The Whales made a bit of a slow start to the contest, requiring a Jakob Bell-Kake drag-flick towards the end of the first quarter to break the deadlock. Kurt Ward doubled that lead shortly after the resumption, and it seemed they would quickly kick away from there – but the Panthers had other ideas.
On the back of back-to-back green cards to the Whales, Tim Hamilton showed a nice bit of quality to fire it past Lukas Wallis, closing the gap to one goal.
If the Panthers could have taken that to the break, they would have been full of belief, but Ward found a second for the day to give the Whales breathing room.
Sam Gradwell and Jono Hair added the fourth and fifth after the halftime break, before Jakob Bell-Kake drilled home a late reverse to compete the rout. Keeper Toby Dean was excellent in defeat for the Panthers, while Krishaan Parsotam and James Nairn kept things ticking over.
For the Whales, it was usual suspect Daniel Poulter locking things down defensively while four strikers got on the scoresheet down the other end.
The win keeps them a point ahead of the Kings United Cobras, who stumbled a little in a 6-1 triumph over the Southland Barbarians. Missing a few key men, they will be pleased to have left Gore with the points.
Elsewhere, the Albany Alligators handed the Taieri Tuataras back-to-back losses for the first time in over seven years, with a stunning 4-3 win. Jack Cotton opened the scoring inside 13 seconds, getting on the end of a fantastic Nic Finlayson overhead, setting the tone for what was a blockbuster contest.
The talented Micah Duckles scored the goal of the day, beating three before finding the bottom right corner on his reverse, for what was ultimately the winning goal at the end of the third quarter.
That result means the Alligators slide up into third, leaving the defending champions down in fourth.
Speaking of defending champions, the City Highlanders were unable to keep their winning run going, as Momona miraculously held on to the Challenge Shield in an absolute thriller.
The Highlanders were 3-1 to the good towards the end of the third quarter, with Momona seemingly out of ideas.
A bit of quality from Sorrell Shand to set up Beth O’Donovan got them back in the game though, before Lou Kotkamp levelled things up midway through the fourth quarter. Momona held on for the draw, winning the shootout to close the gap on City even further.
Despite the draw, Momona dropped a place to third, after the Kings United Royals’ comprehensive 9-1 win over the University Stingrays, with Abby Fookes firing home three goals.
The University Huskies won out 4-3 in an entertaining clash with the Taieri Tigers.
By Nicholas Friedlander
