Hockey: Tamworth under-13 girls finish third at state championships in Grafton

Lining up in Division 2, the Brad Hall-coached side finished third behind eventual winners - northern neighbours Hockey New England, and Far North Coast.

Due to lockdown orders, teams from the Greater Sydney region were unable to attend the championships. The resulting reshuffle of the draw saw the teams split into three divisions and playing a round robin with the top two in each then going on to play in the final.

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The Frogs got their campaign off to a perfect start notching wins over Canberra (2) (3-nil) and Port Macquarie (1-nil) on the opening day.

The second day was a step up in tempo and proved a lot tougher, their finals hopes taking a hit with 2-1 losses to Far North Coast first-up and then New England.

Both games they were up 1-nil, Hall said.

"We were leading against Far North Coast 1-nil with about six minutes to go. They got an equaliser and then scored with a minute-and-a-half to go," he said.

"We had a really good first half and to be fair probably had more chances but unfortunately we couldn't put them away."

Against New England he thought they dropped away a bit after getting that first goal. In contrast New England stepped up and "got a goal back pretty quickly".

They then struck again in the final quarter.

Hall said the girls were "quite down and upset" after that game. But they bounced back on Sunday to finish the carnival the way they started, beating Southern Highlands 2-nil.

Whilst it was disappointing not to get through to the final, he said there were a lot of positives to take away. He was really happy with the hockey they played and couldn't fault their effort.

"They put 110 per cent in," he said.

For a lot of the girls their first time playing at a carnival of that stature, he said it was "a good learning experience" for them and they really developed over the three days.

Abbi Burkett was strong for them, he said, and scored a number of goals from penalty corners. Ella Tanna also made some good runs up front and create some good chances while captain Anna George was also solid.

About half the side move up to the 15s for next year but from what Hall saw at the Kim Small Shield the previous weekend there is "a good group" coming through from the under-11s.

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