Duxbury makes debut for Dalefield

A former Welsh age group international in Mark Duxbury will make his debut for Dalefield in their Wellington premier division hockey match with Harbour City-Tawa at Clareville tomorrow.
Duxbury is currently in New Zealand as part of his OE and is expected to be available for Dalefield for the next three months.
Coach Mark Fenwick liked what he saw of Duxbury at training on Tuesday night and expects him to make an impact in the striker's role for a Dalefield team which will be without four of their regular players.
Tobyn Yeo, Dane Lett, Shane Hodgkiss and Orin Lockyer are all playing for the Wairarapa under-18s at a mini-tournament in Palmerston North and Fenwick has been left with a squad of just 12 for tomorrow's match.
However, he remains convinced that if Dalefield can show the same resilience as they did in their narrow but deserved victory over Victoria University last weekend a second successive win is within their capabilities
"Obviously we could have a few problems with combinations but if the resolve is there we could still pull it off," he said. "It's a big ask but we could do it."
The Dalefield women's team doesn't mind starting underdogs in their Wellington premier division match with competition leaders Eastern Hutt, also at Clareville tomorrow.
Coach Rochelle Retter readily accepts the powerful Eastern Hutt line-up deserves to start favourites despite their surprise loss to Indians last weekend but she certainly isn't giving up on the prospect of a Dalefield upset.
Retter sees a strong start as being vital for Dalefield as an early goal or two would put doubt in the minds of their opposition.
"If we get ourselves in front and play tight, aggressive hockey we can get the result we want," she said. "But if we sit back and wait for them to come to us it could be a whole different ball game."
Apart from the injured Georgia Burton Dalefield will be taking a full strength team into tomorrow's game and Retter said the use of her reserve bench would depend to a large degree on the state of the match. "If we do get momentum early we need to keep it going and sometimes it's better to leave things the way they are in that respect," she said.
One reserve player who seems almost certain to get some action though is Dayna Yeo, who may not have most orthodox of techniques but who has the uncanny knack of scoring goals when they are most needed.