HOCKEY
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THE 2014 men’s Premier League Hockey season has certainly been mix for Souths thus far with vast form swings, but today’s minor semi-final against Parkes needs to be the match the two blues come alive for.
Souths travel to take on Parkes in the do-or-die match after finishing the regular season in fourth place.
Not only will the Bathurst side have a two-hour trip to Parkes to deal with, but Souths will also need to turn around the 3-1 result from the last time the two sides met.
Souths’ form going into the finals hasn’t been ideal, with three losses and a draw coming from their last month of play. A 5-1 win over the Orange Wanderers at the end of last month marks their latest victory.
If Souths are to make the same run that got them to last year’s grand final, then they will need to put all of that behind them.
It is something coach Kent Bestwick believes they are capable of.
Even coming into the game on the back of a 4-0 loss to the Lithgow Panthers doesn’t trouble Bestwick given he saw plenty of encouraging signs in that match.
“That second half was a lot better than the first half ... what we finished with was 10 times better than what we started with. The boys have come out of that and they know what they need to do now,” he said.
“I’m super confident that the guys can lift for this. Against Lithgow they got the three early goals on us and then tried to defend that lead as they do. We went out with the mindset that it was nil-all at half-time and Lithgow only got the one goal that half, and it might have been a bit of a lucky one.”
Parkes may have the advantage of winning in their most recent meeting with Souths, but the two blues do go into the semi-final with a win over today’s rivals in 2014.
On that occasion early in July, the score was once again 3-1. A double to Jaydem Hadson and another goal to Jono Baillie got Souths home in a match that was played on Parkes’ turf.
Bestwick believes his side have worked well in training this week and go in full strength for the sudden death game.
“This is pretty much the same team that played in finals last year, the only change would be in the centre-half. We also have Dylan Smith, who comes back into the team after his representative duties. In all it’s probably one of the strongest defensive line ups we’ve had for quite a while,” he said.
“We’ve just got to keep that ball out of our goal circle. They have a very potent short corner. They have one of the best young short corner drag flickers in the league with Jack Elliott. If we limit that we will do well.
“We really jumped up a level in our work at training on Tuesday night. The boys are pumped now for Saturday and hopefully they can get the win.”
Today’s match is set to get underway at 2.50pm.