HARBOUR CITY
DALEFIELD
Farriers Dalefield left it to the last five seconds to rescue a point from their opening Wellington Premier Men’s Championship game at the National Hockey Stadium.
Harbour City looked to have secured all three points after scoring with two minutes left to play, but Dalefield weren’t to be denied, upping the pressure and forcing a penalty corner [PC] with five seconds left on the clock.
Player-coach Benedict van Woerkom’s drag flick was mistimed, and play continued in the circle before Craig Pankhurst got a deflection off a cross from Murrell to tie things up in the final play of the game.
Given the conditions and Dalefield being without some key players, including Daniel van Woerkom, Rowan Yeo, Hamish Finlayson, and Jamie O’Hara, van Woerkom felt it was a fair result.
“The heavens opened up at the first whistle, and it poured down the whole game, and the game slowed down, and that worked in their favour.
“But we adapted to it, but our game is playing at speed, and we couldn’t do that,” van Woerkom said.
Harbour City had the better of the early stages, taking a 2–0 lead in the first 10 minutes. Craig Pankhurst scored to make it 2–1 at halftime, and Murrell scored from a PC to equalise in the fourth quarter before the
drama at the game’s end.
Overall, van Woerkom believed Dalefield were the better side but failed to capitalise on their opportunities, which included eight or nine PCs with only two converted.
DALEFIELD
HARBOUR CITY
The failure to defend PCs hurt Farriers Dalefield in their heavy loss to Harbour City at the Trust House Wairarapa Hockey Centre at Clareville.
The visitors were clinical with their PCs, scoring from their first two in the first quarter and adding a third in the second period after the home side failed to clear the ball from their circle after a PC.
Dalefield started the third quarter strongly and came close to scoring with Felicity Reidy’s thundering shot, which was well saved by the Harbour goalkeeper. A fourth goal, again from a PC, in the dying seconds was followed by a fifth and bonus point goal midway through the final period.
Dalefield’s prospects weren’t helped by the fact that key defender Amy Bunny had to sit out the game with injury, and their inexperience was evident at crunch times.
“The first two quarters, we were off the pace a little bit, and when you’re 3–0 down at halftime, that’s when you begin chasing the game,” a disappointed Dalefield coach Michael Sacke said.
“We had a good third quarter when we had opportunities to come back but never took them, and then a couple of things went against us in the last quarter, but I don’t think 5–0 was a fair reflection of the game frankly.
“We had a couple of opportunities, their goalkeeper played well, but we’ve got to be more clinical as well. We’re leaking goals, and it’s hard to win games if you’re leaking four or five goals.”
