Whanganui were lacking the interchange players needed to hold off High School Hockey Club A at the Twin Turfs on Saturday.
Whanganui were lacking the interchange players needed to hold off High School Hockey Club A at the Twin Turfs on Saturday.
An understrength Whanganui men's team could not hold back the tide in the second half of their away Hockey Manawatu Premier Group B game with table leaders High School Hockey Club A on Saturday.
Taking a squad with only one reserve down to the Twin Turfs, which became just theon-field XI by halftime after Josh McDonnell injured his hamstring, Whanganui lost 3-0, with the home side breaking the deadlock in the third quarter, and then scoring off two defensive turnovers in the final period.
Heading into the first game of the second round, Whanganui were without their contingent of Collegiate 1st XI players, as well as veteran Stu Thornton, who serves as the schoolboys coach.
Likewise, Lee Moir was on-call for work and Tyler Nicol-Hylton was a late withdrawal with a chest infection.
Senior player Calum Wilbur said HSHC A only got up when the team ran out of legs.
"They didn't score on a single corner, and they had quite a few."
Whanganui's best chance to peg back a goal came in the fourth quarter, when Travis Bayler got a breakaway and the only defender who had a chance to catch the speedster was his cousin Craig, an expat player.
In the heavy contact, Bayler ran right over the top of his own kin, but his shot on goal was deflected wide.
"Craig just slid 10m, that was probably our highlight of the game," said Wilbur.
Travis Bayler running over his own cousin on a breakaway move was one of the visiting team's match highlights.
The win moved HSHC A (3-1) clear on top of the table above Whanganui (2-2), while Palmerston North Boys High and College B, both 1-2, were playing their deferred Saturday match yesterday evening, as like Collegiate, PNBHS had also been away at weekend tournament.
Should PNBHS beat College B, that will make this coming Saturday's Twin Turfs match with Whanganui a crucial game, as it is the top two teams who will automatically qualify for Premier next season, while then playing a straight championship final.
"Winning this weekend [means] we're pretty much there," said Wilbur.
"We back ourselves in that one."
Whanganui have now lost twice to HSHC A, being beaten 5-3 in their first matchup, however Wilbur is still confident they could pull off the upset if they make the final.
"I think we are feeling more confident after this game than the last game, just because if you can hold them that long with 11 players, what can you do with a couple more?"
Playing their quadrangular tournament at home, Collegiate made the Sunday afternoon final against the favourites Lindisfarne College, but lost the penalty shootout 4-3 after being deadlocked 3-all at the end of play.
On Saturday, Collegiate lost to Lindisfarne 2-0 first up, but recovered later in the day to beat Feilding High 2-0 with goals to Hayden Skou and Adam Lennox.
Sunday morning saw Collegiate beat Rongotai College 4-1, with Joel Clark getting two goals while Daniel Taylor and Hamish Bielby also scored.
It has been a tough few weeks in the Women's Premier for the Whanganui team, who after losing players to tournaments during the school holidays, came unstuck with losses to second-place HSHC Women's A (12-0) and table leaders College A (10-0).
This culminated in them defaulting Saturday's match to Palmerston North Girls High, when seven players were going to be away.
Captain Colleen Baylis and Robbie Matthews threw a few names around to see if they could scramble together a squad for the Twin Turfs, but given they were five points clear of Massey Premiers with the semifinals looming, it was decided to save resources for this coming weekend and their last pool game with Massey.
They will then finish fourth for a semifinal with College A, who are safe on top of the table after beating HSHC 4-1 on Saturday.
