Dalefield cock-a-hoop over win

Pretty it might not have been but Dalefield were cock-a-hoop after their 3-2 win over Victoria University in the Wellington premier division men's hockey match played at the National Hockey Stadium in Wellington on Saturday.
Not only was it Dalefield's first win of the season but it took them off the bottom of the competition table and still in with a chance of making the top four playoffs.
They now sit fifth with five points which puts them within striking distance of fourth-placed Harbour City-Tawa who have 10pts.
Dalefield coach Mark Fenwick labelled Saturday's game as "close and pretty scrappy" but paid a tribute to his players for the way they gutsed it out against a tenacious University outfit.
"We knew that if we were to have any prospect of making the top four anything other than a win wouldn't be good enough for us, "Fenwick said. "There was quite a bit of nervous anxiety about, that's for sure.".
The first 25 minutes of the game were evenly-contested with Dalefield looking the more dangerous on attack but it was University who scored first, somewhat against the run of play.
Substitute Nathan Shannahan then levelled things up and it was still 1-1 at halftime. University again took the lead with an early second half goal before Rowan Yeo made it 2-2 and then just three minutes from fulltime Willie Waitere netted what was to be the winner for Dalefield. The physical nature of the exchanges was evidenced by University having a player sent from the field in the second spell, something which obviously aided the Dalefield cause to some degree.
"It was the sort of game where neither side wanted to give an inch, it got pretty intense at times," Fenwick said.
Player of the day for Dalefield was Tobyn Yeo, who had a huge workrate, especially on defence, while his brother Rowan Yeo and Greg Mason were also in outstanding form. Valuable too was the input of Nathan Shannahan, Aaron Neilsen and Jay Hodgkiss when they came off the reserve bench.
The Dalefield women's team maintained their second placing on the Wellington premier division women's hockey points table when they drew 3-3 with Victoria University, also at the National Hockey Stadium. The result left both Dalefield and University on 17pts but Dalefield have the better goal difference. Dalefield coach Rochelle Retter was pleased with the draw, especially since she had travelled over the hill with only 13 players due to injury concerns. "We went there thinking anything better than a loss would be a good result for us so we will take what we got," Retter said. "A 4-3 result to us might actually have been a better indication of the game but a draw will do."
Impressive for Dalefield were Ana-May Playle and Charlotte Meo on attack and Sara Crofoot and Alive Davies on defence while the goal scorers were Jodi Graham, Tara Hall and Dayna Yeo.