A loss to Hutt in their Wellington premier division women's hockey match at Clareville tomorrow could harm Dalefield's chances of attaining a home-semi-final next month.
Dalefield, the defending champions, currently sit third on the competition table with 29pts, just 1pt behind joint leaders Eastern Hutt and University.
To get a home semi
Dalefield need to be first or second at the end of the preliminary rounds and the chances of that happening would lessen should they lose tomorrow.
If past form is any indication Dalefield should quell the Hutt challenge comfortably enough but coach Andy Wilson is expecting a stern test.
"They (Hutt) have the ability to play some good hockey and we need to be on guard against them," he said. "If we play like we did last weekend we'll be in trouble."
The match Wilson was referring to there was the 4-1 win over Indians which while comfortable enough on paper was more of a struggle than it should have been
"It was pretty ordinary stuff," Wilson said. " We went in fits and starts, there was no consistency in our play."
Wilson said a full strength Dalefield squad would be looking to play tomorrow's game at pace, with the emphasis being on counter attacking to take advantage of any deficiencies in the Hutt defence.
"We won't be restricting our attacking play to any particular part of the field, we'll be aiming to come at them from all over the place," he said.
The Dalefield men's team should be going into their Wellington premier division match with University in Wellington tomorrow brimming with confidence after their shock win over competition leaders Indians last weekend.
It was the second time this season Dalefield had upset Indians and was a classic illustration of the potential within the side.
But all too often in 2005 a top performance has been followed by a below-par effort so predicting victory over a University team just one point above them on the competition table is a risky business.
Dalefield coach Laurie Juno admits his team's "consistency at being inconsistent"
is frustrating but he believes they could be about to turn the corner in that respect.
"We've talked about the importance of putting two good games together and everybody is determined to make that happen," he said. "University is a good side but we know we can beat them, and that's what we intend to do."
