Taieri takes extra point in penalty shootout

THE premier men’s competition began on Saturday with the grade sadly fielding only five teams.

Defending campion Uni Blue Whales had the bye first up so the match of the day fell to Albany Alligators and Taieri Tuataras.

It started as an even tussle, as both sides tried to maintain possession and settle into a pattern of attack. Taieri found itself with a couple of penalty corners in the first 10 minutes but was unable to convert

As with any earlyseason contest, a bit of rust was showing and some uncharacteristic mistakes were being made. One of these led to the first goal, when Matt West pounced on a loose pass at the back and beat the Albany keeper to put the Tuataras 10 up halfway through the first half.

The game continued to ebb and flow and again the Tuataras made a telling move, when Jordan Ward slotted a penalty corner to double the lead before halftime.

Albany continued to push for a goal in the second half and, after two green cards were shown to Tuatara players, the disadvantage was too much to defend and Jared Hewitt got the Alligators on the board. Taieri had a string of chances with about 10 minutes to go but could not make the game safe.

In the end, the experienced Albany side evened the score with a few minutes remaining, to get a draw in closefought encounter.

A shootout was performed to decide the third competition point, and the Ward brothers got Taieri over the top, as keepers Jesse Drake and Hamish Van Dyke made some great saves.

In the other match, Kings United thrashed Uni Black Panthers 81.