The venue will be a motivating force when Dalefield meet Harbour City Tawa in a vital Wellington premier division men's hockey match today.
With Hockey Wairarapa opening their new two-storeyed pavilion at their Clareville complex at 1.15pm, Dalefield sought permission to have their game transferred from the National Hockey Stadium inWellington to their home ground.
But even though Harbour City Tawa agreed, Wellington officialdom decided to retain the status quo, much to Dalefield's disappointment.
''We thought it would be nice to play our match immediately after the opening but unfortunately those who make those decisions didn't see it our way,'' Dalefield coach Lance Hare said. ''I'm picking it will work in our favour though, it's made us even more determined to pull this one off.''
The importance of today's game to Dalefield's hopes of reaching the premier division semifinals has been well documented. They sit fifth on the points table and a loss to fourth-placed Harbour City-Tawa would be a huge blow to their prospects of achieving that objective.
While Hare respects Harbour City-Tawa as a quality side, he is adamant Dalefield are well capable of beating them, particularly after their strong showing against the powerful Northern United combination last weekend. Dalefield lost that game 4-0 but the score was no indication of a match in which only one of Northern United's goals came from general play.
Hare was pleased with the success of the positional changes he made for the Hutt match and he intends to retain Greg Mason at centre half, along with Dane Lett in midfield and Trent Lett in the defence alongside the unflappable Willie Schaefer.
Meanwhile six of the Dalefield team took part in a trial match for the Wellington national league side this week _ Jesse Workman, Dane Lett, Mark Scully, Trent Lett, Nick Finlayson and Rowan Yeo. Workman, Dane Lett and Scully have all played for Manawatu at this level in the past.
