Midlands show fighting spirit to stay in the hunt

Comeback efforts from the Midlands women’s and men’s teams kept their National Hockey League title hopes alive on Sunday.

The Midlands women’s side inflicted the first defeat of the NHL tournament on Canterbury when they twice came from behind to score a 4-3 victory while a shootout win lifted the Midlands men’s team after they battled back to draw 3-3 with Canterbury at the end of normal time in Whangarei.

Midlands women’s coach Lincoln Churchill said it was good for his troops to finally get on the right side of the ledger after a mixed start to their campaign.

‘‘We’ve had a couple of games that we should have won and didn’t,’’ Churchill said.

‘‘So it was good to show a bit of character to come from 3-1 down. It seemed like it had the same feel about it, when we were doing the right things but just not taking our opportunities.

‘‘We showed a bit more poise in the circle and we were probably a bit hungrier to win the ball too, which allowed us to create opportunities.’’

Bridget Blackwood put Canterbury, who had won their first three matches, ahead after 18 minutes but Kate Kernaghan levelled a minute later.

Goals from Jenny Storey and Phoebe Steele had Canterbury 3-1 up after 26 minutes but Black Sticks star Gemma Flynn reduced the deficit for Midlands three minutes later. Kernaghan’s second in the 35th minute drew them level and the comeback was complete when captain Sam Charlton scored the winner in the 56th minute.

‘‘We just kept hanging in there. Today we didn’t drop our heads and got back on the scoreboard really quickly,’’ Churchill said. ‘‘After halftime we tidied up some defensive areas too and dried up their opportunities and took ours.’’

The win gave Midlands women eight points from four matches in a tightly-packed table.

James Linehan netted twice for the Midlands men’s side to help them remain in title contention behind defending champs and favourites Auckland.

Two goals from Nick Haig in the first five minutes put Canterbury on the front foot but Nic Woods reduced the deficit after 10 minutes. Linehan’s 30th-minute strike drew Midlands level and while Haig completed his hat-trick in the 58th minute, Linehan again levelled a minute later before Midlands took the shootout 4-2.