Smith treble gets Harbour on board
HARBOUR CITY have secured their first win in the Wellington club women’s competition, with a 5-2 defeat of Victoria.
Kelsey Smith scored early for Harbour who had the majority of first half possession.
She went on to score twice more, and Charlotte Eastman once, with the first half ending 4-0.
Vic looked to regroup after halftime, with Claire Reynolds and Olivia Caldwell scoring quickly, but Harbour came back in the last quarter and Felicity Reidy scored their fifth.
It was old timers’ day at the Hutt club and they met Eastern Hutt on the Fraser Park turf.
Having drawn with Harbour City last week, Eastern were keen to return to winning ways but Hutt had other ideas, and goalie Sheridan Webb in particular kept the Easterners at bay.
The difference was Aniwaka Roberts, on her way to rejoining the Black Sticks, who scored once in each half and commanded the midfield.
Georgia Garden-Bachop and Freya Hawes also scored to make the final score 4-0.
It was end-to-end stuff but a scoreless first half between Indians and Karori.
The second spell saw Indians move the game to Karori’s circle, making multiple strikes on Karori’s goal, but goalie Steph Roughan kept everything out.
Indians’ Anesha Parsot finally broke the deadlock and Oakley Wilson-Rangihuna, added a second for their first win of the season.
Victoria picked up the first bonus point of the men’s competition with a rousing 7-2 victory over Harbour City.
Harbour competed well in the first spell, which ended 2-1 to Vic after goals to Kieran Whitmore and Brad Read and one to Harbour’s Gabe Kepes.
Vic’s tighter structure resulted in five more goals, two each to Matt Wilson and Chris Pettett.
Harbour’s second was scored by Firebird Alecz Day, who had rushed from the final round of senior club cricket in Karori.
Defending champions Indians came from behind against Northern United to draw 3-3.
Northern rushed to a 3-0 lead as Robin Smith scored twice and Steve Crossett once.
A penalty corner strike from Indians captain Chris Thomas just prior to the break proved crucial.
In the second half, Hemesh Lala deflected home from Joel Baker’s hit, then Jainesh Patel scored the late equaliser as the ball came back off the post.
The much-vaunted Dalefield side met Hutt at Fraser Park where it was action all the way.
Both teams were clinical in the circle, each scoring three first half goals on the unfamiliar surface.
Influential for Dalefield was 2014 Black Stick midfielder Dane Lett, who netted four times – three from penalty corners.
As Hutt pushed hard for further goals, the skillful Dalefield forward line netted five more times before a late Hutt goal made the final score 8-5 to the visitors.