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Rams score wins over all-comers
Tuesday, 20 July 2010 09:40

COURTESY MAITLAND MERCURY

If Maitland Rams coach Nathan Baker was feeling a sense of deja vu on Sunday it would have been entirely understandable.

The Rams led Wests 3-0 at half-time at Maitland Hockey Centre only to let their opponents back into the game at 3-all.

It was a similar story the last time the two teams met in round four when the game finished in a 3-all draw.

But on the weekend, a more resilient Rams team pulled themselves out of the hole and grabbed a 4-3 win when Brett Gallagher snatched a goal with 10 minutes remaining.

The victory meant the Rams have now claimed wins against all seven clubs in the Hunter Coast Men’s Premier league for the first time during Baker’s three years at the club.

“I’m going to go as far as to say it’s probably never happened,” Baker said. “There has always been a team like Norths or Souths that we’ve struggled to beat. But the big thing for us is our form in the last round of matches – we’ve only lost one game and won six.”

The Rams’ win was set up through goals to Ben Urquhart who scored from a short corner before Baker scored a field goal.

Matt Brown scored the final goal of the half when he pounced on a Wests mistake and hammered the ball home.

Baker said his team addressed holding onto their lead but immediately let it slip after the break.

“We were all over them in the first half and really dominating,” he said. “But Wests slowed down the game to their tempo and caught us short with too few numbers a few times and before we knew it they’d got back to 3-all.”

The Rams continued to attack despite Wests momentum, and persistence paid off when Gallagher found the winner.

The Rams take on University in Newcastle next Sunday and a Rams win would all but end the Students’ chances of making the finals.

Baker and Gallagher will be unavailable because of over 35s Newcastle duty at the State Championships in Sydney.

Rams captain Peter Urquhart is expected to take over the role as mentor.

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Round 14 HCPHL Preview
Friday, 16 July 2010 16:06

Round 14 sees the conclusion of the 2nd complete 'round' of matches. Each team will have played the other teams 2 times at the end of this weekends matches.

v The first game of the weekend fires off at 11:50am down at Wyong. In what undoubtedly is the match of the round, 3rd placed The Entrance will host 4th placed South Newcastle in a matchup that will have a big bearing on the positions of the top 4 over the back end of the season. The 2 teams played out a 2-2 draw back in Round 4.

The Entrance havent revealed any team secrets this week, but they are expected to be close to full strength and in front of a home crowd will be expecting to show a good performance. They are very strong this year on thier home turf (5 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss) and the team will be quietly confident of a victory and pushing for that top 2 spot. The Entrance have been playing some wonderful hockey this season with all players contributing to the cause.

Souths will be eager to get the win and move into 3rd spot on goal difference. Thier form has been a bit up and down, but they still have the experience and the skills to grind out results even when things arent going right for the team. The trip down the coast will be a tricky one and the Lions know a win is a must if they want to keep that minor Premiership title hope alive.

John Fernance had this to say about Souths game this weekend: "South’s will have benefited from the week off, with a few player’s being able to rest niggling injuries and freshen up for this week’s very important clash with The Entrance. Last time out against University, South’s put in a well-oiled performance, coming away with a comfortable 5-2 victory.
This week see’s 3rd against 4th, with a South’s win certain to see them leap The Entrance into 3rd spot and keep alive hopes of a Major Semi Final birth. The Entrance have been in great form this season having beaten Norths and Maitland. The mid-season signing of Hugh Wickert from Gosford will only bolster an already impressive line-up. Robert Owen, Daniel Carter and Sam Coonan provide the platform for their side week in week out, and these player’s will have to be kept under wraps if South’s want to come away with the victory. From last outing, Simon Vimpani and Ben King are both in doubt with hamstring injuries and Ryan Coulin is away on holidays but the return of Jaden Ekert, Stuart Fletcher, Michael Sneesby and Warwick Smith will strengthen the side.
This is a crunch match for both sides, and should be a very close affair."

v  At 12:00pm the NIHC sees competition leaders Norths go head to head with University. This is probably the most important match of the round, as a Students victory keeps thier top 4 chances going, and a loss pretty much establishes an unbeatable gap between the top 4 and the 5th placed Uni.

Norths had at the 1/2 way point of the season a rock solid defence, but the last 4 or 5 weeks it has opened up somewhat and teams have found ways to score an average of 3 goals a game in the past 5 matches. This is an area that will be of some concern for the Blues, but they are still getting results through a strong offence. A win keeps the team top, a loss and they could drop back to 2nd spot. The last outing against Tigers was a little sloppy from this reviewers point of view, but it can be put down to a number of key personnel missing and the fact the new South field is still quite slippery and not conducive to top standard hockey at the moment.

Skipper Silas Moss is always happy to contribute a few words, and he had this to say: "A part from a big win over Tigers, we really haven't hit our straps yet. Our standards are much higher than what we are dishing out at present, so I'm challenging the guys to pick it up a few gears.
It's timely that we play University. They're much more skilled and competitive than in previous years and sitting in fifth position will have a great deal of motivation leading into this match.
Add to that, the defection of a couple of our players to the maroon and white over the years, there's a little bit of spice between the two sides.
I'm personally looking forward to getting on the paddock for the first time in month after injury. We will be without a few players due to other commitments."

The students continue to struggle with player numbers due to the mid year break, and have a total of 44 players unavailable this weekend across all thier grades. This includes 8 regular HCPHL players so it remains to be seen how strong of a team takes the paddock. This could work in the students favour though as the 2nd graders would play above themselves to try and force thier way into the HCPHL squad on a more regular basis. However it is likely to be a tough game and potentially a big score against them for this one. Thanks to Ian Benson for the information provided.

v Maitland hosts Wests from 1:30pm at thier Maitland Park home. Wests have been a bit of a bogey side for the Rams in recent years. The teams met in the Hunter Cup pre season carnival at Maitland and played a thrilling match narrowly won by the Rams and then the 3-3 draw in round 4 confirms how competitive the matches are.

Maitland are in 2nd spot and having thier best season for what seems like an eternity. A lot of this credit goes to new coach Nathan Baker who is getting the most in terms of commitment, skill and passion out of the players. This game provides a good opportunity to establish a bit of a break on 3rd spot if the Souths v Entrance game goes to the Lions, with a win to the Rams moving them 3 points clear of 3rd.

Coach Nathan Baker has had the media in the Maitland area eating out of his hands with a couple of 'misquoted' gems in the local Mercury and he took time this week to submit a serious appriasal of his teams chances: "This weeks match against West's will be a tough one for the Rams considering the lacklustre performance we put in against Gosford 2 weeks ago. The boys didn't fire down the coast and seemingly took the opposition lightly in a match where we were lucky to come home with the points. This will be our first home game for some time and a good crowd should be in attendance, hopefully this will spur the boys on to a better result than the last time we met West's where after having a comfortable 3 goal lead at the break they were able to peg 3 of their own back to force a draw. West's have had a mixed season and I don't think their position on the ladder does them justice, they have forced 5 draws this season so far and two of those were against the teams currently sitting at the top of the ladder so they will be no easy beats in this encounter.
The Rams will be back to full strength this week with Ben Urquhart returning from the U/21 Australian Championships in Melbourne and his inclusion in the side will no doubt give us more go forward than we had against Gosford. If we can return to our passing game and continue to capitalize on our chances we should be able to get the 2 points to maintain 2nd spot on the ladder."

As pointed out by the Rams coach, Wests have been a much more competitive team then thier results suggest. It seems to be a fitness thing, with most games seeing the Rosellas in healthy positions until the final 15 minutes or so where the team seems to fade away a little. No doubt this has been an area of concern and the past 2 games against Souths and The Entrance, despite ending in losses, show the team has real potential to cause an upset or two against the big 4 in the last 1/3 of the season. No team news this week.

v  The final match of the round sees Tigers hosting Gosford from 3pm. This game sees the competitions bottom 2 teams in combat. Back in round 4 Tigers defeated Gosford at Wyong in a high scoring 7-3 thumping.

Tigers are like Wests where they are more competitive then thier results suggest. This match is an opportunity to get a confidence boosting win and perhaps inspire the team to some betetr results on the backend of the season. Against Norths last outing the team played pretty well but were always a step slower then thier opposition and will need to be sharper and more focused to ensure they bag the points in this one. Coach Evan Skliros has done well to blood many youngsters this season and thier experience this year will have big advantages for the club in the coming seasons. Jason Princehorn and Tim Lovell will be the danger men up front for the Tigers team this weekend.

Gosford are heading down the rebuilding phase, with many youngsters making thier debuts or playing with limitted HCPHL experience thier last few games. The results have been good, with the extra vibrance and energy produced by the youngsters improving the teams play. The team will see this game as a genuine chance to secure thier first win of the season, and no doubt they will be up for this clash. No team wants to finish last in this competition.

Get out and support your club this weekend!

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Clean sweep a focus
Thursday, 15 July 2010 13:11

COURTESY MAITLAND MERCURY

The Maitland Rams have one scalp left to complete a clean sweep of the Hunter Coast Men’s Premier League.

The Rams host Wests this weekend with victory meaning they’ve claimed wins against all seven clubs, a feat that coach Nathan Baker said hadn’t been achieved during his tenure.

“It would definitely be the first time we’ve recorded that while I’ve been at the club,” he said.

“I’ve only been here three years, but to take two points of every other team is a hard task.”

But Baker wasn’t underestimating the sixth-placed Wests team.

“We’ll have to lift our game again for this one,” he said.

“They are a better team then their position on the ladder dictates. If you look at their record they’ve drawn five games but if a few of those had been wins they would be much closer to the top four.”

The Rams and Wests will start at 1.30pm on Sunday at the Maitland Hockey Complex.

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Port Stephens Hornets Coach has state team aiming high
Thursday, 15 July 2010 08:11

COURTESY PORT STEPHENS EXAMINER

ON the field, Paul Baxter is the Port Stephens Hornets talisman spearheading what could be back-to-back third grade hockey premierships.

Off the field, the Tomaree High School head of personal development, health and physical education oversees another campaign for greatness.

For the second time Baxter will coach the NSW All Schools under 16 hockey side when they head to the Australian All Schools Championships in Bunbury, Western Australia, in August.

In his debut year in charge of the NSW All Schools team in 2009, Baxter coached them to victory, punctuating it with a 5-0 thumping of Queensland in the Rockhamption decider.

Baxter believes this year's squad of 16, chosen from a pool of 36 at a June development camp, could again take out the national title.

"We have about three players that were there last year...but we would expect to be one of the strongest along with Queensland and Victoria."

The All Schools outfit comprises the best players from independent, public and Catholic high schools across NSW.

On the domestic front, Baxter has been an integral part of the Hornets' ascent to second place on the third grade ladder behind South Newcastle this year.

And he will continue his vital mid-field contribution towards the final but is looking even further into the future thanks to the club's burgeoning juniors program.

"We have junior programs now in Raymond Terrace and Nelson Bay, which I think will put us in good stead for the future."

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Round 13 HCPHL Preview
Friday, 02 July 2010 07:07

 v  The 13th round fires off with the Lions v Seapigs clash on Saturday from 3:30pm. Its 4th v 5th, a crucial game for both teams. Back in round 7 Souths recorded a solid 5-0 victory.

Souths are undoubtedly dissapointed with thier current league position of 4th and will know a win here will create a 5 point gap between them and the students. Its the right time to be playing University who will once again be struggling for quality players due to the Semester break. The Lions should be able to create plenty of chances and register a hefty win in this clash. People who play at the club have indicated there are a number of players whose performances have been below par, and that thier positions in the team have been put on notice. Its healthy for a club when you have so much competition for places, and with Souths you know they will be there abouts come September and will have knuckled out the balanced squad that will give them the best shot at a title defence.

Lions icon John Fernance had this to say: "Last weekend saw a much improved performance from South’s, but still not up to scratch for a club that has played in every top grade Grand Final since 1996. The major improvement was the effort and intensity showed by players, as each and every player knows that their position is on the line every week. West’s played a very negative style of hockey last week, and it took patience to crack their defensive line and put the result beyond doubt.
This week see’s another Saturday game against University. Due to this South’s will be without Sydney player’s Daniel Edge and Michael Sneesby, Ipswich player Jaden Ekert, whilst Stuart Fletcher and Kyle Bosworth remain out with injuries. University have had some mixed results this year but have shown they can match is with anyone on their day. Tom Budden, Quentin Pursey and Taylor Jordan are the key players in the Seapig’s line up and we will have to keep them under wraps if we want to come away with the points. Coach Simon Vimpani was happier with South’s performance last week, but has told his team there still needs to be alot of improvement if they want to be part of finals action this year. Nothing but two points will be acceptable for the Lions in this one, as we try and close the gap of the top three."

For the Seapigs, they are coming off a 3-1 victory over Gosford last week. It was reported that the Central Coast outfit fielded a very young side in that clash which certainly helped University. Its always tough for the club this time of the year, and it remains a mystery with what team takes the field. The incentive in this clash is that a win will see the team just 1 point behind Souths on the ladder. A loss would make it a big challenge to close the gap on the top 4. With a vocal crowd expected at the NIHC Saturday afternoon (Souths v Uni PL women from 12:30) the students wil want to have a go at Souths, so it could be a very good game to watch.

Seapigs Adrian Verela had this to say about the Uni squad: "Uni had a good win last week, considering how many players they had out. Souths this week will be a bigger challenge though - Simon Massey and Andrew Nash return, but we are still without regular starters, Nick Khan, Nick Crocker, Quentin Pursey, Matt Barton, Drew Cooper and Nik Sharpe."

 

v  Down at Wyong Sunday last placed Gosford hosts 2nd placed Maitland. With the Marketting Arm of the Rams promoting a double figures scoreline there is no doubt this game will be an exciting one for fans on the coast.

Gosford certainly have been dissapointing this season, but the highlight has been a 2-2 draw with the Rams earlier in the season at Maitland. The team though appears to be struggling to get a consistent squad on the park each week, and this lack of consistency will affect them in this clash. Liam Alexander is likely to be missing, he is part of the AHL squad that is competing in Canberra this weekend, he is irreplacable in the Gosford lineup. Gosford are pretty hard to break down, they defend surprisngly well but just lack that go forward at the moment. The key will be to score early, put pressure on the Rams. Comments in the Maitland Mercury by Rams coach Nathan Baker might serve to fire up the Gosford outfit and see them determined to prove the doubters wrong. No team news.

The Maitland side will be bristling with confidence after some great results the last few weeks, including consecutive victories over Souths and Norths. The team ahs found several things that had been lacking over the previous few years, the ability to score plenty of goals as well as the belief they can compete with the 'big boys' in the competition. As a result, they are winning games and winning them in style.

Coach Nathan Baker had this to say: "No changes for this week apart from Brett Gallagher coming back from injury, and there is a possibility that I will be out due to injury. We'll see what the team doctor says after training tonight. All in all, I'm very happy with our position at the moment and we'll be looking to keep scoring big as we have been in the last 4 rounds. We've scored 21 goals in the last 4 matches and we just need to keep it up to keep pressure on Norths."

 

v Midday sees competition leaders Norths tackling Tigers. Last outing, Norths ran up a 9-1 tally over thier rivals.

Norths were outclassed last weekend by Maitland, and its not too often they lose 2 in a row. The team would of trained hard during the week to ensure they are prepared for this clash against one of thier great rivals. Despite sitting 6 places above Tigers, Norths will not take this game lightly. They know a win is crucial if they want to maintain top spot in the ladder.

Skipper Silas Moss reports the following: "Its always interesting to see how we respond after losing. We were treated to a hockey masterclass by Maitland last week and have learnt that if you switch off for a few minutes you can have your backs against the wall pretty quickly. Tigers this week is a tough proposition. I don't for one minute think there position on the table reflects their capabilities. Soon enough they will click and collect a series of wins. They were 1 goal off The Entrance last week, so I expect that this weekend could be a turning point for their season. Our boys are on alert. As always we will have a few changes. Matt Dawson jets out to China, and a few injuries will see us field a new line-up."

Every week we report on how Tigers have not got the results their hockey has deserved this season. As pointed out above, they are a very good side. They have scored in every game, ahev shown they can score plenty as well. The problem still lies in defence where the team is leaking an average of 4.25 goals a game. Noone can win hockey matches with that kind of record. Reports out of the Coast last week do suggest the team played a far better game then they have done recently, and the tide might be turning in Tigers favour now. No bigger test of this then against competition leaders Norths.

 

v The final game of the round hits off from 1:30, with Wests hosting The Entrance. In round 7 The entrance got up 6-2 at home.

Like Tigers, Wests are playing better hockey then thier ladder position suggests. They have played out some gutsy results in the last few rounds, including that 3-3 draw with Norths. A win here keeps thier slim finals chances alive, a loss certainly will be the end of the line especially if Souths get up over University. So its desperation stakes and this will be the motivator for the team going into this clash. The team ahs the ability to mix it with the top sides, but they seem to fall apart in the second half and let winnable positions slip. If its a fitness thing that can be resolved easily enough, but if its a mental thing there is much work to be done. Only the coaching staff can solve that one. But teams are wary of Wests and with good reason.

The Entrance will want a win to maintain thier position on the ladder. A loss could see them back to 4th. The team doesnt travel too well, and has struggled when playing at the NIHC, with just 1 win to thier credit this season there. But the team will be confident and will hope to bag the win with a stylish game of short passes and speed in attack. Not much to report on the side this week, but check regularly incase team news becomes available.

Get out and support your club this weekend!

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Rams falter against Gosford
Tuesday, 06 July 2010 11:43

COURTESY MAITLAND MERCURY

Maitland Rams coach Nathan Baker is the first to admit his team didn’t deserve to win on Sunday.

The Rams struggled to a 4-3 victory in a scrappy match against the bottom-placed team Gosford at Wyong Hockey Complex.

“We just didn’t play well,” he said. “Our defence didn’t muscle up and I think a lot of the boys looked at the opposition and saw how young they were and took them lightly. But still it was good to play poorly and still win.”

The Rams scored after five minutes through Tobin Bush but some sloppy defence allowed Gosford to level the scores a short time later.

“They hit back straight away from a penalty corner,” Baker said. “It was really sloppy defence from us, our goalkeeper made two or three saves and we just couldn’t clear the ball out.”

The Rams conceded a second goal in similar fashion before Peter Urquhart hammered the ball into the back of the net from a well worked short corner.

Baker said his team was unlucky not to be further ahead at the break after missing several simple chances in the first stanza.

“We missed two open goals,” he said. “I had a brilliant ball passed to me that beat the keeper but I couldn’t control it and it went out of bounds and Matt Brown had an open net and hit the crossbar.”

Brown made up for his error in the second stanza when he scored the Rams’ third and fourth goals, which were enough to hold off the young Gosford team.

In the other Hunter Coast Men’s Premier Hockey League matches Souths beat University 5-2, Norths stayed one point ahead of Maitland with a 6-3 win over the Tigers and The Entrance got the better of Wests 3-1.

The Rams don’t play again until July 18 when they meet Wests, the only team they haven’t secured a win against this season.

The Hunter Coast Men’s Premier Hockey League has the week off because of an under-13 Northern NSW Hockey Championships, to be held in Newcastle on July 10 and 11.

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Double figure tally the main aim
Thursday, 01 July 2010 09:10

COURTESY MAITLAND MERCURY

Maitland Rams coach Nathan Baker has put his team on notice for Sunday against winless Gosford.

Baker wants his team to make their premiership aspirations clear with the team’s first double figure win of the season when the Rams travel to Wyong Hockey Complex.

The Rams have scored eight goals twice in the Hunter Coast Men’s Premier league this year but Baker said he was hoping his team could put together their most convincing win of 2010 to stay in touch with first-placed Norths.

“I want a big game out of everyone this Sunday,” Baker said.

“We got into double figures a couple of times last year but we’re yet to do it this year.

“I’ve made it one of our objectives for this week.”

Baker said he had stressed it was crucial for the Rams to pick up full points against the competitions’ bottom teams.

“Our run at Norths in the third round starts here and we’ve got to win and win convincingly,” he said.

“The last time we played Gosford we had a 2-all draw and the boys are still bitter about that.

“That draw and the one with Wests are two points we could have had to put us ahead of Norths.”

Baker said the Gosford team that has lost 10 games this year was very different to last year’s grand finalists.

“They’ve lost a lot of players since last year,” he said.

“They’ve got a lot of young kids playing for them now – like 16 and 17-year-olds.

“It will be good for them in years to come but at the moment I think they are going through a bit of a rebuilding process.”

Baker said he wanted to see an improvement in the Rams first half and for his team to show no mercy against the hapless Gosford.

“The last three games we’ve been tight at half-time and then we’ve come out and performed well in the second half,” he said.

“But this week we need to get going right from the start and not give them a sniff because they’ve got the sort of team that could jag an early goal and then defend their lead.”

The Rams and Gosford start at 11.50am at Wyong Hockey Complex on Sunday.

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