Bailey Potangaroa puts up a shot in Carterton’s second-round win over St Matthew’s. PHOTOS/FILE
NETBALL
CHRIS COGDALE
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Jo Kelly and Co Carterton Maroon coach Gaylene Malcolm is pleased with how her team are travelling three rounds into the Wairarapa premier one competition.
Carterton had their second win of the first round last Friday night, beating Celtic 42-35 in what Malcolm said was a tight game all the way.
“I think we won all four quarters, and the second quarter was very close, so if you look at each quarter, and if there’s only one or two goals per quarter, it’s a really close game. And it was only seven in the end,” she said.
Carterton meet Greytown Holmes Construction on Friday night, followed by a rematch of last year’s final against Harcourts in next week’s final round.
Malcolm said the focus was to avoid finishing last in the six-team competition after the first five rounds.
“What I believe is going to happen is that they’re going to drop the bottom team and bring up the top team from premier two and just do a straight swap, so as long as we don’t finish bottom.”
That would seem an unlikely prospect for the strong Carterton combination, and Malcolm is confident of securing the points over Greytown, who have had only one win.
Their chances have been boosted further with the return of shooter Mairangi Karaitiana from Melbourne.
Malcolm felt that the competition has been of a good standard but expects it to become more serious in the second round, when the battle to qualify for the top four semifinals begins.
In other results from last weekend, defending champions Harcourts flexed their muscles with a 50-24 thumping of Greytown, while the Waicol-St Matt’s game was deferred and rescheduled for midweek.
Waicol will also play Celtic in the Friday night 6pm game, and Harcourts will take on St Matt’s in the Saturday fixture, starting at 10am.
