Hockey: North Harbour get early drop on cross-town rivals

North Harbour teams gave the Shore a flying start to a weekend of battles over Auckland with wins in final round-robin matches in Christchurch yesterday.

The 4-0 win by the men took them to the top of the table and a semifinal clash tomorrow against hosts Canterbury. Auckland, who went into the game as unbeaten favourites, will play Wellington in the second semifinal.

Canterbury, with two Hayden Shaw goals, drew 2-2 with Wellington.

That draw followed a 3-3 draw for Canterbury against Midlands 24 hours earlier.

North Harbour's 3-1 win over Auckland women assured them of fourth place and eliminated their cross-town rivals from NHL contention for the third successive year.

Auckland men's coach Keith Rowley shrugged off the loss to North Harbour as "not being of any real concern" but he would not have been happy with the way his team failed to convert early pressure into a goal.

In the key women's match, Connie Igasan gave Harbour their ninth minute lead.

Auckland got that back eight minutes into the second spell when Lorene Brake scored.

Two strikes - from Paula Enoka and Peta Gallagher - three minutes apart took North Harbour 3-1 ahead and into the top four.

Wellington came from behind - down by a goal after four minutes - to beat Canterbury in the top-of-the-table clash and take top seeding into the semifinals after seven matches unbeaten.

Wellington will now play North Harbour and Canterbury will meet defending champions Central.

The finals, and the play-offs will be on Sunday.