Hockey: Keeper fails to stop Old Girls' late winner

ChillTech Old Girls had a close call in their premier women's hockey match versus Club Auto Hikurangi, sneaking away with a 2-1 win.

After his side closed out the match with a winning goal inside the last five minutes, Old Girls coach Alan Lints said the form of Hikurangi goalkeeper Nicky Mathews was on song.

"She has just had an outstanding season. We just kept at her the whole time [but there were] so many shots saved on the line," Lints said.

"We played good hockey, we got right into it - Hikurangi were always in it but we were playing really good small game hockey. It was only their stoic defence which kept the score way it was."

With many of his players not getting much game time in over the past weeks, Lints said his girls were "a little bit rusty but we got into our groove pretty quick".

Hikurangi coach Vicki Gribble, who has taken over the head coaching reigns from Meredith McInnes, said the encounter versus Old Girls was a close affair the whole way through.

"Old Girls created a lot more chances. I think we defended quite well, we absorbed a lot of pressure," she said.

"Our goalkeeper was outstanding and that kept us in the game. Even though we scored first, we just cocked it up in the last five [minutes]."

With a mixed bag of results for Hikurangi so far this year, coming close to toppling competition heavyweights Old Girls was a pleasing exercise for the strong defensive outfit.

"We're improving, [it's] a bit late in the season but [we're] getting better," Gribble said.

In other premier matches, Hardie and Thompson Springfield dominated Echonorth Mangapai in an 11-nil drilling, while Real Deal Maungakaramea took control of their match versus Whangarei Girls' High School via a 6-4 win.

In the premier men's matches, Dempster and Hill Maungakaramea beat Bream Bay United 4-1 while Currie Electrical Springfield beat Morris and Morris Mangapai 3-1.

Results:

Premier Men, Round 10:

Springfield 3 Mangapai 1

Maungakaramea 4 Bream Bay United 1

Premier Women, Round 13:

Old Girls 2 Hikurangi 1

Springfield 11 Mangapai 0

Maungakaramea 6 Whangarei Girls' High 4.