Hockey battlers did province proud

Bare results did not tell the whole story when Wairarapa placed eighth at the Curtis Cup under-13 boys hockey tournament played in Levin.

On the face of it, a record of one win and six losses does not make particularly impressive reading, but it would be unfair to judge the Wairarapa effort on those statistics alone.

Having several players drop out during their pre-tournament preparations saw Wairarapa go to Levin with just the 13 players, meaning they were able to field only two reserves at the best of times. Most of the opposing teams contained 15 or 16 players.

Two minutes into their match with Wanganui, the Wairarapa stocks dropped even lower when they lost one player through illness and during the second half another left the field through injury, meaning they had no reserves to call on. They were down to 12 for the rest of the tourney.

"We had bumps, bruises, suspected concussions ... it was an eventful week," manager Rebecca Anderson said.

In most of their games Wairarapa were well in contention at halftime, with the highlight being a 4-0 blitzing of Hutt Valley.

And their playoff match against Taranaki for seventh and eighth placings was an exciting affair, with Wairarapa coming back from 3-0 down at halftime to dominate the second half and lose by just the one goal, 3-2.

Anderson praised the attitude of the players, saying they always gave 100 per cent no matter what the end result. "They did their province proud with their attitude, determination and sportsmanship," she said.

Special mention must go to goalkeeper Mickey Ward, who came through a testing tournament with flying colours.

Full Wairarapa squad: Hamish Cox (captain), Shaidyn Gordon, Jacob Moloney, Oliver Bunny, Mickey Ward, Andrew Foreman, Gavin Hosnell, Liam Allingham, Logan Taylor, Michael Allingham, Kadin Hart, Zach Burton and Cawson Ray. Results : lost to Wellington 6-0, lost to Rangitikei 6-1 (scorer Hamish Cox), lost to Horowhenua 8-0, lost to Wanganui 8-0, beat Hutt Valley 4-0 (Hamish Cox 2, Jacob Moloney, Oliver Bunny), lost 6-1 to Horowhenua (Gavin Hosnell) and lost 3-2 to Taranaki (Hamish Cox 2).