The Dalefield men and women both produced sterling second half performances in the Wellington premier hockey division on Saturday, though it wasn't enough to break their winless starts to the season. The women were given a wake-up call in their match against defending champions Eastern Hutt, giving up four first-half goalsbefore staging a fight-back after the break. Though they eventually lost 4-2, coach Rochelle Retter said the side came away with a great deal more confidence. "There were a lot of girls who went into the game a bit psyched out because they (Eastern) have former national players in their team like Niniwa Roberts-Lang and it wasn't until the second half that they really started playing," she said. "At halftime I basically said you can hang your heads or fight back because I knew we could win it. Harriet Cameron and Jodie Graham scored goals for Dalefield, who were also missing key players Jade Forman and Stephanie Sloane for the match. The men found themselves in a similar, though slightly worse, predicament in their match against Indians as they let six goals in before the break. But to their credit they also rallied to score three of their own, going down 8-3. "I was ready to throw my toys at halftime they were playing that badly," coach Mark Fenwick said. "We played really poorly for the first spell, we really let our standards slip. "I gave them a pretty stern talking to at halftime and they went out after and dominated really. We won a half of hockey which is the best we've done this season." Andy Ewington put in another strong performance as well as goal scorers Doug Wilton and Pete Siglenson. Despite the heavy score line, the side were reasonably happy with what they achieved, Fenwick said. "In the end they were pretty happy, they know they're close they've just got to put it together for a whole game and get a bit fitter. It helps if you're not puffing all the time," he said. "We had a few guys out playing under-18s as well so we'll have them back next week." ends
