The Saints are in a patchy run of form at the moment in terms of their work in front of goal, though they have still only lost once all season, so the news is hardly all bad for the team and their coach Daniel Casey.

They have generally dominated possession and territory in recent games but are still struggling to translate that into goals, and that was once more evident during a 2-0 away win over Parkes last Saturday.

“We have been playing pretty good hockey, I think, and it is a lot better to be creating those scoring chances and not converting them than it would be to not have those chances at all,” Casey said.

“I’m just hoping that in a game soon we just click and score a heap. From there we should get a real roll-on.”

Generally near the bottom of the competition in recent seasons, Zig Zag have emerged as a legitimate finals chance in 2011 and are currently sixth on the ladder and only out of the top five on for-and-against.

They also have a game in hand on most other teams in the premiership.

On their home turf they have been particularly hard to beat, as evidenced by the scoreless draw they produced against Bathurst City last week, and Casey is not underestimating them.

“I think there are a lot of clubs in contention for a finals spot and they are definitely one of them,” he said.

“It is an important game for them in terms of getting closer to a top five spot, but we are desperate to finish as high as we can ourselves and as such it is a pretty big game for us too.

“I think we need to go over to Lithgow and approach the game as though we were playing Panthers.”

Adding to the size of the task facing Casey and his players is the fact they will be missing Carly Sandry and Allison Britt, and the coach admits it will test the depth of his playing group.

“Going over there at full strength would have been tough but without those two it will be an even bigger chall-enge,” he said.

“It probably isn’t a bad thing, though – it will really let us see how we are capable of playing with a few people out and give a good opportunity to a few of the girls who have been in and out of the squad depending on numbers.”

In his first season in charge of the team, having taken over from premiership mentor Ben Weal, Casey says he is slowly getting his head around the task, though he admits there is still some learning to be done.

“I’m not minding it, it has it’s good and bad points, but I know that I am not a proper hockey coach,” he said.

“Once you’re in and doing it it gets a bit easier, but at the moment I can see sometimes when things need fixing but don’t always know how to coach the girls to do it.”

St Pat’s play Zig Zag in Lithgow at 2.40pm today.