Dalefield are capable of upsetting Harbour City-Tawa in their Wellington premier division men's hockey match at the National Hockey Stadium in Wellington tomorrow.
That's the message from coach Mark Fenwick who has been impressed enough by the recent improvement shown by Dalefield to suggest they could be about to pick up
their first win of the 2009 season.
And his sentiments are given credibility by even a cursory glance at Harbour City-Tawa's record which shows that after a shock 2-1 success over Northern United in their opening fixture they have lost to Hutt (0-6), Indians (0-6) and Victoria University (1-2).
Fenwick is mindful though of HCT's reputation for being a team which is at their most dangerous when they take an early lead.
"They are at their best on the counter attack and if they get a goal or two up they tend to throw caution to the wind and come at you from everywhere," he said.
Not surprisingly then Fenwick believes the tightness of the Dalefield defence right from the word go will have a huge say in the end result.
The onus would be on the talented Willie Schaefer to control matters at the back and for players like Greg Mason, Nick Finlayson and Greg Ewington to dominate the midfield action.
"Restricting their space and time on the ball will be vital, and obviously the more possession we can turn over the better too," he said.
"We can't give them any leeway, none at all."
Up front Dalefield will be without Rowan Yeo who has been starring for Wellington at the national under-21 tourney and this will mean an increased workload for promising youngster Ben Van Woerkom, who will have the responsibility of spearheading the attack.
The Dalefield women's team will not be involved in Wellington premier division play tomorrow as matches there have been suspended because of the clash with the national under-21 championships.
