That proved the difference in the end with both sides agreeing the scoreline didn’t truly reflect the game.

“Tudors were in it the whole game,” Kiwis captain Josh Worpel said.

He said it was good to score a few goals but didn’t rate it one of his sides better performances.

“We didn’t really hold possession well going forward and made turnovers,” he said.

Fortunately when they actually got the ball into the circle they were able to make good use of it, and defended well to stall Tudors’ counter-attacking raids.

Conversely most of Kiwis’ goals came from counter-attacks.

Craig Unger bagged four and was awesome up front, Worpel said, adding that the strikers are really starting to work together well.

Tudors captain-coach Sam Lobsey said they played some good hockey in patches but weren’t clinical in attack and in defence “weren’t thinking well enough in terms of marking”.

“Just the small percentage plays in the front 25 and defensive 25 is what let us down,” he said.

“We had enough attempts at goal but we just couldn’t put the ball in the net.”

He said Will Finch was their best. He kept Antony Doolan out of the game for a “fair chunk of it”. Noah Pitt also made some nice leads up front.

Lobsey also made mention of Sam Wright, who played up in Armidale at midday, and then drove down to Tamworth to play at 3pm.