HOCKEY

YMP A booked a vital top-two finish leading into the Gisborne women’s hockey semifinals with a clinical 7-0 victory over Paikea.

YMP A were always going to be a tough proposition for Paikea and that was underlined when YMP scored less than a minute into the game.

Paikea had five of their regular players missing from the starting line-up.

The win means YMP take on arch-rivals GMC this weekend to see who takes out the second round and gets the mental edge for the semifinals.

GMC bounced back from the previous week’s draw with Paikea in the best way possible by beating a spirited Gisborne Girls’ High School side 4-2.

GMC worked on what went wrong against Paikea, and came out to show why they are still ranked among the top premier sides in the competition.

Shannon Williams, Krystal Williams, Shelly Candy and Christine Rangi scored for GMC, while Toni Halley and Fern Richardson scored for Girls’ High.

Te Aowera booked a top-two finish in the senior competition and a second life in the semifinals with a 1-0 victory over GMC Gold.

This was Te Aowera’s second 1-0 win against GMC Gold. If they meet in the semifinals it should be a classic match.

Te Aowera’s most consistent scorer, Lois Smiler, grabbed the winner.

GMC Gold had plenty of opportunities, including a penalty stroke taken by Sharon Bramwell.

High School Old Girls and Ngatapa played their way to a 1-1 draw at near-semifinal pace.

Anna Ford scored what looked to be the match-winner for HSOG but Kyla Newton got Ngatapa’s equaliser.

This weekend’s play will determine who will join Te Aowera in the top two and have the benefit of the extra life.

Kia Toa and YMP B shared the points in their 0-0 draw.

Kia Toa had a mountain of possession but failed to put it away.

YMP B, who were coming back from a three-week spell, might regard the result as a moral victory. Now they have some game-time under their belts as they prepare for a tough game against Waituhi this weekend.

YOUNG YMP A winger James Torrie latched on to a loose ball to score the only goal in a close match against Gisborne Boys’ High School.

Boys’ High had the bare 11 players but pushed YMP A to the limit.

Coach Peter Tupara’s pre-match talk must have worked as the students held YMP scoreless in the first half.

But five minutes into the second spell Torrie pounced on a loose ball in the circle to score.

With both sides missing opportunities for the rest of the second half, YMP A came away with three vital points.

We can expect a classic match this week between them and Eastland Traders Lytton Old Boys, who are also unbeaten.

LOB Masters might have done enough in their clash with LOB Prems to seal a top-two finish in the bottom-four section.

The Masters turned a 3-2 loss from round one into a 3-2 victory in round three against their clubmates.

Derek Watson laid one hand on the title of highest Masters goalscorer for 2012 as he picked up all three Masters goals.

Dave Melville and Dion Gardner scored for the Prems, and kept their side just in front of the Masters on goal differential.

Waituhi, sitting third in the competition, recorded one of their best performances of 2012 with an outstanding 7-0 victory over YMP B.

With YMP B struggling to get the numbers on deck, it was always going to be one-way traffic.

Tyrone Mohi’s four goals provided the highlight for Waituhi. Libya Tamihere chipped in with two and Graham Edmonds got a single.

Caledonia struggled to field a team against top-of-the-table Eastland Traders LOB, but their seven players were joined by some LOB players to make a game of it.

The Traders cruised home 9-0 in a shortened game.

Traders keeper Buck Rogers jumped into the Caledonia goal to get in some game-time before the big clash with YMP A next week, and he pulled off some great saves.

The game ended sadly for Caledonia winger William Cooper, who broke his leg. The thoughts of the hockey community go out to William and we wish him a speedy recovery.