Souths were certainly not short on opportunities as they looked to cement their place in the top three of the men’s Premier League Hockey ladder, but the sort of lethal touch that netted four goals in 17 minutes the previous round against Orange Wanderers evaded them.

“We just weren’t hungry enough today. Parkes came out running and we didn’t match them,” Souths coach Kent Bestwick admitted.

“We certainly had our chances. We had eight or nine short corners in the first half but we didn’t convert. In the second half they dried up a bit – we had about four, but we only scored off one of those.

“Credit to their goalkeeper, though, he is a very good ’keeper.”

While Souths went into the match sitting two spots above Parkes on the ladder, the visitors could have been a lot closer were they not penalised four points for fielding an unregistered player earlier this month.

Bestwick expected Parkes, who can still force their way into the major semi-final, to make the trip to Bathurst with a strong squad, and they did just that.

They tested Souths with their speed in attack and were it not for some excellent saves from young goalkeeper Daniel White, filling in for the absent John Rudge, the two blues could have been further behind than 2-0 at the break.

Parkes then scored the first goal of the second stanza to lead 3-0 before Souths finally opened their account via an Adam Campbell shot from a penalty corner play.

Though giving credit to Parkes for their efforts, Bestwick freely admitted his side were below their best.

“We did play well last week, but we just can’t seem to sustain that,” he said. “Maybe this is one we needed to lose to wake us up again.

“The first half wasn’t too bad, we just didn’t break down that fast counter attack from Parkes. They were good on the breakdown, we’d turn it over and they’d counter really quickly.

“Our basics let us down a fair bit.” 

PARKES 3 defeated SOUTHS 1 (Adam Campbell)