Dalefield won't be under-estimating Hutt in their Wellington premier division women's hockey match at Clareville tomorrow.
Hutt sit bottom of the competition table and should provide few worries for the well-performed home team but Dalefield coach Rochelle Retter is concerned that appearances could prove deceiving on this occasion.
"They (Hutt) are better
than their form suggests and we always seem to struggle to play our best hockey against them, Retter said. "We certainly can't afford to take them easy, no way at all."
Retter said the Dalefield game plan would be to start strongly with the hope of putting Hutt on the back foot by scoring at least a couple of early goals But to do that they would need to show improvement from last weekend's 2-1 loss to Indians in not only the goal scoring department but also in retaining possession.
"We have to keep the ball for longer periods and be more clinical in our finishing, do that and we should be OK," she said.
Dalefield will be without hard-working inside forward Karen James for this particular match and her role up front is likely to be filled by the versatile Ana-May Playle.
The Dalefield men are intent on causing an upset in their Wellington premier division match, also against Hutt at Clareville, tomorrow. Coach Mark Fenwick said Hutt were a class act on their day but recent efforts had suggested they were struggling to find their best form, and a Dalefield team playing to their potential were capable of a surprise victory.
"It all comes down to us bringing our A game, if we play as well as we can there is no reason why we shouldn't win," Fenwick said, adding that Dalefield also had the incentive of knowing that success would keep them in with an outside chance of making the top four playoffs. "It's pretty much do or die for us now, another loss would probably sink us."
