THE action was thick and fast in hot conditions at the Port Macquarie hockey fields on September 1.
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Port City Bull Sharks produced a 5-2 win over Tacking Point Thunder Cougars in the men's Premier League A Division semi final while Tacking Point Thunder Omni defeated Wauchope Warriors 3-2 in the women's Premier League A Division semi.
The Bull Sharks have set the standard all season and did not disappoint. The well-drilled and mature hockey minds of the Bull Sharks were too good for the speed and youth of the cougars team.
Port City's senior team came out strong right from the get go; applying pressure in attack and marking tight in defence.
The constant attack eventually broke through the Thunder defence to give Port City the first goal of the match.
A few indiscretions saw key Thunder players sent off with green cards for a two minute break. Port City seizing on the overlaps secured the win with a solid display of goal scoring, eventually beating their top-of-the-table opponents.
The win puts the Port City Bull Sharks straight through to the grand final while cougars have another chance next week against their club counterparts the Blue Tongues.
Youth took on experience in the other major match of the day. The women’s teams were inseparable during the first half of the match with the youth of the Omni team playing a modern fast paced game.
The Warriors dug deep and defended relentlessly. Using their wealth of hockey knowledge, they managed to have as many shots on goals as their younger counterparts.
Neither team could find the back of the net and went to the break at nil-all.
It wasn't until the 38th minute of the match, in extremely hot conditions, that Thunder’s Annika Toohey found the back of the next for the first goal of the game.
This seemed to rattle the Warriors as two more quick goals were put on the score card by Thunder.
Warriors never gave in and when Thunder mid-fielder Lucy Chappell was sin-binned in the 45th minute for a professional foul, they team found top gear.
In quick succession two goals were scored by the Wauchope team with Emily Brazel providing all the fight they needed up front.
The attack by the Warriors was relentless in the last 10 minutes but they just couldn't get the last goal to force the match in to extra time.
