Late Dalefield stun Indians

Dalefield provided the talking point of Wellington premier division men's hockey on Saturday, coming from behind to beat Indians 4-3 in their match at Clareville.

With Dalefield languishing at the bottom of the table, and Indians needing a win and a bonus point in what was the last round of preliminary round matches to make it into the semifinals, the odds were in favour of the visitors.

And when Indians went out to an early 1-0 lead and held a 3-2 advantage at halftime, the smart money would still have been on them prevailing.

However, the young Dalefield side had other ideas and they scored the only two goals of the second spell to claim a deserved 4-3 success.

"We played like we really wanted this one, the intensity was just where we needed it to be," Dalefield manager Dave Blackwood said.

"There wasn't a lot in it but we took our chances and that was the difference in the end."

Left half Chris Mason was outstanding for Dalefield, tackling strongly in defence and linking well with his front-runners in attack.

Left inner Hayden Sergeant also worked hard and he deservedly scored one of the Dalefield goals, with the others going to Joseph Robertson, Hugh Taylor and Daniel van Woerkom.