By Owen Embling
Monday

The Waikato Hatch Cup Team met with mixed fortunes on the second day of this year’s tournament. In their first game of the day, the team struggled throughout their clash with Marlborough after the South Islanders struck three goals into the net within the first ten minutes of the game. Some elementary mistakes allowed Marlborough a series of early penalty corners and this pressure led to some soft goals.

After this, Waikato was never really able to recover their structure and composure, although their physical effort throughout the rest of the game cannot be faulted. In contrast, Marlborough’s confidence had been boosted immeasurably and they were able to maintain discipline and to stick to their game plan throughout the game. Despite a field goal by Matthew Orr after a solo run up the left, Waikato never looked as if they were going to threaten Marlborough’s lead and the match ended in a 5-1 result.

The afternoon game against Poverty Bay saw Waikato playing far more positively, but despite having by far the majority of the possession of both the ball and territory, the game was well into the second half before the first goal was scored from a penalty corner by Matthew Rees-Gibbs.

The breaking of this deadlock spurred Waikato on and the floodgates opened resulting in another 7 goals in the last 20 minutes of the game. Patrick Harrison and Matthew Rees-Gibbs finished the game with three goals each, while Andrew Wong and Matthew Orr each slotted one.

While Lewis Williamson in goal, birthday boy Dwayne Underwood, Riley Jones, Logan Jacobs, Ryan Lutes and Neil Brunton had a quiet game in defence, The midfield, consisting on Ben Weir, Zachery Woods and Cyrano Embling were a hive of activity as they restricted the game to the Poverty Bay half of the field and together with inners, Matthew Snodgrass and Brad Knyvett, they provided the forwards with plenty of ball. It may be said that the strikers should have converted their many opportunities far earlier in the game, but once they had got the first goal in the back of the net, Patrick Harrison, Matthew Orr, Matthew Rees-Gibbs and Andrew Wong became merciless in their onslaught. Clearly it will be vital in their remaining games that the team scores early in order to build their confidence.

Despite the disappointing loss to Marlborough, Waikato is still in with a good chance of qualifying for the top eight play-offs as every team in the pool has had a loss. It has now become crucial, however, that they win against Nelson today and against Auckland on Wednesday.