TARANAKI HOCKEY
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25 August 2006

Hockey Finals 2006

Yarrows Masters took out the women's title and Stratford the men's on the final day of the Taranaki senior championship season. The women's final started on a near flooded pitch after constant rain in Stratford throughout the day, and wasn't at all conducive to a hockey spectacle. While NPGHS had the bulk of the possession and the field position their inability to convert that into goals proved costly. The Yarrows Masters defence adopted a man to man marking policy in their defensive 25 and it paid off, denying the NPGHS forwards the space to shoot or set up opportunities for others in the circle. Lyn Bunning and Carolyn Burgham along with Jenny Algar at sweeper were patient tacklers and cleared well, while the NPGHS forwards were frustrated in their inability to carry the ball forward at pace. The wet conditions made ball transfer difficult for both sides, and the Masters side set up their first goal at a penalty corner just before half-time. A lay-off to the left was shifted to the right hand post where Diane McCarty slotted the goal. The second half saw the NPGHS team again hold the bulk of possession, but progress into the Masters circle was still not any easier. Maintaining possession for any length of time was proving to be difficult, and the Masters team capitalised on a fast break to set up another penalty corner. In almost a mirror image of the first goal, Ngaire Heal converted at the right hand post to give the Masters a secure lead that they could defend. While NPGHS made numerous circle penetrations late in the half and secured a number of penalty corners their execution was poor and the Masters team simply focused on slowing down the game and denying the NPGHS forwards any space. The standout performer for NPGHS was fullback Jessimay Hamilton, who did a lot of cover defensive work and toiled hard to set up her midfield. NPGHS coach Deborah Armstrong was disappointed in her sides performance. "We didn't execute what we had discussed before the game. We anticipated what Masters would do, but the girls have to learn to think for themselves and adapt on the pitch. It was valuable finals experience leading into National secondary schools tournament." The men's final between Stratford and Tukapa was one of the best seen in recent years and given the conditions, one of the best games of the season. Stratford have now won 18 of the last 19 senior titles, a record probably unlikely to be broken anytime in the future. But Tukapa will have taken a lot of encouragement from their performance and reminded the other Taranaki clubs about what is possible. Tukapa opened the scoring with one of the best counter-attacking goals you could wish to see, with a quick transfer across the midfield and good finish by Andrew Muir. Stratford struck back not long after to even things up, then Tukapa had the mortification to see their key defender Andrew Osborne go off with a dislocated shoulder. Stratford took advantage of the situation to go back in front when Grant Boyde converted from a,lay-off sat a penalty corner and Stratford led 2-1 at half-time. Soon after the resumption they extended the lead to 3-1, and to an extent may have relaxed with the two goal lead. Tukapa sensed the opportunity to get back into the game and when Karl Peters converted a penalty corner with a neat deflection the scored narrow to 3-2. Stratford need to respond and after a circle penetration up the left flank, secured a penalty corner. The initial shot was blocked, but Grant Boyde latched onto the rebound at the margin was out to 4-2. Tukapa weren't finished, and at a subsequent penalty corner, the deflection at the right hand post found the foot of Warren Edgecombe. Mark Lyes calmly converted the penalty stroke and Tukapa were back in the game. Stratford then managed to see out the final few minutes and their relief was evident at the final whistle.

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