Dalefield aren't expecting miracles as they prepare for a tough weekend in the Wellington premier men's hockey competition. Camped at the bottom of the points table with five losses from as many games, Dalefield are faced with a difficult double header which will involve fixtures against Harbour-City Tawa tomorrow and Hutton Sunday. The fact both games will be played on their home turf at Clareville is at least one plus for Dalefield but coach Mark Fenwick accepts they will still start rank underdogs in each of the matches. "It's a big ask to beat teams of this calibre and all we can do is give it our best shot and see what happens," he said. Fenwick believes the result of the Harbour City-Tawa match will depend very much on which Harbour City-Tawa team turns up "They can be fragile. "They seem to be either brilliant or ordinary," he said. "Hopefully we strike them on an ordinary day." Fenwick said Harbour City-Tawa's habit of playing the ball in the air often made for spectacular viewing and when done well it could cause all sorts of problems for opposition defences. "It's something we need to counter. "We can't afford them to dictate the way the game is played," he said. Hutt is seen as a serious contender for the premiership and will play a much more structured style of hockey than Harbour City-Tawa. "They have a high skill level and are very organised," Fenwick said of Hutt. "Give them an inch and they will take a mile." Fenwick is considering moving talented youngster Andy Ewington into the role of striker this weekend and is also expecting big things from another of his team's up-and-comers in Tobyn Yeo, who will be at centre half, and from Doug Wilton, who has recently returned to the fold and will be at right half. The Dalefield women's team will be up against Wellington premier division leaders University in their match at Clareville tomorrow. If form counts for anything University should have little difficulty in winning as they have won four and drawn the other two of their six games this season while Dalefield have had five losses and the one draw. This is one match though where the form book may not tell the whole story as Dalefield have shown glimpses of the type of play which would trouble even a side of University's strength and would only need to perform to their potential to make a close match of it.
