Dalefield provide hope for competitive showing

Dalefield did enough during their 5-1 loss to Eastern Hutt in Wellington on Saturday to provide hope of
a competitive showing against
the same side in the semi-finals of
the Wellington premier division women's hockey competition next weekend.
A sizzling goal from a penalty corner in the first two minutes of play gave Dalefield a shock 1-0 lead and while the powerful Eastern Hutt combination recovered to win by a comfortable margin Dalefield shared the honours in territory and possession, especially in the second half.
A point well illustrated by the fact that whereas they forced nine attacking penalty corners Eastern Hutt managed just two.
"I won't say we could have won but the scoreline could certainly have been closer," Dalefield coach Nigel Goodin said.
Dalefield wasn't helped either by the fact that while they had 14 players in their squad one was battling injury and could only used sparingly, as were two others who were obviously feeling the effects of some hard match play over the past week.
"We want everybody fit and well for next weekend so we didn't take any risks," Goodin said.
Saturday's loss to Eastern Hutt was the second for Dalefield in four days as they had also been beaten by them in a catch-up preliminary round fixture at Clareville on Tuesday night, results which will have Dalefield starting as rank underdogs in the semis, a situation which Goodin hopes they can turn to their advantage.
"They (Eastern Hutt) will be brimming with confidence and if they get a bit too cocky who knows what could happen," he said.
"I know our girls are looking forward to it, they are giving themselves a chance for sure."
A depleted Dalefield men's team lost 11-3 to Harbour City-Tawa in the last of their Wellington premier division preliminary round matches on Saturday but not before they had fought back from 4-1 down at halftime to be trailing by just 4-3 early in the second spell.
However, they were unable to maintain the momentum and Harbour City-Tawa added seven more goals to their tally in a 20-minute blitz.
Goal scorers for Dalefield were Peter Sigvertsen, Willie Waitere and Greg Mason.
Dalefield will play off for fifth and sixth placing in a fortnight's time but just who their opponent will be was still unsure yesterday.
It will, however, be either Harbour City-Tawa or University with the loser then being involved in promotion-relegation play.