Rowan Yeo scored the first of Dalefield’s two goals. PHOTOS/FILE
HOCKEY
CHRIS COGDALE
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Men
Harbour City 1
Dalefield 2
Farriers Dalefield have a clear lead in the Wellington Men’s Premier Championship after their crucial victory over Harbour City at the National Hockey Stadium.
The home side started the better though and took the lead in the first five minutes. After that, both sides had their opportunities in a tit-for-tat first half, but Dalefield finally did even the scores 12 minutes into the second quarter with Rowan Yeo putting away a rebound from a penalty corner.
Olympic bound Dane Lett made his last game for the team for a while a memorable one scoring with a drag flick that took a deflection off a defender.
The two-time defending champions couldn’t add to their score despite dominating the remainder of the game.
“The second half was a bit of a one-way street,” player-coach Benedict van Woerkom said.
“We just rolled over the top of them, but we couldn’t score. The weather was miserable, the turf became flooded and played really slow and worked into their favour, because we couldn’t play at the speed we wanted to.
“If the conditions were better, we could have put four or five away in the second half.”
The win keeps Dalefield on target for top spot and a home semifinal for the playoffs.
Women
Harbour City 1
Dalefield 4
Farriers Dalefield made the most of their chances to come away with a vital three points in the Wellington Women’s Premier Championship.
Harbour City had the better of the early exchanges, but it was Dalefield who took the lead through former Black Stick Felicity Reidy in one of their rare attacks in the first quarter.
Harbour City equalised from a rebound off a PC in the second quarter, before Reese Robertson restored Dalefield’s lead when she connected with a nice through ball from player-coach Katherine van Woerkom.
With five minutes to play, Harbour City replaced their goalkeeper with an outfield player to try and equalise, only for Emma McLeod to score after a nice one-two with Sinead Namana, followed by a goal to Emma Smith.
Van Woerkom said it was good to win a tough game in tricky conditions.
“It was very wet, and the turf was slow, and Harbour probably had the better of the first half, but the girls just battled away and kept them out,” she said.
“The second half they didn’t dominate as much, and it certainly wasn’t our best hockey, but it’s nice to know that we can beat a team in a game that we don’t dominate. I would take a 4-1 win over Harbour any time.”
Dalefield are second-equal with Harbour City and Northern United on 16 points, five behind leaders Hutt United.
