The depth of the Dalefield men's hockey squad may prove an influential factor this weekend.
Dalefield travel to Wellington to take on Harbour City Tawa at the National Hockey Stadium without four of their regular starters. This is the second consecutive game where Dalefield have been without the services ofTane Workman, Mitchell Blackwood, Joseph Robertson and Alex Summenko-Bucknell who are again away on U18 duty, this time in Palmerston North.
Approaches were made to have the game deferred in light of these absences, a move rejected by Wellington Hockey and labelled "disappointing" by acting manager Mike van Woerkom.
"Yes, we've been declined a deferral for the second time" he said. "And considering we obliged them [Harbour] with a deferral earlier in the season it would have been nice if they'd reciprocated."
Dalefield will, however, travel to the capital bolstered by the return of fullback Sean Needham for the first time this season and also Bevan Percy who will most likely play in the halves. Experienced Andy Ewington should also feel the benefit of his run last weekend after returning from injury.
Other factors in the back of Dalefield minds will be that it wasn't until the second half that the floodgates opened in the game against the Indians last Saturday. The Indians recorded four unanswered goals in that half as tiredness became more obvious among Dalefield's "ageing bench".
Also it won't have gone unnoticed that Harbour City are experiencing a form slump, registering a string of losses in the last few games.
"That may work in our favour but it will still take a huge effort to knock them over," van Woerkom said. "We'll certainly need to make sure we have all 11 players on the park throughout the whole game, something we couldn't manage last weekend."
