the team remained positive after the break and it paid off for them. "Our coach gave us a good half-time talk and we all knuckled down for each other and just got on with it," she said.

Mangapai started the second spell well and were unlucky not to score in the opening minute before Sammy Polovnikoff added another for Old Girls.

Mangapai goalkeeper Anna Agnew saved a penalty stroke shortly afterwards and that proved to be a catalyst for their best period of play. They maintained a clean sheet for another 20 minutes before Old Girls managed to break through with late goals for Mary Clarke, Chelsea Macalister and Charleen Adams.

While it certainly wasnt pretty, Mangapai defended with more tenacity and held the ball for longer periods of time, even if they rarely threatened the Old Girls goal.

Their midfield was vastly improved with Emma McCool, Charlotte Toner, Eaton and Hannah Wedge, in particular, upsetting Old Girls attacking opportunities before they got into the circle.

Real Deal Mangakaramea returned to winning form on Friday evenings Springfield club night, beating the host side 3-1, with all three goals scored by an in-form Heather Easterbrook. On Saturday, Hikurangi defeated Whangarei Girls High School 3-1 in the final match of the round by showing more urgency on the ball.

Girls High coach Alma Quirey said although some of her players did well individually they didn't really gel as a team and that cost them the game.

In the men's competition, Mangakaramea upset Springfields club night celebrations on Friday with a comfortable 3-1 victory to go four points clear at the top of the competition. Bream Bay United won their first match of their 2014 campaign with a 2-1 win over Morris and Morris Mangapai but the match on Saturday ended in controversy.

Keeley Johnson scored from a penalty corner to level the scores before the break. A sweeping attack started by the defence led to a Mike Scott field goal to put Bream Bay 2-1 ahead with about 15 minutes to go. A Mangapai equaliser was disallowed right on full-time.