Close games feature of playoffs

The first finalists in Taranaki Hockey’s competitions were found at the weekend.

The premier men’s competition has been tight this season, with the first sudden death match between New Plymouth Boys’ High School and Te Kiri Rangers in Stratford on Saturday no exception.

Te Kiri played a fast paced, short game, which unsettled Boys’ High who took a while to sort their defence out. That allowed Te Kiri a number of opportunities in the first half.

Eventually the possession and pressure told when Grant Gargan picked up a rebound from the goalie and had another crack at the goal just as Corey Waite moved towards the goal and took a fantastic deflection.

However, the second half was a different story as Boys’ High started to find gaps in the Te Kiri defence as they shut down the right hand side attack that did so much damage in the first half.

With the experience of Ben Collier and the ball carrying strength of Waiwhenua Maha, the school team drew level through a Tom Nicholls penalty corner.

They then took the lead with a good goal by Maha to give them a 2-1 win.

The next game saw top of the table Stratford meet Northern Raptors. In a game befitting a final either team could have walked away as winners.

With strong midfields, the game seesawed between middle of the park as the strikers found the defence at both ends hard to penetrate.

Without a goal in the first half the second proved equally tight. The hard work and frantic pace started to take a toll with the accuracy of passes not quite going right with the players unable to get the ball in the right place for good shots.

Stratford seemed to have more possession during the second half but were not able to capitalise with Northern try- ing to counter attack from every Stratford turnover. Eventually Callan Mitchell scored for Northern with a nice low drag into the bottom right of the goal from a penalty corner.

Curtis Boyde got one back for Stratford and the game became more about not losing than about going for a win. Northern were awarded another penalty corner and Carl Marriner capped off a good game with a goal to get Northern direct entry to the grand final on Saturday, August 6.

Stratford will meet Boys’ High in the sudden death semifinal this Saturday.

In the premier women’s grade, top seed Northern United beat Stratford 3-2 in New Plymouth on Friday night.

In the sudden death semifinal, New Plymouth Girls’ High School defeated Hawera in a shoot out after the game finished 2-2.

Girls’ High School will now meet Stratford in the final semifinal.

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