A depleted Dalefield were on the end of an 8-2 beating by Hutt in their Wellington premier division men's hockey match at Clareville on Saturday.
While the final scoreline might suggest it was all one-way traffic Dalefield were level 2-2 at halftime and it was only in the last quarter thatHutt took control.
That scenario was always likely to happen though, with Dalefield having just two substitutes and also having to field players struggling with injury or sickness. ''We just ran out of steam. We didn't have fresh legs available to keep the pace up,'' Dalefield coach Lance Hare said.
Hare was delighted with the manner in which Dalefield measured up to the star-studded Hutt side throughout the first half with nothing impressing more than the stout defence of players like goalkeeper Orin Lockyer and fullback Willie Schaefer.
With Hutt having two current Black Sticks in their forward line they were always going to be a force to be reckoned with in attacking forays but time and again they struggled to make headway against a determined home side.
There was some heady play, too, from Dalefield on attack with New Zealand Maori representative Jesse Workman and Mark Scully leading the way in that respect.
The second half _ or at least the latter part of it _ was, however, a different story, with Hutt piling on the pressure through a series of sustained attacks and a Dalefield side, not helped by having three yellow cards awarded against them, struggling to maintain composure as the tempo of the whole game was lifted.
''They [Hutt] had a full bench and they came at us with everything they had. We just couldn't go with them,'' Hare said. ''Fitness was a big factor, we just weren't able to cope there.''
