Pat's must contain Parkes' attack

BETWEEN them they scored 14 goals in 140 minutes of hockey last weekend, so when men’s Premier League rivals St Pat’s and Parkes United do battle at the Cooke Hockey Complex today there is sure to be no lack of attacking flair.

The Saints will carry with them the confidence that comes with thumping Orange Wanderers 9-0 and while Parkes were not able to earn any competition points in their last fixture – going down 6-5 to Lithgow Panthers – few sides have stretched the defending premiers that much in recent years.

Even Pat’s, who are coming second in the race to the minor premiership, did not get that close as they went down 3-0 to Panthers last month.

Given Parkes came so close to toppling the undefeated competition leaders, Pat’s coach Jaden Ekert knows his side needs to but strong not just in attack, but in defence as well this afternoon.

“It was a good win last week, but like any sports season, you can’t rely on last week’s games. I’m not disillusioned at all,” he said.

“Parkes are a very good side full of strike weapons. I’m shaping our season on defence, but if it doesn’t shape up in this game we’re going to get punished,” he said.

“We’re concentrating on certain aspects of our game to get the better of Parkes. They’re a side who like to play through the middle of the field and we’ll be aware of that in our structure. If we keep their key men under control then we’ll do well.”

Pat’s have already demonstrated they are capable of containing Parkes, having defeated them 5-2 earlier this season.

After winning that match Ekert labelled the performance as the “benchmark” his side would try to match for the rest of the season, indicating not only how pleased he was with the result but the respect he gives today’s opponents.

“We have to be really careful in the way that we approach things. If they steal one goal then we can find ourselves down two or three very quickly,” he said.

“We started well last year and then complacency kicked in. We’ve also started really well this year and I’ve talked to the boys about not letting that happen again. You can’t start looking two or three games ahead, you have to be chasing games week by week. It’s been working for us so far.”

Darcy Davis and Matt Naylor both return to the Pat’s side this week after missing the big win over Wanderers due to work commitments.

The match begins today at 1.50pm.