Rovers win intense final
• Rovers Team: back L-R: Katrina Knight, Phillip Knight, Ang Knight, Tom Hughes, Natasha Hughes, Lachie Davis, Ryan Davenport, Bailey Davenport and Laura Hill. Front L-R: Katrina Clifford, Maddy Steer, Kirsty Davenport, Taylor Marshall, Kylie Blackwell and Sophie Walker.
The North East Hockey Association’s grand final showcased fine examples of sportsmanship and respect.
With one win each and drawn matches from their roster round meetings, the Rovers and Sloths went into the final with mutual respect and both teams believing they could get a premiership.
The Rovers, with team stalwart Katrina Clifford, have been part of the Association for around four decades and have played many grand finals and their name appears on the premiership cup twelve times since 1971.
But over the past two years there has been a changing of the guard with new and junior players coming into the team. As their last premiership was in 2017, they were keen for another.
After a decline in hockey playing numbers, in 2018 Rovers players Sally Kershaw and Andrew Hill branched off to form a new team, the Sloths.
The Sloths are now a leading force in the competition in fostering participation and growth. The Sloths went into the final with a full sixteen player list, eight being first year players and four of those being juniors.
With both the Rovers and Sloths fielding teams of experienced, first year and junior players, no matter which team was to win, this was a winning season for hockey in north east Tasmania.
The grand final hit off at 12.00 midday officiated by Geraldine Loosmore and Catherine Irwin.
Play started with a flurry of short corners, nine in the first ten minutes awarded at both ends of the field.
Both defences worked as a unit, and the midfields were up and down the pitch, attacking and defending in equal measure.
The Sloths defence were under pressure when Rovers’ Bailey Davenport ran into the dee and unleashed a bullet that was strongly defended by the Sloths’ David Wilson.
Although Sloths midfield runners in Sally Kershaw and Lily Wilson worked possession well, Rovers defence in Laura Hill and Taylor Marshal were stoic with their defending.
Rovers continually counter attacked with Kirsty Davenport a driving force out of defence and through the midfield.
Twelve minutes into the match Phillip Knight was rewarded with his goal-bound efforts to get the Rovers first score.
It was another ten minutes of end to end play before the Sloths pushed hard and some goalmouth chaos produced an equalising goal from Lisa Williams.
The half played out evenly balanced and the stalemate at half-time was a fair reflection of the game.
The second half started with some positive runs from Rovers’ Bailey Davenport and Philip Knight, but Sloths’ Pauline MacKinnon and the team were impressive with strong and disciplined defending.
Eight minutes into the half, Sloths’ Marcus Haywood slotted a goal from a short corner after some nice dee work from Sally Kershaw and Ben Williams.
The Sloths’ lead was fleeting, with the Rovers’ Davenport brothers working hard at both ends of the ground.
Bailey Davenport broke through to goal.
Five minutes later Ryan Davenport again goaled for the Rovers to put them in front on the scoreboard.
Although Sloths’ tried hard for an equaliser, they were ineffective in their efforts.
This was an entertaining game, played in an excellent spirit by both sides.
Every player for both teams gave 100% for the entire match and kept fighting and attacking to the final whistle.
SCORES
Final Scores: Rovers 3 defeated Sloths 2.
Goals – Rovers: Phillip Knight, Bailey Davenport, Ryan Davenport
Sloths: Lisa Williams, Marcus Haywood
Best in finals: Bailey Davenport (Rovers)