Rowan Yeo, right, scored the first of Dalefield’s three goals against Indians. PHOTOS/FILE
HOCKEY
CHRIS COGDALE
[email protected]
MEN
Indians 1
Dalefield 3
An up-and-down performance, that’s player-co-coach Dane Lett’s assessment of Farriers Dalefield’s 3-1 win over Indians in the first round of the Wellington Premier Men’s Championship at the National Hockey Stadium on Saturday
“We played some decent hockey, but it was definitely a bit of a first round hit out,” said Lett.
“We had some good patches and then some quite poor patches, but we played some good hockey and we got better as the game went on and we finished really strong in the last quarter.”
Dalefield’s goals came through veteran striker Rowan Yeo 15 minutes into the first quarter. Player of the day Nathan Whiteman doubled the lead one minute into the second quarter, and Zac Hardie sealed the victory with a deflection at the far post four minutes into the final period.
Lett felt though that the score could have been greater, with Dalefield failing to capitalise on a wealth of goal-scoring chances.
“We had quite a few opportunities in areas that we hadn’t trained a lot in so that will only improve, but there were lots of positives and everyone gave a good account of themselves, so we’re pretty happy with it.
“We’ll take the things we did well and then identify some areas we can get better in, and we’ll just keep chipping away.”
Lett singled out Whiteman, Alex Sumenko-Bucknell, and Hardie as having strong games. He was also impressed with the new goalkeepers Zander Redgrave and Nick Holland, who both had a half game each in the first championship outing for Dalefield.
WOMEN
Karori 2
Dalefield 6
Former Black Stick Felicity Reidy starred with four goals in Dalefield’s 6-2 win over a plucky Karori in the opening round of the Wellington Premier Women’s Championship on Saturday.
Reidy scored in each of the four quarters in the game at the National Hockey Stadium, with the other goals scored by Abby Crawley, in the third quarter, and Maddie Taylor, in the final quarter.
Although the final margin was comfortable for the two-time defending champions, coach Michael O’Connor described it as a typically messy first-up game.
“The girls were going in fits and starts and we weren’t consistent in our play accuracy, so we’ve got to work on that a bit,” said O’Connor.
“But we still managed to score six goals and we can’t really complain about that.”
O’Connor identified defence as an area that needs tightening up, having conceded two goals to a Karori side that never gave up.
“Our last quarter was our best quarter, and we were a bit more consistent and tighter on our defence.
“The first three quarters I thought we were giving them a sniff through our mistakes, and they stayed in the game a bit more than they should have.
“They’re a pretty nuggety side and I thought they went well and put the pressure on us a bit and they were in the fight.”
O’Connor said there was plenty to work on and he wanted to see improvement from week to week.
