By Richard Philip
KINGSCLIFF Stingers have grabbed clear second place in the Harcourt Men’s Hockey League with a decisive 7-2 victory over Central Comets at Barrie Smith Hockey complex in Murwillumbah at the weekend.
It was 2-1 to Kingscliff by the break, but a ruthless display from the Stingers in the second half saw the Comets players start to self destruct as they had no answer to their opponents.
Stingers captain Henry Prichard scored a hat-trick and Marcus Holt two and a goal each to Jordan Wilson and Andrew Ridgway.
This now sees Kingscliff clear in second place with three games to go in the season while the Comets’ woes continued with coach Luke McMahon quitting after the game after his players just kept on blaming others and not themselves.
The other men’s match saw Waratahs score a 5-1 win over the East Coach Sharks with the captain coach Tim Willis once again scoring a hat-trick of goals.
This win gives the Waratahs the title and shield for the first nine-a-side Harcourt Hockey League competition as there are no finals for the nines. So well done and congratulations to Tim Willis and his team.
In the women’s matches we again saw both games ending in draws, which shows how close these ladies teams are.
With only two games left in the women’s competition it will be a race to the end to get the minor premiership that gives you a real advantage in the semis and finals.
Kingscliff and Murwillumbah played out a 2-2 draw in the first game on Saturday while the Waratah Falcons and Casuarina game ended in a 1-1 draw.
This is a bit frustrating for the Waratah team as they now have had three draws in a row and in this game they thought they had after leading for much of the game thanks to an awesome deflection goal by Ebony Young from a short corner early in the game. They were committed to their game plan not allowing Casuarina any space to move and transfer the ball but with two minutes left on the clock they eventually found space and scored the equalising goal.
Next week’s matches see the men back to their 11-a-side competition on Friday night in the Harcourt Hockey League with Waratahs and Central Comets at 7pm, and then at 8.30pm Kingscliff against the East Coast Sharks.
On Saturday there is just one Division One women’s clash with Tweed Coasters Casuarina and Kingscliff playing at 3pm in a catch-up game from earlier in the year and that means Murwillumbah and Waratahs will have a bye
