Dalefield women snatch defeat from jaws of victory

Dalefield had the winning of their Wellington premier division women's hockey match with Karori on Saturday but after leading 3-1 at the break conceded five second half goals to lose 6-3.
Coach Rochelle Retter described the Dalefield first half effort as "awesome" with Karori's defence buckling under the pressure and the combined efforts of Ana Playle and Harriet Cameron giving their side a deserved two-goal advantage after the break.
It was a different story in the second spell though with the young Karori side gaining a new lease of life and benefitting from some "pretty ordinary" Dalefield defence.
"They (Karori) are a good side but we helped them by resting on our laurels?we lacked the urgency we had in the first half and that really was the ball game," Retter said.
"We made too many little mistakes and they capitalised."
Defender Laura Crawford had a strong game for Dalefield and others to impress were Harriet Cameron, Jodie Graham and Karen James.
The Dalefield men's team foundered in the face of relentless pressure from Northern United in the second half of their Wellington premier division match, losing 8-0.
Coach Mark Fenwick said Dalefield actually created the first scoring of the game and at 3-0 down at halftime were had good reason to be pleased with their efforts up until then. However, the dominance of possession by Northern United in the second spell finally took its toll and they added five more goals to their scoreline.
"They just kept coming at us and something had to give," Fenwick said.
"We kept plugging away but when you don't have the ball for long periods it's tough."
One plus for Dalefield though was the success of the experiment of having Greg Mason at centre back.He made his presence felt on attack and defence.
Andy Ewington also played soundly as did goalkeeper Orin Lockyer.