Hockey fans in for classy action

The two national league pre-season matches to be played at Clareville on Sunday should provide entertainment plus for Wairarapa hockey fans.

Capital and Central will do battle in a women's fixture at 12.30pm and a men's match starting at 2.30pm and with several of the country's most talented players involved, a high standard of play is guaranteed.

It will be the first time the Capital women have played a match in Wairarapa and their squad includes a former Wairarapa College player and national age group rep Felicity Reidy, New Zealand development squad member Katarina O'Callaghan, New Zealand under-21 players Dani Deans and Kelsey Smith and Black Stick Ani Roberts.

Central will be hoping for better fortune in the men's match than they had a year ago when they were thumped 10-2 by Capital. New Zealand development squad member Dane Lett, Benedict van Woerkom, Daniel van Woerkom, Trent Lett and Nick Finlayson are all ex-Wairarapa players in the Capital line-up and they will be joined by New Zealand under-21 players Harry Miskimmin, Ollie Logan and Matt Symonds.

An extra bonus from having the two Capital teams here is that they will also run two training sessions, the women with the under-11s from 10am to 11am and the men with the under-13s from 11.30am to 12.30pm.

Meanwhile, the Dalefield camp will still be buzzing from the impressive form they displayed during their double header in the Wellington premier division men's competition last weekend and will be aiming to replicate those efforts when they confront joint leaders Indians at the National Hockey Stadium tomorrow, starting at 3.15pm.

A 3-2 win over Northern United last Saturday was the first recorded by Dalefield in competition play this season and they followed that with a narrow 2-0 defeat to Victoria University on Sunday in a match which could have gone either way.

In both games it was the sustained intensity of the Dalefield effort which provided the main talking point, along with the superb goalkeeping of Mikey Spicer, who was simply backing up the excellent form he has shown throughout the 2014 campaign.

That Indians will be a formidable opponent virtually goes without saying.

They have had eight wins and one draw from their 12 matches this season and have scored 56 goals while conceding just 29.