Emma McLeod, on ball, looks to take on a Karori defender. PHOTO/JADE CVETKOV
HOCKEY
CHRIS COGDALE
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MEN
Dalefield 4
Indians 1
Farriers Dalefield overcame a slow start to pull away over the final two quarters for a comfortable win in their top-of-the-table clash with Indians at the Trust House Wairarapa Hockey Complex at Clareville.
Indians took an early lead in the first quarter with the unbeaten Dalefield struggling to gain any momentum and plagued with a high error rate.
Player-co-coach Benedict van Woerkom credited goalkeeper Nick Holland with keeping them in the game with some outstanding saves.
“It was our error rate and our inability to execute the basics in the first quarter, but we got better as the game went on,” Van Woerkom said.
“Our basics improved, and we were quite good on the counterattack, and we knew that they weren’t the best defenders so if we broke with speed, we could create some good opportunities and we put some of those away in the second half.”
Graeme Murrell scored with a drag flick from a penalty corner to equalise in the second quarter.
Van Woerkom netted the second and third goals, and Rowan Yeo capped the scoring in the final quarter.
The win gave Dalefield a 10-point lead in the championship race.
WOMEN
Dalefield 3
Karori 0
An understrength Farriers Dalefield were made to work hard for their win over a determined Karori in their Wellington Women’s Premier match at Clareville.
Goals to Abby Crawley, in the first quarter and third quarter, and to Felicity Reidy in the second quarter secured a valuable three points.
In the end it was a satisfying result for coach Michael O’Connor, given that the team has been heavily impacted by illness in recent weeks, with at least three players side-lined with the flu, and others having just recovered from illness.
“Probably the amount of ball we got in their circle, we should have nailed a few more goals,” said O’Connor.
“But it wasn’t for a lack of trying and Karori are pretty handy team, and they did pretty well to stop us and really packed their circle so there was a lot of congestion, and the girls did well to get three.
“Our defence went well to keep them scoreless, and we worked really hard to turn the ball over in Karori’s half and we did that a fair bit.”
O’Connor singled out player of the day Emma McLeod, Kianna Dawson and Amy Bunny as having strong games.
The win had Dalefield remain in third place in the championship, just four points behind joint leaders Northern United and Hutt United.
