Dalefield just keeps going

ON TOP: Nick Finlayson (left) and Dane Lett, two of the standouts for Dalefield in Saturday's 7-1 beating of Victoria University.

The Dalefield juggernaut rolls on in the Wellington premier division men's hockey competition.

Their 7-1 thumping of Victoria University at the National Hockey Stadium on Saturday maintained their unbeaten record for the 2015 season and took them to 40pts on the points table, a staggering 13pts clear of second-placed Hutt on 27. Then come Indians on 21, Harbour City on 14, Victoria University on 13 and Northern United on 11.

Coach Willie Schaefer labelled their latest effort as one of the best of the season for Dalefield.

They actually trailed 1-0 early in the game but once they found their rhythm there was only one team in it, a 3-1 advantage at halftime being extended by a further four goals without reply in the second spell.

Schaefer was especially pleased at the success of tactics worked out to counter the superb goalkeeping skills of Victoria University and ex-New Zealand goalkeeper Kyle Pontifex.

Rather than taking shots from around the top of the circle they focused on delivering one more pass so that Pontifex had less time to get himself into position and the fact many of the their goals were no more than "tap ins" illustrated how well Dalefield implemented that plan.

"He (Pontifex) is the best keeper in the competition and we wanted to nullify his influence as much as we could," Schaefer said. "And I think we did a pretty decent job of that."

Schaefer was also happy with the sting in the Dalefield attack with many of their most potent movements actually being started from defensive situations.

"I thought we linked really well between defence and attack. We strung a lot of passes together and the strikers were unselfish, the teamwork up front was outstanding."

Hamish Finlayson scored two of the Dalefield goals and along with his brother Nicholas, who also got himself on the scorecard, often had the Victoria University defence struggling to cope with their speed and nifty stickwork.

Rowan Yeo was typically industrious up front and was rewarded with two goals while the other goal scorers were the always reliable skipper Dane Lett and Ben van Woerkom.

Dalefield meet Indians at Clareville next Saturday in the last of the preliminary round games and the following weekend will see them host a semifinal.

Their opponent there will be the fourth seed, either Harbour City or Victoria University, and Schaefer said the Dalefield camp were well aware their dominance of the competition to date will count for absolutely nothing if they happen to lose there.

"We need to peak for that one and I think Saturday was a good step in the right direction," he said.