Frenchville's hopes dashed

rok-cqhock24a Adam Bunn - no 6 frenchville CQ League Hockey Frenchville Rovers vs Meteors

Sharyn Oneill

Frenchville Rovers hope of making the Central Queensland Hockey League semi-finals have been shattered after other results didn’t go their way.

Needing to win their final matches, Rovers needed Southside to beat Sparks in Gladstone on Saturday.

The Rovers fulfilled their side of the equation, defeating Meteors 3-2 at Kalka Shades, but second-placed Southside went down 2-0 at Gladstone on grass.

Rovers coach Stephen Kydd said his side got off to a flying start, taking a 2-0 lead but then suffered a lapse in concentration.

Meteors were able to peg two goals back to level the scores at half-time.

But Frenchville were able to score early in the second half and retain their lead for the remainder of the match.

David Kershaw, Tim Byrne and Llewellyn Welsh were the goalscorers for Frenchville.

Kydd was pleased his side were able to execute their game plan.

“We put into play what we had practised, our short passes and looking for our team-mates,” Kydd said.

Frenchville will take on Southside in their final match and are hoping to continue their winning form.

“If we play the way we did on Saturday night hopefully we’ll come away with a win,” he said.

Wanderers continued their unbeaten march with a 5-1 victory against Park Avenue Brothers.

With scores locked 1-1 at half-time, Wanderers coach Aaron Harmsworth said they capitalised on their goal scoring opportunities in the second half to run away with the match.

Stephen Evans scored a hat-trick while Andrew Landsberg and Todd Harmsworth also got their names on the scoresheet.

Brothers coach David Plant said they found a game plan that worked against the defending champions in the first half, but would need to work on keeping up the intensity for the full match.

“If we can play it for one half, we can do it for two halves. It’s just a matter of holding our nerves and concentrating for the whole 70 minutes,” he said.

The defending champions will be missing up to six players for the final round of the CQ Hockey League against Meteors in Gladstone.

Harmsworth didn’t believe the grass pitch would prove an issue and still hoped to get a win on the road.

Plant was hoping to finish the regular season on a high with a win against Sparks in Rockhampton next weekend.

Weekend Results

A1 Men

Frenchville Rovers 3 (David Kershaw, Tim Byrne, Llwellyn Welsh) def Meteors 2 (Graham Burke, Andrew Smith)

Wanderers 5 (Steven Evans 3, Andrew Landsberg, Todd Harmsworth) def Park Avenue Brothers 1 (Nathan Burke)

Sparks 2 def Southside 0 (in Gladstone).

A1 Women

Wanderers 1 (Brooke Miller) drew with Southside United 1(Alex Buckley)

Park Avenue Brothers 1 (Jodie Hodgson) def Frenchville Rovers 0.