College Sport: HBHS stay in control
Following their 5-1 midweek win over St John's 1st XI in the Hawke's Bay Hockey schoolboys' division 1 grade the Hastings Boys' High School 1st XI played club team Bay Independent HC 2nd XI in the top flight of the men's club grade on Saturday.
With six players leaving to represent Hawke's Bay Under 18 Boys at national tournament the next day, coach Dean Hulls tried to rotate as many players as possible to ensure they were utilised sensibly. Whilst this clearly worked offensively it did create some issues with defensive structure. However, the schoolboys were in control for most of this match in terms of possession, territory and chances.
Although Hastings' Boys went into halftime leading 5-2, Bay Independent's former Central Districts National Hockey League goalkeeper Chris Greaney made some important saves. The discussion in the HBHS dugout at halftime centred around spending less time on the ball to create a higher pass rate and better decision making around the attack circle.
This clearly worked as Bay Independent's defence was less organised in the second period allowing Hastings a plethora of chances. Many of these were taken as the match ended 11-4 in favour of the school side. Goalscorers for Hastings Boys' were Liam Sykes with five, Dylan Thomas with three and one each to Jake Webber, Mitchell Bradley and Adam Wrigley.
