Falconer's men outplay competition hotshots

There was delight for Scott Falconer and his Harbour City/Tawa team after outplaying previous competition co-leaders Northern United 5-1 in Premier 1 men's hockey match on Saturday.

Harbour City started the game with real urgency and, by the middle of the first half, Jacob Smith, twice, and Chris McDonald had beaten Black Sticks goalie Kyle Pontifex to establish a strong lead they held until half-time. Second-half goals to Luke Armstrong and Matt Young completed a very good afternoon's work for Falconer's men, with Northern's only reply being a drag-flick from a penalty corner to hard-working defender Jamie Coombes.

Hutt beat Victoria in a match where both teams were depleted by representative commitments. Hutt's lead was never threatened, despite two late Victoria goals and the final score of 6-3 gave them outright lead in the competition. McPeake completed a hat-trick for Hutt while Robbie Burgess, Jimmy Cavanagh and Scott Barnett also scored. Victoria's scorers were Chris Pettet (2) and Ollie Redwood.

Women's Premer 1 front-runners Eastern Hutt were too strong for Harbour City/Tawa, although the losers never stopped running. They were only 4-1 down midway through the second half before a late flurry of Hutt goals saw them push the score out to 9-1. Leading Hutt goal-scorers were Aniwaka Roberts with three, and Angela Quirke, two. Erin Muxlow scored Harbour City's only goal.

Indians' better finishing in the circle paved the way for their 4-2 victory over Karori. Indians goals went to Francis Morgan, Tara Hall, Meera Patel and Jayshree Bhika while Karori's goals came from Nicole Van Oosterom and Vallisa Armstrong .

Victoria came from 3-2 behind to beat Hutt 5-3. Victoria's scorers were Lee-Ann Snowdon (2), Rita Schooley (2) and Kelly Sutherland while Gemma Coutts (2) and Mel Aiken scored for Hutt.

- © Fairfax NZ News