Tainui pay penalty for inaccuracy | Oamaru Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Oamaru

A crushing penalty stroke in extra time was enough for Wakanui Blue to scrape past Placemakers Tainui 2-1 in the South Canterbury premier hockey semifinal on Saturday.

Having finished regular time at one goal each, the minor semifinal went into sudden death in extra time.

After running the show for the most part of the game, drama struck Aorangi Park just minutes into overtime as the referee awarded a penalty Wakanui's way.

The Ashburton club had been attacking from a penalty corner when the referee deemed Tainui defender Shaun Cunningham had stopped the ball from going in the goal with his shoe.

Despite desperate pleas that the ball had actually come off Tainui goalie Andrew Knight's foot, the penalty was not reversed - Wakanui securing the shot on goal to take the game.

Cunningham said Tainui were frustrated to have ended their season this way.

"We were feeling pretty tired heading into extra time, but I told the boys to just keep running and running - just keep running on reserve.

"You could probably tell we were all pretty (annoyed). I just threw my stick away because of the way it all happened," Cunningham said.

Wakanui's win will see them live another day to play their brother side Wakanui Black for a place in the final after Northern Hearts upset Black in the major semifinal.

Tainui and Blue made a tentative start, both sides feeling the other out with probing runs and solid cover defence.

Chances started to flow Tainui's way as Fraser Hollamby and Kelvin McFelin taunted Wakanui with swift runs down the flanks thanks to the vision of Jared Ovens in the middle.

Several penalty corners came their way as the first spell came to life, but a combination of inaccuracy and sloppy stick work stopped Tainui converting their advantage.

Wakanui had minimal attacking chances, and lacked the ability to penetrate the circle enough to threaten. They did scramble well in defence though, and this kept them in the game in the first half.

The first blow came straight after the break with Wakanui taking a one-goal advantage after Knight was unable to clear the ball quickly enough from the Blue strikers.

Needing a goal to stay in the contest, Cunningham pushed himself forward from the defensive line to lift the Tainui work rates and give them more attacking options.

"When they scored I decided to go up front to try and get something going. The boys were lacking a bit of go-forward, so I pushed up to put some pressure on," Cunningham said.

The rise in intensity swung everything Tainui's way. Their passing was slicker, and their option-taking opened Wakanui right up.

Finally the pressure cooker told as strike weapon James Ferris made a break into the attacking circle and buried a reverse smash into the net to make it 1-1 with 20 minutes to play.

Ferris almost scored the winner 10 minutes later after beating the Wakanui goalie from a penalty corner, but the referee deemed the ball to have been hit above the backboard of the goal so it was disallowed.

Late chances from Hollamby and Roger Orr weren't enough to finish the game within 70 minutes, Wakanui winning the game with the agonising extra-time penalty stroke.