TARANAKI HOCKEY
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8 September 2005

Finals Weekend Preview

The men's and women's senior championships come to a climax this weekend, with the men's final looking to be one of the most keenly contested games of the season, as Stratford defend their title against perennial challengers Te Kiri. On Saturday, in the women's competition, New Plymouth Girls High School have the opportunity to achieve what no other school side has done since 1956, and win the senior women's championship. Between 1954 and 1956 the NPGHS Ist XI either shared the title with Douglas (1954 and 1956) or won it outright as they did in 1955 with a 6-3 victory over the Douglas side. Former New Plymouth Mayor Claire Stewart was a member of that side as a fourth former, and is looking forward to watching the final of Saturday. In the major championship round so far the students have accounted for Yarrows Masters 3-2 and Tukapa 6-1, and will meet NPC in the final match at Devon Hotel Park at 2.00pm. NPGHS coach Deborah Armstrong said "We've had a pretty low key build up this week, after the excitement of National Secondary Schools Tournament and the win against Tukapa, so hopefully the team can turn on the sort of hockey they played in the second half last week". In the 12.30pm fixture at Devon Hotel Park, Tukapa take on Yarrows Masters. This promises to be a tough encounter, with Tukapa wanting the emphasise their win in the minor premiership final, while Yarrows Masters will want to reverse that result and claim second place in the competition for 2005. If both teams bring their A game, this will be a very close game, and the result will come down to which side can win the midfield battle and take their chances in front of goal. Both sides are expected to be close to full strength. Jenny Algar has shown a phenomenal work rate in the middle of the Masters defence this season, while Zoe Osborne has directed the Tukapa team expertly, releasing her forwards with great balls from the back. On Sunday, at the Taranaki Turf in Stratford at 12.30pm the final will be played out between Stratford and Te Kiri. The minor premiership final was a great game of hockey, and both sides were well in the game until the last couple of minutes. For both sides, defensive organisation and structure will be very important. In the minor premiership final, Te Kiri were slow to start and Grant Boyde latched onto two scoring opportunities before Te Kiri looked like mounting a reply. Last weekend, Tukapa put a lot of pressure on the Stratford defence without managing to finish off their opportunities, but Te Kiri are unlikely to be so generous. The coastal side likes to run at the opposition defence and if they are allowed enough space to play a short passing game going forward they will ask questions of the Stratford side. In the other fixture for third and fourth places Tukapa takes on NPC in New Plymouth. This match usually has its fair share of tension and incident, so it will be interesting to see if both sides can concentrate on playing quality hockey. Both had mixed fortunes in the Central Hockey League this year, and will be wanting to end the season on a positive note. For Tukapa, Andy Osborne ids the key of the defence and NPC will need to use the width of the pitch to nullify his control over the game in the Tukapa defensive half. Up front Carl Peters and John Copestake will pose problems for the NPC fullbacks. NPC will need to concentrate on holding possession for longer periods than they did last week against Te Kiri, but showed that they are able to construct good quality attacks and create opportunities. karl Marinner is the key to their ball distribution and it will be interesting to see if NPC play him in the middle of the field or as an overlapping right half.

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