Top Wairarapa hockey teams to clash

Aaron Oakley, left, scored a hat-trick of goals for Dalefield men against Naenae on Sunday. PHOTO/FILE

CLAREVILLE will be the only place to be for Wairarapa hockey enthusiasts this coming Saturday.

It will be the venue for two Wellington premier division top-of-the-table clashes, both of them involving Dalefield combinations.

The women's fixture, starting at 1.15pm, has Dalefield taking on an Eastern Hutt side which has now gone six matches without defeat. Dalefield, for their part, have won four from five with the other resulting in a draw. They have a game in hand because their fixture with Toa, previously scheduled for Sunday, was deferred.

Eastern Hutt have an impressive goals for and against record, having scored 29 goals and conceded six. It hasn't all been one-way traffic for them though, as while they thumped Indians 9-1 in their latest appearance, they only had one goal to spare in their victories over Karori, Victoria University and Harbour City.

Dalefield, by contrast, have scored 13 goals and conceded four but they can take heart from the fact that they have beaten Karori by two goals, Victoria University by one and drew with Harbour City, scores which certainly suggest they are capable of fully extending, and even beating, the powerful Eastern Hutt side.

The men's match, starting at 2.45pm, will have defending champions Dalefield up against Indians. The latter are top of the points table but Dalefield have a game in hand and it could be fairly argued they have the better record of the two.

They have won four from five and had one draw while Indians have won five from six with one loss, that coming against Hutt on Sunday when they were beaten 4-2.

The Dalefield men's team will be coming off the back of a double-header which saw them follow a 4-0 victory over Karori on Saturday with a 9-0 walloping of Naenae on Sunday.

What most pleased Dalefield coach Willie Schaefer about those results was his side stuck to their game plan despite the very different tactics applied by their opposition. Whereas Karori appeared to have a mindset of doing everything they could to concede as few goals as possible, Naenae were much more positive in their approach and, as a consequence, that match provided the better spectacle of the two.

Reflecting on the Naenae match, Schaefer said Dalefield had the result in safe keeping by halftime, by which stage they led 5-0, and they had continued to play structured, disciplined hockey to add four further goals to their tally in the second spell.

"It was one of those games where we could have easily loosened up and things would have got messy but we kept working hard as a team and that was very pleasing."

Outstanding for Dalefield up front were Aaron Oakley, who scored a hat-trick, Rowan Yeo and Morgan Taylor, while Daniel Van Woerkom was good value at the back.