Dalefield will need to shake off a disappointing start to their campaign when they head south today for round two of the Wellington premier hockey competition.
The women face the toughest ask having suffered a surprise first up 2-0 loss to competition debutants Karori at home in Clareville last week.
They take
on an impressive Victoria University outfit that despatched defending champions Eastern Hutt 3-1 in their season opener.
Despite the patchy first up effort there were several positive signs from the Dalefield women who kept a clean sheet against Karori in the second spell and strung together enough opportunities to take the match with only the finishing letting them down.
"We've been working at practice on linking and attacking in three's so there's a bit of support rather than trying to go it alone," coach Rochelle Retter said.
"Last time out we played a really poor half and just want to make sure we play some quality hockey because University will be quick to capitalise on any mistakes so we need to stay awake."
The men meanwhile are up against a Harbour City Tawa side still smarting from the humiliating 10-1 drubbing at the hands of competition heavyweights Indians Club.
Tawa, who are traditionally strong, will be keen to reverse the result but will have their work cut out for them against a Dalefield side desperate to assert themselves after also falling well short against Northern United last Saturday.
Despite the 4-0 score line the men could take pride in their defence having being starved of possession for the entirety of the match, but will need to address their troublesome turnover rate if they are to string together enough opportunities to take the win.
The side has also lost Dane Leitch to rugby, which is a "huge loss for us" coach Mark Fenwick said.
"The game plan will be basically to capitalise on our chances because we think Harbour will be a little vulnerable at the moment and we need to make sure we take advantage of that," he said.
"We will be gutted if we don't (win), we need to turn around our fortunes and we've got the opportunity to do it."
Both games are to be played at the National Hockey Stadium in Wellington with the women hitting the turf at 2.40pm and the men starting 15 minutes later.
