He is happy with the results, though.
His side beat the Falcons 6-1 in Dunedin and prevailed 4-1 against the Mavericks in Christchurch last weekend.
They comfortably lead the competition standings two games into the six-game round-robin.
That is the good bit — but he is not satisfied with how his side is playing.
‘‘We’re tracking OK,’’ he said, delivering only modest praise for a team which is so far unbeaten.
‘‘I mean, results-wise, it’s fantastic. From that point of view, we’re really happy.
‘‘But we’ve got a good team, so we have high expectations on ourselves in each match.
‘‘And we’re not where we want to be.
‘‘We just want to make sure that we’re improving as we go, and we certainly did that in some areas last week against the Mavericks.’’
The Alpiners play the Falcons in Wellington today, and Ford is expecting a much closer fixture than the one-sided scoreline in Dunedin,
‘‘This is going to be one hell of a tough match for us.
‘‘They’ve got a number of Black Sticks coming in. They’ve got Jordy Cohen, Sean Finlay, Dom Dixon, Sam Hiha coming into their mix.
‘‘We hurt them last time, 6-1, so we have a target on our back. And they’re at home.’’
‘‘It’s shaping up to be a pretty exciting challenge for us, which we’re setting up for.’’
The Alpiners defensive trio of Blair Tarrant, Benji Culhane and Charlie Morrison are a formidable unit, but they will be missing key striker Sam Lane.
The Black Stick is skipping the game for family reasons, and Sam Lints will take his spot.
The Alpiners women are also playing the Falcons and will be looking to reverse their 3-0 loss in Dunedin.
They had the better of that game, and created many more scoring opportunities, but were unable to find the finish.
They edged the Mavericks in a shootout in Christchurch last weekend, but their execution in front of goal was not where it needed to be either.
Premier Hockey League
Standings
Men’s
Alpiners 8, Tridents 2, Mavericks 2, Falcons 2
Women’s
Falcons 6, Tridents 5, Alpiners 2, Mavericks 1
