Capital win at Clareville

Capital made a one-horse race of their "friendly" clash with fellow national league team Central Mavericks at Clareville yesterday.
Their massive 10-0 winning margin reflected Capital's dominance of a match played over three 25-minute spells in cold, wet conditions before a good-sized crowd.
Central started strongly and came close to scoring in the opening seconds but the more the game progressed the more obvious became the class of a Capital squad which won last year's national league title and have to be strongly favoured for a repeat success this year.
As was to be expected in a game of this type both coaches took the opportunity to make regular changes to their playing personnel and it spoke volumes for the depth of talent - including four Black Sticks - in the Capital line-up that no matter what combination was on the field they operated with near clinical efficiency.
The ability of Capital to regularly turn hard defence into hard attack through slick passing and excellent support play was particularly impressive and they generally converted their prime scoring chances into goals.
Central, on the other hand, lacked the teamwork of their opposition, especially in defensive situations where all too often they were left flat-footed by the speed of the Capital front runners. They also struggled to get any continuity into their attacking play.
Two Dalefield players, New Zealand Maori representative Jesse Workman and Junior Black Stick Dane Lett, were in the Capital squad and they had good reason to feel happy with their contributions.
Workman laid on the final pass for two of Capital's first three goals and came close to scoring when he dived forward to get his stick to the ball only for it to go just wide of the posts.
Lett took on a more defensive role and was solid on the tackle and accurate in his passing.
Highly rated Black Sticks duo Steve Jenness and Matt L'Hullier both had huge games for Capital, Jenness constantly threading his way past several would-be tacklers on attack and L'Hullier demonstrating why he is regarded as the best exponent of the drag flick in the country.