Huge psychological boost for Dalefield

A second half scoring spree saw Dalefield romp away to an 8-3 win over Victoria University in their Wellington premier division men's hockey match played at Clareville on Saturday.
Dalefield dominated the first half action to the point where they should probably have led by at least five goals at the break but the teams were actually level pegging at 2-2 then.
"We were all over them but we couldn't score," Dalefield coach Mark Fenwick said. "It was a bit frustrating in that respect."
Fenwick said the second half plan for Dalefield was to push for penalty corners rather than looked for field goals and it worked well with six goals being added to their tally, four of them coming from Welshman Mark Duxbury from penalty corner situations. Other Dalefield goal scorers were Rowan Yeo, Greg Mason, Peter Sivertsen and Thomas Merriman. Duxbury and Yeo were standouts for Dalefield through the constant pressure they placed on the University defence with Yeo's spectacular reverse goal being the individual highlight of the match.
Dalefield and University are guaranteed to meet later in the season in a playoff for fifth and sixth place, the loser of which will be involved in a promotion-relegation encounter.
Fenwick said the manner and size of Dalefield's victory on Saturday would be a huge psychological boost for that particular match.
"It showed what we are capable of when everything falls into place, we just need to keep it going now," he said.
The Dalefield women are already through to the semi-finals of their Wellington premier division competition so their 1-0 loss to Victoria University, also at Clareville on Saturday, was not too major in the scheme of things.
Coach Rochelle Retter was, however, frustrated that Dalefield could not turn a number of prime scoring chances into goals during a game which saw the sides level at 0-0 at halftime.
"We did everything really well but score & it's becoming the story of our lives and that's something we have to put right," she said.
The defensive play of Dalefield was outstanding with goalkeeper Sara Crofoot pulling off a number of brilliant saves and Alice Davies and Chloe Stevens giving her grand support Ana-May Playle, Jodi Graham and Karen James also ensured the home team did well in the midfield action.