Coach Fenwick absolutely gutted

Disgruntled Dalefield men's hockey coach Mark Fenwick is "absolutely and utterly gutted" at his team being forced to default their Wellington premier division match with Victoria University at the National Hockey Stadium in Wellington this weekend.
Fenwick spent most of this week trying to come up with a competitive unit but with at least five members of his squad unavailable he had little alternative but to pull the plug.
Particularly frustrating for Fenwick was that some of those unable to play this weekend were putting spectating at another sporting event ahead of turning out for Dalefield.
"I know this sort of thing happens in all sports these days but as a coach it does make you wonder about the loyalty factor," he said.
"And when you have a smallish squad like we do it's even worse, you don't have the numbers to fall back on."
Fenwick said he would be impressing upon his players the importance of a full turnout at next week's training sessions so that some "straight talking" could be done to ensure this weekend's situation does not occur again.
"It's a bad look for everyone when you have to default, it's not something you would want to happen a second time," he said.
Meanwhile, Dalefield women's hockey coach Nigel Goodin was also pulling no punches when asked what he wanted from his team when they meet Victoria University in their Wellington premier division match at the National Hockey Stadium tomorrow.
Goodin believes he has a squad which can make a big impact on the competition table and he says it is time for them to prove it.
"We've had three games together now and we need to get greater consistency into our play," he said. "Tomorrow has to be the starting point for that to happen, that's where the focus has to lie."
Goodin has little knowledge of the competition of the University side but he anticipates them being young and fast, in fact similar to the Indians team which beat Dalefield at home in the most recent of their premier division games.
Dalefield did have a good excuse for performing slightly below par there, however, as five of their squad were missing and, not surprisingly, fitness issues were exposed.
Tomorrow they will be without regular centre half Leah Kershaw and her understudy in that position, Amanda Pottinger, but Goodin is confident Brooke Taylor will do a good job there and that the acquiring of Lily Parker to play in the midfield will also be a plus.
"Talent-wise we will have the players to do the business, it's just a case of them using that talent to the best advantage," Goodin said.