Dalefield stun Indians in dramatic fixture

Dalefield produced one of the biggest upset in years in the Wellington premier division men's hockey competition when they scored a stunning 3-2 win over Indians at the Clareville complex on Saturday.
In a match of high drama in which Dalefield slipped a goal behind their classy opposition on two occasions, a goal in the dying seconds by Greg Mason provided a victory that would arguably be the most memorable in the club's premier-division history, and only their third over Indians in the past 12 years.
Mason typified the determination within the Dalefield squad to be competitive against an Indians side that had often racked up massive wins against them, some running into double figures.
Several times during the game it was Mason who blunted dangerous-looking Indians attacks with his no-nonsense defensive approach and he often added punch to their attack with either well-placed clearing hits or by linking with his forwards as they pressed deep into Indians territory.
Any pre-match doubts about Dalefield's ability to foot it with Indians for either pace or skill soon dissipated with the home team making most of the play in the early stages.
Under instructions from coach Lance Hare they placed huge emphasis on imposing their own style of hockey on Indians rather than having them dictate. The likes of Mark Scully, Jesse Workman, Nathan Shannahan, Ben Van Woerkom and Rowan Yeo relished every opportunity to do exactly that.
Indians managed to keep their goal intact during that Dalefield onslaught and it was they who scored the first goal after a Dalefield attack broke down and they launched a lightning-quick counter-attack that ended with the ball in the back of the net.
Buoyed by that success Indians threatened to go on a goal-scoring rampage with their midfield and forwards testing the Dalefield defence with clever switches of direction but with Mason, Willie Schaefer and goalkeeper Orin Lockyer leading the way the home side were equal to the task.
Their inability to add to their tally seemed to frustrate Indians and heading towards halftime they went off the boil and Dalefield capitalised by mounting a series of strong attacks, one of which ended in a well-taken goal by Ben Van Woerkom and took them to the interval level pegging at 1-1.
If the first half produced some exciting action the second was even more entertaining with Indians clearly intent on weakening the Dalefield resistance through concerted attacking play and Dalefield every bit as intent on not allowing that to happen.
The opening minutes of the spell certainly saw Indians hold a territorial advantage but they struggled to breach a Dalefield defence in which goalkeeper Lockyer was outstanding.
He made half a dozen fine saves before Indians finally grabbed a 2-1 lead, and that goal only came after Lockyer had twice kicked the ball clear under enormous pressure.
To Dalefield's credit, conceding the lead for the second time in the match did nothing but increase their resolve to fight their way back into the game. Scully and Workman were often prominent in dangerous attacks of their own and they got their reward when Shannahan found the net to make it 2-2 with about 10 minutes still to play.
From then on it was case for both teams of determined attack and equally determined defence and a draw appeared the most likely result.
But just before fulltime Mason got himself into position from where a shot was possible and he sizzled the ball past the Indians keeper to give Dalefield, and their large band of vocal supporters, great cause for celebration.
For coach Hare the most satisfying aspect of the win was the manner in which it was achieved with every player contributing in a positive fashion.
''You can't have any weak areas in games like that and we didn't,'' he said.