Both Northland men's hockey games followed the form book on Saturday with wins to leaders Maungakaramea and second-placed Mangapai, but both games were closer than expected.
Maungakaramea left it until the closing minutes of their match against Springfield to bag two late goals to Vaughan Gillingham and Courtney Keep to record
a 3-2 come-from-behind win to remain on top of the table with Mangapai still breathing down their necks.
Defender John Child was satisfied with the way they rescued the points despite being behind for the majority of the match.
"We were still missing Nic Breslin with a suspension, and then Webby [Sam Webb] pulled his hamstring early on so we did pretty well to cope with the pressure they put on us and still come back to win the game," he said.
Springfield were obviously disappointed with the result but remained fairly happy with the way they pushed the competition leaders on Saturday.
Sebastian Kalkoff equalised after Maungakaramea had gone ahead early and they went ahead just before the break.
"The second half was very even and it wasn't until quite late in the second half that they scored their two goals," Springfield's Darren Johns said.
He was pleased with how they played in the match and is hopeful they can tighten up their end game and finish off some wins in the weeks to come. The result leaves Maungakaramea on top of the table, with Mangapai one point behind.
Mangapai won the other match but Bream Bay coach Vicky Gribble blamed herself for the loss.
"They scored two goals in the first seven minutes and then I brought Dave [Adams] on and that brought the structure back into our defence," she said.
The defender has had some injury problems recently and Gribble decided it was a good idea to rest him early in the game - and then was forced to bring him on in the eighth minute.
Old Girls continue to head the women's competition with a 3-1 win over Whangarei Girls High School.
Nikki Wilson, Jacinda McLeod and Aleyse Emirali got on the scoresheet for Springfield, as they increased their lead over third-placed Maungakaramea with a sound 3-0 win. Springfield had to wait until midway through the second spell to score their first goal.
In the other women's premier match Hikurangi beat Kamo High School 2-0.
