MEN
Hutt United
Dalefield
Farriers Dalefield’s lack of experience told as they fell to a tight loss to bitter rivals Hutt United in a Wellington Premier Men’s Championship match at Fraser Park on Saturday.
Caleb Roberts opened the scoring for Dalefield in the first quarter with a backhand shot into the top of the net, only for Hutt to take a 2–1 lead into halftime.
A Nathan Lowe goal saw the teams go into the fourth quarter locked together, but Hutt found the net twice in the final 10 minutes and sealed the victory.
Player-coach Benedict van Woerkom returned after missing the previous weekend’s loss to Northern United, but Alexander Sumenko-Bucknell was a late withdrawal with injury, and veteran striker Rowan Yeo was unavailable, leaving Dalefield short of experience in some areas of the field, with the midfield and strikers aged from 17 to 20.
“The 50–50 balls, they were just faster, stronger and beat us to a lot of those, and we got outmuscled,” van Woerkom said.
“We played some good hockey. In the first quarter was really good; we created three or four opportunities and scored one of them; we had a PC [penalty corner] with three minutes to go, which could’ve made it 4–3.
“It was closer than what a 4–2 sounds like.”
Despite the scoreline, van Woerkom thought the team improved on the previous weekend’s effort.
“We’re moving forward now, and we should have a good chunk of our senior guys around from now.”
WOMEN
Northern United
Dalefield
“It wasn’t a true 6–1.”
That was the opinion of Farriers Dalefield coach after their Wellington Premier Women’s Championship loss to Northern United at the National Hockey Stadium.
The defending champions went into the clash without inspirational players Finola O’Boyle and Charlotte Whyte, while Felicity Reidy took the field despite suffering from a niggly hamstring injury.
It was Reidy who kept Dalefield in the hunt in the first half with a goal, as Northern took a 2–1 lead into halftime.
Northern doubled their lead in the third quarter, although Reidy hit the inside of the upright with a penalty stroke that would have made the score 3–2. With Dalefield pushing forward in the final period, Northern took advantage of the extra space to pull away for a comfortable victory on the scoreboard.
“We were in the game until the end of the third quarter,” Sacke said.
“We were chasing the game in the fourth quarter, and we were exposed at the back, but I think it was a better performance than a 6–1.
“We had a good start; they entered our circle twice in the first half and scored both times, and we had some good chances.
“I’m not disappointed with the effort. It’s just the case that we had to take our chances, and it would’ve been a different story.”
Defenders Amy Bunny and player of the day Grace Craig stood out for Dalefield.
